Mark Ruffalo
Birthdate: Nov 22, 1967
Birthplace: Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
Award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo was born on November 22, 1967, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, of humble means to father Frank Lawrence Ruffalo, a construction painter and Marie Rose (Hebert), a stylist and hairdresser; his father's ancestry is Italian and his mother is of half French-Canadian and half Italian descent. Mark moved with his family to Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he lived out most of his teenage years. Following high school, Mark moved with his family to San Diego and soon migrated north, eventually settling in Los Angeles.
Mark first took classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory and subsequently co-founded the Orpheus Theatre Company, an Equity-Waiver establishment, where he worked in nearly every capacity. From acting, writing, directing and producing to running the lights and building sets while building his resume.
Moving into film and TV, Mark's inauspicious movie debut was the drifter role of Christian in the horror opus Mirror Mirror 2: Raven Dance (1994) and returned to the film series in the role of Joey with Mirror Mirror 3: The Voyeur (1995). He continued on through the 1990's rather indistinctly with more secondary roles in the horror film The Dentist (1996) starring madman Corbin Bernsen; an amusing perf in the obscure dramedy The Last Big Thing (1996); a third billed role in the Jerry Stiller/Anne Meara bickering senior comedy A Fish in the Bathtub (1998); and the war drama Ceremony... The Ritual of Love (1976) directed by Ang Lee.
Bartending for nearly nearly a decade to make ends meet and discouraged enough to give it up, a chance meeting and resulting collaboration with playwright/screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan approaching the millennium changed everything. Ruffalo won NY success in Lonergan's 1996 off-Broadway play "This Is Our Youth," a story about troubled young adults. This led to his male lead in Lonergan's Oscar-winning film drama You Can Count on Me (2000), playing the ne'er-do-well brother of Laura Linney. The performance drew rave reviews and invited comparisons to an early Marlon Brando.
Ruffalo never looked back. Notable roles in The Last Castle (2001), XX/XY (2002), and Windtalkers (2002) followed, although in 2002 Ruffalo was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a type of brain tumor. Though the tumor was benign, the resulting surgery led to a period of partial facial paralysis, from which he fully recovered. In 2003, Ruffalo scored leading roles alongside two popular female stars, playing a police detective opposite Meg Ryan in In the Cut (2003) and the love interest of Gwyneth Paltrow in the comedy View from the Top (2003).
Though both films were high-profile box office disappointments, Ruffalo went on to four notable (if highly disparate) films in 2004 -- We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), 13 Going on 30 (2004), and Collateral (2004) -- which solidified his ability to be both a popular leading man and an acclaimed ensemble player in either comedy or drama.
After 2004, Ruffalo was consistently at work, with leads in popular Hollywood films and independent productions that continued to solidify him as one of film's most consistently strong actors: Just Like Heaven (2005), All the King's Men (2006), Zodiac (2007), Reservation Road (2007), and The Brothers Bloom (2008). He also made his Broadway debut as Moe Axelrod in the play "Awake and Sing!"
In 2010 Ruffalo achieved something of a breakthrough, by directing the indie film Sympathy for Delicious (2010), which won him the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and co-starring as the sperm-donor father to lesbian couple Annette Bening and Julianne Moore in The Kids Are All Right (2010). His role in the idiosyncratic domestic comedy/drama earned him Academy Award, Independent Spirit Award, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actor. He went on to earn two more Best Supporting Actor nominations as an Olympic-winning wrestling champion in Foxcatcher (2014) and as a journalist working to uncover the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal in Spotlight (2015). In 2017, the actor returned to Broadway in Arthur Miller's "The Price."
High-profile roles in Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (2010) and Longeran's long-delayed film Margaret (2011) followed before Ruffalo's appearance as Dr. Bruce Banner, aka The Hulk, in Joss Whedon's movie blockbuster The Avengers (2012). Garnering highly positive reviews for a role in which actors Eric Bana and Edward Norton could not find success in previous films made Ruffalo a box office action star in addition to a critically-acclaimed actor. He returned to the Banner/Hulk role frequently in such Marvel movies as Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019) and Avengers: Endgame (2019),
Reunited with former co-star Gwyneth Paltrow in the sex-addiction comedy-drama Thanks for Sharing (2012), he went on to earn a Golden Globe nomination for playing a bipolar Dad in Infinitely Polar Bear (2014). Ruffalo also took on the lead in Ryan Murphy's adaptation of Larry Kramer's AIDS-drama play The Normal Heart (2014) and earned a SAG Award and Emmy Nomination. He later took home the Emmy playing twin brothers, one a paranoid schizophrenic, in I Know This Much Is True (2020).
