MARK RUFFALO (Paul)
Actor/director/producer/writer Mark Ruffalo’s performance opposite Academy Award nominee Laura Linney in Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination; the New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association; and Best Actor honors at the 2000 Montreal World Film Festival.
His feature directorial debut, Sympathy for Delicious, received its world premiere and won a Special Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The independently made film stars Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney, Juliette Lewis, and Mr. Ruffalo.
Among his other films as actor are Brian Goodman’s What Doesn’t Kill You; David Fincher’s Zodiac; Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are; Michel Gondry’s Academy Award-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (also for Focus Features); Rian Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom; Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness, with Julianne Moore of The Kids Are All Right; Michael Mann’s Collateral; Terry George’s Reservation Road (also for Focus Features); Isabel Coixet’s My Life Without Me; Jane Campion’s In the Cut; Gary Winick’s 13 Going on 30; Mark Waters’ Just Like Heaven; Steven Zaillian’s All the King’s Men; Austin Chick’s xx/yy; John Woo’s Windtalkers; Rod Lurie’s The Last Castle; and Ang Lee’s Ride with the Devil. He recently starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island.
Mr. Ruffalo co-wrote the screenplay for Michael Hacker’s independent feature The Destiny of Marty Fine, which was first runner-up at the Slamdance Film Festival; has directed several plays, including Timothy McNeil’s Margaret (at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Los Angeles); and executive-produced John Curran’s independent feature We Don’t Live Here Anymore, in which he starred with Laura Dern, Peter Krause, and Naomi Watts.
The Wisconsin native trained with Joanne Linville at the Stella Adler Conservatory before beginning his acting career on the stage. He made his theater acting debut in David Steen’s Avenue A at The Cast Theater, where he later performed in productions of several of Justin Tanner’s award-winning plays, including Still Life with Vacuum Salesman and Tent Show. He gained entertainment industry attention starring in the off-Broadway production of This is Our Youth for playwright/director Kenneth Lonergan, for which Mr. Ruffalo won a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actor. He has also been honored with Dramalogue and Theatre World Awards. More recently, he made his Broadway debut in Bartlett Sher’s revival of Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing!, and received a Tony Award nomination. In January 2010, he reprised the role in five performances of the play for L.A. Theatre Works, which recorded each performance for broadcast on their nationally syndicated radio theater series.
