Mark Alan Ruffalo (born November 22, 1967) is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. Best known for his role as the Marvel Comics character Bruce Banner / The Hulk in Marvel's The Avengers (2012), he has also starred in films such as You Can Count on Me (2000), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Just Like Heaven (2005), Zodiac (2007), and Shutter Island (2010). For his role in The Kids Are All Right (2010), he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

 

Early life

Ruffalo was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His mother, Marie Rose (née Hebert), is a hairdresser and stylist, and his father, Frank Lawrence Ruffalo, Jr., worked as a construction painter.His father and maternal grandmother were of Italian descent, and his maternal grandfather was of French Canadian ancestry.He has two sisters, Tania and Nicole, and a brother, Scott,who died in December 2008. Ruffalo has described himself as having been a "happy kid"and his upbringing as taking place in a "very big" family with "lots of love".Of his father, Ruffalo has said, "He was an amazing, charismatic guy who was city high school wrestling champion three times. He was away a lot when I was growing up. I was very lonely for him.”Ruffalo was raised Roman Catholic; he attended both a Catholic and a progressive school. Ruffalo spent his teen years in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where his father worked. He graduated from First Colonial High School,and then moved with his family to San Diego, and later to Los Angeles, California. There, he took classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory and co-founded the Orpheus Theatre Company.With the OTC, he wrote, directed, and starred in a number of plays, and spent the next nine years earning his money as a bartender.

 

Career

Acting

Ruffalo had minor roles in films like The Dentist (1996), the low-key crime comedy Safe Men (1998) and Ang Lee's Civil War Western Ride with the Devil (1999). Through a chance meeting with writer Kenneth Lonergan, Ruffalo began collaborating with Lonergan and appeared in several of his plays, including the original cast of This is Our Youth (1998), which led to Ruffalo's role as Laura Linney's troubled, aimless drifter brother Terry in Lonergan's acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated 2000 film You Can Count on Me.He received favorable reviews for his performance in this film, often earning comparisons to the young Marlon Brando, and won awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Montreal World Film Festival.

 

This led to other significant roles, including the films XX/XY (2002), Isabel Coixet's My Life Without Me with Sarah Polley (2003), Jane Campion's In the Cut with Meg Ryan (2003), Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), and We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004), which is based upon two short stories written by Andre Dubus.He appeared opposite Tom Cruise as a narcotics detective in Michael Mann's acclaimed crime-thriller Collateral (2004).More recently, Ruffalo has appeared as a romantic lead in "chick flicks" such as View From the Top (2002), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Just Like Heaven (2005) and Rumor Has It (2005). In 2006, Ruffalo starred in Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing! at the Belasco Theatre in New York, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.In March 2007, he appeared in Zodiac as SFPD homicide inspector Dave Toschi, who ran the investigation to find and apprehend the Zodiac killer from 1969 through most of the 1970s. In 2007, Ruffalo played divorced lawyer Dwight Arno, who accidentally kills a child and speeds away, in Terry George's film Reservation Road, based on the novel by John Burnham Schwartz.

 

In 2008, Ruffalo starred as a con man in The Brothers Bloom with Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz. Also in 2008, he starred along with Julianne Moore in Blindness. 2008 also saw Ruffalo in Brian Goodman's What Doesn't Kill You with Ethan Hawke and Amanda Peet, which was shown at the Toronto Film Festival. In 2009, he played a brief role in the film Where The Wild Things Are as Max's mother's boyfriend. In 2010, he costarred in the Martin Scorsese thriller Shutter Island as U.S. Marshal Chuck Aule, the partner of Leonardo DiCaprio's character Teddy Daniels.

 

In 2010, he starred in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. Ruffalo stated in an interview that he approached Cholodenko after watching High Art and said he would love to work with her. Years later, she called Ruffalo and said she wrote a script, and had him in mind for the part. The performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.

 

He is set to star in Second Coming, a low-budget indie film. According to Production Weekly, it is being produced by Richard N. Gladstein, Laura Bickford, and Ludovic Dardenay. The movie will also star Marion Cotillard, Ethan Hawke, Anjelica Huston, and Thandie Newton, and it will be the directorial debut of Nenad Cicin-Sain.

 

On July 23, 2010, it was announced that Ruffalo would star in the 2012 superhero film The Avengers, the sixth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, replacing Edward Norton in the role of Bruce Banner / the Hulk.Ruffalo received critical acclaim for his performance and will reprise the role in any future film adaptations of the character produced by Marvel Studios.

 

Directing

He made his directorial debut with Sympathy for Delicious, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize. On releasing the film, Ruffalo said, "I'm still looking for distribution. I have a couple offers on the table, but I'm holding out for something a little bigger. I've been screening it for a lot of groups, and people are really responding to it. I think they're scared of that movie." Of directing, he says, "I liken it to an actor gets to eat one slice, and a director gets to eat the whole pie. [laughs] You get to collaborate with gifted people who are good at their craft, so you're orchestrating all these different mediums. You're helping people through the script to realize their own talents. I find that really satisfying, and I felt like being in front of the camera is so intense and self-involved and personal, and directing isn't like that for me. It's a much more communal experience. Last year at this time, I was like, 'I'm not going back to acting, man. No way, it's done.' I haven't worked in a year. It's really taken me that long to get back to my love for what I do for acting. I would like to do 50-50, if I could. Really, I'd just be directing right now, but I can't support my family doing that at this moment, and I love acting. It's not a bad position to be in."