Ruffalo has been married to actress Sunrise Coigney since 2000; the couple has three children, two sons and a daughter.
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Filmography
actor
Upcoming (3)
- 2024 | Now You See Me 3asDylan Rhodes
Now You See Me 3
A third installment of the 'Now You See Me' franchise. Plot undisclosed.
- 2025 |
- 2024 | Revealed: How to Poison a Planet
Previous (61)
- 2023 | Poor ThingsasDuncan Wedderburn
Poor Things
An account of the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter.
- 2022 | The Adam Projectas Louis Reed
- 2021 | Groundswell
- 2020 | Invisible Hand
- 2019 | Dark WatersasRob Bilott
Dark Waters
A corporate defense attorney takes on an environmental lawsuit against a chemical company that exposes a lengthy history of pollution.
- 2019 | Avengers: EndgameasBruce Banner
Avengers: Endgame
After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos' actions and restore balance to the universe.
- 2018 | John Leguizamo's Road to Broadway
- 2018 | Avengers: Infinity WarasBruce Banner
Avengers: Infinity War
The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.
- 2017 | Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution
- 2017 | In This Climate
- 2017 | Triple Divide [Redacted]as Narrator
- 2017 | Thor: RagnarokasBruce Banner
Thor: Ragnarok
Imprisoned on the planet Sakaar, Thor must race against time to return to Asgard and stop Ragnarök, the destruction of his world, at the hands of the powerful and ruthless villain Hela.
- 2016 | Dear President Obamaas Narrator
- 2016 | Now You See Me 2asDylan Rhodes
Now You See Me 2
The Four Horsemen resurface, and are forcibly recruited by a tech genius to pull off their most impossible heist yet.
- 2015 | Spotlightas Mike Rezendes
- 2015 | Infinitely Polar BearasCam Stuart
Infinitely Polar Bear
A father struggling with bipolar disorder tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters, who don't make the overwhelming task any easier.
- 2015 | Avengers: Age of UltronasBruce Banner
Avengers: Age of Ultron
When Tony Stark and Bruce Banner try to jump-start a dormant peacekeeping program called Ultron, things go horribly wrong and it's up to Earth's mightiest heroes to stop the villainous Ultron from enacting his terrible plan.
- 2014 | Foxcatcheras David Schultz
- 2013 | Begin Againas Dan
- 2013 | FrackNation
- 2013 | Triple Divide
- 2012 | Thanks for Sharingas Adam
- 2013 | Now You See MeasDylan Rhodes
Now You See Me
An F.B.I. Agent and an Interpol Detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances, and reward their audiences with the money.
- 2012 | Dear Governor Cuomo
- 2012 | The Avengers Assemble Premiere
- 2012 | The AvengersasBruce Banner
The Avengers
Earth's mightiest heroes must come together and learn to fight as a team if they are going to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.
- 2011 | Margaretas Maretti
- 2010 | Sympathy for Delicious
- 2010 | Sympathy for Delicious
- 2010 | Sympathy for Deliciousas Father Joe
- 2010 | The Kids Are All Rightas Paul
- 2010 | Shutter IslandasChuck Aule
Shutter Island
Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US marshals, are sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.
- 2008 | The Brothers Bloomas Stephen
- 2008 | What Doesn't Kill Youas Brian Reilly
- 2008 | Blindnessas Doctor
- 2007 | Chicago 10as Jerry Rubin
- 2007 | Reservation Roadas Dwight Arno
- 2007 | Zodiacas Inspector David Toschi
- 2006 | All the King's Menas Adam Stanton
- 2005 | Rumor Has It...as Jeff Daly
- 2005 | Just Like Heavenas David
- 2004 | We Don't Live Here Anymoreas Jack Linden
- 2004 | Collateralas Fanning
- 2004 | 13 Going on 30as Matt Flamhaff
- 2004 | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindasStan
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
- 2003 | In the Cutas Detective Giovanni A. Malloy
- 2003 | My Life Without Meas Lee
- 2002 | XX/XYas Coles
- 2003 | View from the Topas Ted Stewart
- 2002 | Windtalkersas Pappas
- 2001 | The Last Castleas Yates
- 2000 | Apartment 12as Alex
- 2000 | Committedas T-Bo
- 1998 | A Fish in the Bathtubas Joel
- 1996 | The Last Big Thingas Brent Benedict
- 1998 | Safe Menas Frank
- 1996 | Blood Moneyas Attorney
- 1996 | The Destiny of Marty Fine
- 1995 | Mirror Mirror 3: The Voyeuras Joey
- 1994 | A Gift from Heaven
- 1994 | Mirror Mirror 2: Raven Danceas Christian
