|
Mark Ruffalo Profile |
|
-
Birth Date: November 22, 1967
-
Birth Place: Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
-
Birth Name: Mark Alan Ruffalo
-
Height:
5'9"
|
|
|
Biography |
Mark Ruffalo is an American actor who has received critical
acclaim for his film work.
Born to second-generation Italian American parents Frank
Ruffalo (a construction painter) and Maria (a hairdresser),
he spent his teen years in Virginia Beach, Virginia where he
graduated from First Colonial High School. He then moved
with his family to San Diego, California and later to Los
Angeles, California where 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, but overall his luck with acting was not
great, and he spent the next 9 years earning his living
being a bartender. He had minor roles in films like the
schlocky horror The Dentist (1996), the low-key crime comedy
Safe Men (1998) and Ang Lee's acclaimed 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, which led to Ruffalo's role as Laura
Linney's troubled, aimless drifter brother Terry in
Longeran's acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated 2000 film You
Can Count on Me. He received strongly 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 opportunities, including the
films XX/XY (2002), My Life Without Me (2003), 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 attracted controversy for his
steamy sex scenes with Meg Ryan as a sleazy, potentially
dangerous homicide cop in Jane Campion's dark psychosexual
thriller In the Cut (2003), and appeared opposite Tom Cruise
as another homicide detective in Michael Mann's acclaimed
crime-thriller Collateral (2004). More recently, to the
disappointment of some fans of his dramatic acting skills,
Ruffalo has cornered the market in romantic leads in
so-called "chick flicks" like View From the Top (2002), 13
Going on 30 (2004), Just Like Heaven (2005) and Rumor Has It
(2005).
In 2002, Ruffalo was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had
surgery, which resulted in a period of partial facial
paralysis, even though the tumor was found to be benign. He
fully recovered from the paralysis and returned to good
health as well as an active life and movie career.
He has been married to actress Sunrise Coigney since June of
2000, and they have two children: a son Keen born in 2001,
and a daughter Bella born in 2005. |
|
|
Other
Information |
He was set to appear in Signs (2002) but had to drop out
when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. His part in Signs
(2002) went to Joaquin Phoenix. The brain tumor Mark was
diagnosed with was found to be benign. Following brain
surgery, he has fully recovered after suffering from a
partial facial paralysis.
Father was a construction painter and mother a hairstylist.
Both are Italian-Americans and later divorced. His three
siblings -- Scott, Tania and Nicole -- are all hairdressers.
Studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory in Los Angeles.
His son, Keen, was born in 2001; second child, Bella, was
born May 2005.
Bartended for nearly a decade while trying to break in to
show business
In an interview with Moviemaker magazine, he claims to have
made 800 auditions in his lifetime before making it big.
Attended First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach,
Virginia
He is one of four children.
Benicio Del Toro was a fellow student at the Stella Adler
drama school in Los Angeles.
He is an Italian-American. |
|
|
|