 

Personal life

Family

Since June 2000, Mark has been married to French-American actress Sunrise Coigney (born Christina Sunrise Coigney on September 17, 1972 in San Francisco), and they have three children: a son Keen, born in 2001, and daughters Bella Noche, born in 2005, and Odette, born in 2007, in Los Angeles.

 

On December 1, 2008, Ruffalo's brother, Scott, was shot at his Beverly Hills condominium,with one report describing the shooting as "execution-style" in the back of the head.Scott died on December 8, 2008. Police took two people into custody: a woman who is considered a suspect and a man considered a "person of interest".One of the suspects reportedly told police that Scott Ruffalo shot himself while playing Russian roulette;the witnesses were later released as the police investigation continued.

 

In 2002, Ruffalo was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a type of brain tumor, and had surgery; the tumor was benign, but resulted in a period of partial facial paralysis.He fully recovered from the paralysis and returned to good health as well as an active life and movie career.

 

Political views

On October 4, 2006, he appeared on Democracy Now!, a daily news program. He spoke against the War in Iraq, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, torture, and the Bush Administration. He also announced he would speak at The World Can't Wait Protest in New York City on October 5, 2006. Ruffalo contributed to the campaign of former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel for the 2008 Democratic Party nomination for President.

 

In October 2007, Ruffalo criticized the 9/11 Commission Report as "completely illegitimate" and called for re-opening the investigation. He said: "I saw the way they all came down and I am baffled. My first reaction is that buildings don't fall down like that." He also criticized the 9/11 truth movement, saying "There's so much information that's been put out there by truth for 9/11 and ... so much of it has been stretched that a lot of people are grabbing hold of the more sensational parts of what doesn't jibe..."

 

Ruffalo appeared on Penn & Teller: Bullshit! on August 14, 2008's episode entitled "World Peace". He said that "Peaces looks like me and my kids and my wife laying in our bed on a Saturday morning... it's a loving, y'know? John Lennon had it right, y'know?" 

 

In 2012, Ruffalo endorsed Kathleen Kane, the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania Attorney General, due to her insistence on investigating the Jerry Sandusky scandal, hydrofracking and the Hershey Trust for alleged improprieties. Kane went on to become Pennsylvania's first woman and Democrat elected to the post.

 

Opposition to fracking

On October 4, 2010, Ruffalo, who makes his home with his family in Callicoon, New York, appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show to discuss hydraulic fracturing and the The FRAC Act of 2009.Ruffalo stated in the December 2010 issue of GQ magazine that after he organized screenings in Pennsylvania of a documentary about natural-gas-drilling called Gasland, he was placed on a terror advisory list.The Department of Homeland Security denied that they had him on a list.

 

On July 13, 2011, Ruffalo appeared on Countdown With Keith Olbermann to discuss fracking, most particularly in New York. "This is an industry that is the dirtiest, slimiest, most arrogant, and negligent that you can imagine," Ruffalo says. Ruffalo taped an "online segment extra" for Countdown, during which time Keith Olbermann offered him the opportunity to become an official Countdown Contributor. Ruffalo gratefully accepted.

 

On March 28, 2012, Ruffalo appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss his continued opposition to fracking and promote waterdefense.org.

 

On June 22, 2012, Ruffalo appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher to discuss his continued opposition to fracking and promote waterdefense.org.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Due South	Vinnie Webber
	Mirror, Mirror 2: Raven Dance	Christian
1996	The Last Big Thing	Brent Benedict
	The Dentist	Steve Landers
1997	On the 2nd Day of Christmas	Bert
1998	Safe Men	Frank
	54	Ricko
1999	Ride with the Devil	Alf Bowden
2000	You Can Count on Me	Terry Prescott	Los Angeles Film Critics Association's New Generation Award Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actor Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Performer Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor (2nd place) Nominated—San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Acto (2nd place) Nominated—Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (3rd place) Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (2nd place) Nominated—Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
	Committed	T-Bo
	The Beat	Zane Marinelli	8 episodes
2001	The Last Castle	Yates
	Life/Drawing	Alex
2002	XX/XY	Coles
	Windtalkers	Private Pappas
2003	My Life Without Me	Lee	Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor
	View from the Top	Ted Stewart
	In the Cut	Detective Giovanni A. Malloy
2004	We Don't Live Here Anymore	Jack Linden	Executive producer
	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	Stan
	13 Going on 30	Matt Flamhaff	Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Comedy Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liplock
	Collateral	Fanning
2005	Just Like Heaven	David Abbott
	Rumor Has It...	Jeff Daly
2006	All the King's Men	Adam Stanton
2007	Zodiac	Inspector Dave Toschi
	Reservation Road	Dwight Arno
2008	Blindness	Doctor	Nominated—Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film
	What Doesn't Kill You	Brian Reilly	Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
2009	Brothers Bloom, TheThe Brothers Bloom	Stephen	Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
	Where the Wild Things Are	Connie's Boyfriend
	Sympathy for Delicious	Joe	Director and producer Sundance Film Festival: Special Jury Prize – Dramatic
2010	Shutter Island	Chuck Aule / Dr. Sheehan	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Scream Award for Best Supporting Actor
	Date Night	Brad Sullivan
	The Kids Are All Right	Paul	Comedy Film Award for Best Supporting Actor Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated—Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Ensemble Cast (2nd place) Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Nominated—Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Performance Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male Nominated—Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated—Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
2011	Margaret	Maretti Berstone
2012	The Avengers	Bruce Banner / The Hulk	Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Hissy Fit
	Thanks For Sharing	Adam
2013	Now You See Me	Dylan
	Foxcatcher	Dave Schultz