Mark Ruffalo
Mark Ruffalo
Mark Alan Ruffalo is an American actor, director, humanitarian, social activist, and film producer. He made his screen debut in an episode of CBS Summer Playhouse, followed by minor film roles. He was part of the original cast of This Is Our Youth, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Following was his roles in 13 Going on 30, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, and What Doesn't Kill You. In 2010, he starred in the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth22 November 1967
CityKenosha, WI
CountryUnited States of America
Well, it's actually funny and romantic, unlike many romantic comedies these days,
Usually, the first night before I start working on a picture, I can't sleep. If it's a particularly difficult scene, I have a hard time sleeping.
I was probably 8 years old; my mom let me stay up one night. She's like, 'You have to see this movie.' It was 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' and it was on TV, and it was a big deal. And I saw Marlon Brando, and I was like, 'Oh, my God.' That's where it started.
I was bartending for a long time and going on auditions and was constantly being rebuffed.
Who I am is a conglomeration of probably all the things that have happened to me, so somewhere along the way that works its way into the work.
You know, fifty percent of the marriages in America end in divorce, and eighty percent of married couples, one or the other has had adultery.
For the longest time, I was Scott Ruffalo's brother. I mean, he was the mayor of Beverly Hills. He was just so beloved there.
I don't like to go to the gym very much if I can help it.
I don't like this idea of Method. I come from that school, but what I was taught was that it's your imagination. You do your homework, and you use your imagination.
A home life where it's so full of so many rigorous ideas about the way things should be, this word "should," I think is absolutely toxic to children. It hurts their personalities, it hurts their points of view in the world, it hurts their ability to be open and caring and curious. An element of allowance in a family, is, I think, really a positive thing.
When you're on the road, you sort of go crazy and being away from your family you get stir-crazy and lonely, so I try to keep myself involved as much as possible.
I guess the biggest lesson would be to have faith in that little part of yourself that knows what it's doing, knows what it wants, knows what you should be doing, even when all the clamour around you is telling you something else. That's the part that you want to keep alive and that's the part that people want to see when they see you on the screen.
"What is normal?" really becomes the question. What is normal, and how are we fooled into thinking it's something other than what we're doing at any given time. Every family has either a drug addict or an alcoholic or some sort of dysfunction that the family is dealing with. And I think the grace of this family is that they actually could be that far out there but also be forgiving, and be really human, and be human in front of each other without much shame.
The fact that I can make a living and support three kids and my wife doing what I love to do... who does that? That's golden. It's a very privileged thing.