Born November 22, 1967 in Kinosha, Wisconsin to a construction painter father and hairstylist mother, Mark Ruffalo was raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with his family which included two sisters and a brother, moving to San Diego and then Los Angeles after he finished high school.
Ruffalo studied acting 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.
Working as a bartender to supplement his income from acting for nearly a decade, he had been acting in minor roles on TV from 1989 and in films from 1994 when he met playwright-director Kenneth Lonergan who cast him in his 1996 off-Broadway play, This Is Our Youth. That led to his being given the male lead in Lonergan’s 2000 film, You Can Count on Me for which he and co-star Laura Linney received awards recognition, Linney even earning an Oscar nomination for her performance. That same year he married actress Sunrise Coigney with whom he has three children.
Among his successes in the next few years were The Last Castle, Windtalkers, Just Like Heaven, Zodiac, Reservation Road, and Where the Wild Things Are. In 2006, he received a Tony nomination for the Broadway revival of Awake and Sing!
In 2018 Ruffalo was in the news when his younger, Scott, a hairstylist and former mayor of Beverly Hills, was murdered execution style outside his home.
He received his first Oscar nomination for 2010’s The Kids Are All Right. That same year, he was one of the stars of the box-office hit, Shutter Island. In 2011, he reteamed with Kenneth Lonergan for the indie hit, Margaret. In 2012, he joined the Avengers franchise as Bruce Banner aka The Hulk.
Ruffalo received his second Oscar nomination for 2014’s Foxcatcher. For that same year’s The Normal Heart, he was nominated for an Emmy and won for Best Outstanding Television Movie as one of the film’s producers. He received his third Oscar nomination for 2015’s Spotlight while expanding his work with the Avengers franchise in Avengers: Age of Ultron and others in the series through 2019.
In 2020 the busy actor won an Emmy for Best Actor in a TV movie or miniseries for his portrayal of twins in the miniseries, I Know This Much Is True.
In 2022 Ruffalo co-starred with Ryan Reynolds in the time-travel film, The Adam Project. In 2022, he starred in the miniseries, All the Light We Cannot See and the film, Poor Things for which he received his fourth Oscar nomination.
With five projects in various phases of production including Bong Joon Ho’s highly anticipated Mickey 17 opposite Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo shows no signs of slowing down. He remains one of our busiest and most popular actors at 56.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010), directed by Lisa Cholodenko
This hilarious comedy starred Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple with two teenage children played by Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson who track down sperm donor Mark Ruffalo and invite him to dinner. Nominated for four Oscars – Best Picture, Actress (Bening), Supporting Actor (Ruffalo), and screenplay, it lost all four but Moore who wasn’t nominated this time did win for Still Alice a few years later. Bening and Ruffalo have since been nominated for other things, including this last Oscar season, but, alas, are still waiting for wins. Director Cholodenko has since concentrated on her TV work.
FOXCATCHER (2014), directed by Bennett Miller
This brooding, dark biographical film about eccentric multimillionaire John DuPont who sponsors the wrestling Shultz brothers on their way to the 1988 Olympics was the last of only three films directed by Bennett Miller, the others being Capote and Moneyball. It was nominated for five Oscars including Best Director, Actor (Steve Carrell as DuPont), Supporting Actor (Ruffalo as Dave Schultz), Screenplay, and Makeup. Channing Tatum played Ruffalo’s brother Mark, Sienna Miller played his wife, and Vanessa Redgrave played Carrell’s disapproving mother.
THE NORMAL HEART (2014), directed by Ryan Murphy
The film version of Larry Kramer’s 1985 off-Broadway play about the early days of the AIDS crisis was revived on Broadway in 2011 sparking renewed interest in the work which had been optioned as a film by Barbra Streisand who couldn’t get Hollywood support for the film. Made for television with Ruffalo as one of the producers, he took the starring role as a character based on Kramer with Matt Bomer who lost 40 pounds to play his lover in a Golden Globe award-winning performance. Also outstanding were Julia Roberts, Jim Parsons, Alfred Molina, Jonathan Groff, Finn Wittrock, Stephen Spinella, Joe Mantello, Taylor Kitsch, and BD Wong.
SPOTLIGHT (2015), directed by Tom McCarthy
The story of the Boston Globe’s investigation into the scandal and coverup of the Boston Archdiocese’s child sexual abuse received six Oscar nominations, winning two for Best Picture and Original Screenplay by Josh Singer and director McCarthy. Although Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams were the only actors nominated for an Oscar, other actors including Michael Keaton, Live Schreiber, John Slattery, Brian d’Arcy James, Stanley Tucci, James Sheridan, Neal Huff, and Billy Crudup were also praised for their performances in this film which was very much in the style of All the President’s Men.
POOR THINGS (2023), directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Nominated for 11 Oscars and winner of 4, this hilarious romp won Emma Stone her second Best Actress Oscar for her yeoman performance as a modern Bride of Frankenstein with Ruffalo the only other actor nominated for his go-for-broke portrayal of her sexually mad lover. Willem Dafoe narrowly missed a nomination for his equally outstanding portrayal of her Dr. Frankenstein. Ruffalo’s heavy makeup took four hours to apply and two to remove each day. The film, unlike most modern films, was filmed on a soundstage for all except the ballroom scene with Stone and Ruffalo which was filmed on location.
MARK RUFFALO AND OSCAR
The Kids Are All Right (2010) – nominated – Best Supporting Actor
Foxcatcher (2014) – nominated – Best Supporting Actor
Spotlight (2015) – nominated – Best Supporting Actor
Poor Things (2023) – nominated – Best Supporting Actor
