Mark Ruffalo

Mark Alan Ruffalo was born on November 22, 1967, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Marie Rose Hébert, a hairdresser and stylist, and Frank Lawrence Ruffalo Jr., a construction painter. His father is of Italian descent, with roots in Girifalco, Calabria, while his mother is of French Canadian and Italian ancestry. Ruffalo has two sisters, Tanya Marie, who died in 2023, and Nicole, and a brother, Scott, who died in 2008. His upbringing spanned multiple states; he spent his teenage years in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he competed in wrestling at the junior high and high school levels. He graduated from First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach in 1986, having acted with the school's Patriot Playhouse. As a child and young adult, Ruffalo struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia and ADHD. His household encompassed three religious traditions — born-again Christianity, Catholicism, and Baháʼísm — reflecting his parents' differing faiths.

After relocating with his family to San Diego and later to Los Angeles, Ruffalo studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory and co-founded the Orpheus Theatre Company, through which he wrote, directed, and performed in multiple productions. He also spent close to a decade working as a bartender during this period. His screen debut came in a 1989 episode of CBS Summer Playhouse, followed by minor film roles in the early 1990s, including the horror films Mirror, Mirror II: Raven Dance (1994) and Mirror, Mirror III: The Voyeur (1995). He also belonged to Naked Angels, a theater company whose founding members included playwright Kenneth Lonergan.

Ruffalo's early stage work brought him initial recognition. In 1996, he starred as Warren Straub in the original off-Broadway cast of Lonergan's play This Is Our Youth, performing alongside Josh Hamilton and Missy Yager. That production earned him a Theatre World Award in 1997. He reunited with Lonergan for the drama film You Can Count on Me (2000), in which he portrayed Laura Linney's character's brother; the film received critical acclaim and two Academy Award nominations, and Ruffalo's performance earned recognition from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Montreal World Film Festival. Supporting roles followed in films including Rod Lurie's The Last Castle (2001), Jane Campion's In the Cut (2003), and David Fincher's crime thriller Zodiac (2007), in which he played SFPD homicide inspector Dave Toschi opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr.

In the mid-2000s, Ruffalo took on a series of romantic lead roles, appearing opposite Jennifer Garner in 13 Going on 30 (2004) and Reese Witherspoon in Just Like Heaven (2005). He also appeared in a supporting capacity in Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Michael Mann's Collateral (2004), playing a narcotics detective alongside Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise.

Ruffalo made his Broadway debut in 2006, playing Moe Axelrod in the revival of Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing! at the Belasco Theatre. He performed alongside Lauren Ambrose, Pablo Schreiber, and Zoe Wanamaker. The role earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play as well as a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance in 2006. He returned to Broadway with a starring role in The Price, with his Broadway appearances spanning from 2006 to 2017.

On screen, Ruffalo accumulated four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his roles in The Kids Are All Right (2010), Foxcatcher (2014), Spotlight (2015), and Poor Things (2023), tying a record for nominations in that category. He won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of a gay activist in the television film The Normal Heart (2015) and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for playing dual roles as identical twins in the miniseries I Know This Much Is True (2020). Beginning with The Avengers (2012), Ruffalo gained widespread international recognition for his portrayal of Bruce Banner and the Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.