Mark Ruffalo Biography
Born: November 22, 1967
After 12 years as a struggling actor, Mark Ruffalo became the next big thing with his exceptional performance in the Oscar-nominated independent film You Can Count on Me (2000). Wisconsin-born Ruffalo wanted to be an actor as a child, but he ignored his early aspirations until the end of high school. Not sure what else to do, Ruffalo headed to Los Angeles at 18 "out of desperation" to study the craft at the prestigious Stella Adler Conservatory. After taking classes for several years and evading career decisions, Ruffalo began to venture into L.A. theater and independent film. Along with acting in over 30 plays, as well as writing and directing one of his own theater works, Ruffalo spent the 1990s amassing roles in indie movies, beginning with A_Gift_From_Heaven (1994). Working mostly in comedies, Ruffalo appeared in The_Last_Big_Thing (1996) and alongside comic character actor stalwarts Steve_Zahn and Paul_Giamatti in Safe_Men (1998); he also starred as an artist with love problems in the romantic comedy Life/Drawing (1999). Trying his hand at screenwriting, Ruffalo penned Slamdance success The Destiny of Marty Fine (1996). Two potentially higher-profile films, the disco period film 54 (1998) and Ang_Lee's Civil War epic Ride With the Devil (1999), failed to make a positive impression on critics and audiences.
Ruffalo's luck began to change, however, when he was cast in an off-Broadway production of +This Is Our Youth. Not only did he win an acting award, but Ruffalo also got to know the playwright, Kenneth_Lonergan. Despite his non-resemblance to future onscreen sister Laura_Linney, Ruffalo talked Lonergan into auditioning him for the role of Linney's brother in Lonergan's first film, You Can Count on Me. Well-matched in familial chemistry, Ruffalo's self-destructive, irresponsible, sensitive Terry meshed perfectly with Linney's uptight Sammy and her sheltered son, Rudy (Rory_Culkin), creating a deeply felt portrait of troubled yet strong family bonds. Earning raves for its nuanced performances as well as sharp writing, You Can Count on Me garnered Ruffalo the Montreal Film Festival's Best Actor prize and talk of an Oscar nod. Though he didn't get the nomination, Ruffalo swiftly moved up the Hollywood ranks, starring as an imprisoned military pilot caught between Robert_Redford and James_Gandolfini in The_Last_Castle (2001), and as a soldier in John_Woo's WWII saga Windtalkers (2001).
Ruffalo's ascent to stardom was temporarily sidetracked, however, when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor while filming The_Last_Castle in 2000. Forced to drop out of the Joaquin_Phoenix role in M._Night_Shyamalan's summer hit Signs (2002), Ruffalo had surgery and spent months rehabilitating from the procedure. Having made a full recovery, Ruffalo returned to work.
After Ruffalo appeared as Gwyneth_Paltrow's boyfriend in the woeful flop View From the Top (2003), his lead performance as the male axis of a complicated love triangle in the indie film XX/XY (2003) garnered far more enthusiastic critical kudos than the movie itself. Ruffalo also stayed firmly within the independent cinema realm, co-starring as terminally ill Sarah_Polley's lover in the drama My_Life_Without_Me (2003). Ruffalo subsequently scored roles in two higher-profile, if still offbeat, Hollywood projects. In Jane_Campion's long-gestating adaptation of erotic thriller -In the Cut (2003), Ruffalo co-starred as a homicide detective who becomes involved with Meg_Ryan's lonely New York professor.
2004 started off with a bang for Ruffalo when We_Don't_Live_Here_Anymore, a film he both starred in and produced, received the top dramatic prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The film saw the actor teamed with Laura_Dern, Peter_Krause, and Naomi_Watts and traced the crumbling of four characters' friendships and marriages when two of them engage in an affair. Ruffalo's next two roles would be increasingly lighter by comparison. In the Charlie_Kaufman-scripted brain twister The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he played a goofy scientist who attempts to erase Jim_Carrey's memories of Kate_Winslet. He then starred opposite Jennifer_Garner in the romantic comedy 13 Going on 30.
Three for three with the critics in 2004, Ruffalo's next project of the year was not only met with positive reviews but was a box-office winner as well. In Michael_Mann's Collateral, Ruffalo played the lawman trying to track down a menacing hitman played by Tom_Cruise as the hired gun terrorizes cabdriver Jamie_Foxx.
Ruffalo attempted to capture a mass audience with a pair of big-budget romantic comedies in 2005. Sadly, both Just_Like_Heaven and Rumor_Has_It... failed to garner large box office, even though Ruffalo was fine in both efforts. The next year, he appeared in Kenneth_Lonergan's second directorial feature, Margaret, and he was part of the powerhouse cast for Steven_Zaillian's remake All the King's Men, which included Sean_Penn, Jude_Law, Kate_Winslet, and Anthony_Hopkins. While All the King's Men, too, failed to gain a solid following -- an especially shocking surprise given the powerhouse cast on display in the film -- the verdict on Margaret had yet to be decided when, in early 2007, Ruffalo appeared onscreen opposite Robert_Downey_Jr. and Jake_Gyllenhaal in director David_Fincher's Zodiac. Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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