31 Surprising Facts About Mark Ruffalo You Probably Didn’t Know Before

Mark Ruffalo has been taking the world on a ride with his incredible performance as the super-hero Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for years now. The actor, who his co-stars call as a very good soul, has a lot more interesting things in his portfolio. Here are some little known facts about him:

1. Ruffalo describes himself as a husband, father, actor, director, and a climate change advocate with an eye on a better, brighter, cleaner, more hopeful future.
2. He was born Mark Alan Ruffalo on November 22, 1967, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Marie Rose and Frank Lawrence Ruffalo Jr. He has two sisters, Tania and Nicole, and a brother, Scott, who died in 2008.
3. As the oldest son of painting contractor dad and a hairdresser mom, he grew up in Wisconsin and Virginia and graduated from First Colonial High School.
4. After high school he and his family moved to San Diego, where he enrolled at the ‘Stella Adler Academy,’ Los Angeles, wanting to pursue acting. While at academy, he joined a group of actor friends and started a theater group called Orpheus.
5. Though he and his family were always doing shows, doing character bits, Ruffalo didn’t formally act until his senior years of high school. He competed in wrestling in school and is the freestyle state champion.
6. The subway is one his favorite places in New York, where he engages himself unobtrusively in character study. He gets on the train in the middle of the night and go back and forth, uptown and downtown, with his hood up going through the lines.
7. As a child and young adult, he struggled with un-diagnosed dyslexia and ADD and he practiced meditation to overcome the anxiety. It gave the impression for people to think ‘he is not very smart’ or ‘he’s lazy.’
8. Ruffalo worked in every capacity from acting, writing, directing, producing plays to running the lights and building sets for nearly nine years while bartending to make ends meet, until a chance meeting with playwright/screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan. He was part of original cast of successful Lonergan’s play ‘This Is Our Youth.’
9. In 2006, he was nominated for the ‘Tony Award for Best Featured Actor,’ in enacting ‘Moe’ in the Clifford Odets play ‘Awake and Sing,’ staged at the Belasco Theatre in New York.
10. After attending around 800 auditions, he made his on screen debut in an episode of ‘CBS Summer Playhouse,’ in 1989 and followed it up with ‘Nuclear Family,’ ‘Rough Trade,’ ‘A Song for You,’ and ‘Mirror Mirror 2: Raven Dance.’
11. In 2000, he was cast in male lead in Lonergan’s film ‘You Can Count on Me.’ The performance drew rave reviews and invited comparisons to an early Marlon Brando. He won awards from ‘Los Angeles Film Critics Association,’ and ‘Montreal World Film Festival.’
12. Ruffalo’s first starring role was in the film ‘Apartment 12,’ as Alex and followed it with Rod Lurie’s ‘The Last Castle,’ in 2001 in which he performed his own stunts during the helicopter battle scene.
13. Around 2002, Ruffalo secretly had ten-hour brain surgery at the NYU Medical Center, to remove benign tumor called acoustic neuroma that was the size of a walnut. He knew that there was a 30 percent chance of losing the left side of his face due to the surgery and in the end he was left hard of hearing in his left ear.
14. As original cast of 2002 film ‘Sign,’ he dreamed of contracting tumor during shooting of ‘Signs,’ which provoked him to visit a doctor to discover the hard truth. He left the film prior to shooting.
15. In 2003, he was cast in leading role alongside two popular female stars, playing love interest of Gwyneth Paltrow in the comedy ‘View from the Top,’ and a police detective opposite Meg Ryan in ‘In The Cut.’ Ruffalo went on undercover assignments with police officer to prepare for his role.
16. The film such as ‘Collateral,’ ‘Just Like Heaven,’ ‘All the King’s Men,’ ‘Zodiac,’ ‘Reservation Road,’ and ‘The Brothers Bllom,’ Ruffalo established him as a popular actor. During making of the film Just Like You, he jokingly jumped out of a window after a bad take only to land on the catwalk and scared the crew out of its wits.
17. On December 1, 2008, Ruffalo’s younger brother, Scott, a popular L.A. hairdresser, was found murdered outside his home, with an execution style bullet wound to the head, in a still unsolved crime.
18. In 2010, he made his directional debut with the film ‘Sympathy for Delicious,’ in which he also played a part as father Joe. The film was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the ‘Special Jury Prize.’
19. Ruffalo earned his first ‘Academy Award,’ ‘Independent Spirit Award,’ ‘Screen Actors Guild,’ and ‘BAFTA,’ nomination for Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as the sperm donor father to lesbian couple in the 2010 comedy drama film ‘The Kids Are All Right.’
20. After watching ‘High Alert,’ he approached Lisa Cholodenko, in appreciation and with a wish to work with her, earned him the Paul Hatfield in The Kids Are All Right. Similarly, Ruffalo won the role of Chuck Aule, in ‘Shutter Island,’ after sending Martin Scorsese, a fan letter saying how much he wanted to work with him.
21. In 2012, he replaced Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner a.k.a. the Hulk, in ‘The Avengers,’ the sixth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His performance was critically lauded.
22. He reprised the character in ‘Iron Man 3,’ ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ ‘Thor: Ragnarok,’ ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ He also made cameo appearance in ‘Iron Man3,’ and ‘Captain Marvel.’
23. Ruffalo earned nomination for ‘Primetime Emmy Awards,’ in 2014, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, for his performance in the television adaptation of the famous Broadway play ‘The Normal Heart.’
24. Later that year, he starred in the film ‘Foxcatcher,’ as Dave Schutz, an Olympic gold medal winning wrestler, which earned him ‘Golden Globe’ and Academy Award,’ nominations. He gained thirty pounds for the film and would film all day before going for intensive wrestling practice.
25. Ruffalo is a supporter of pro-choice stance on abortion rights and LGBT community. However, he was criticized for casting a cisgender actor in a transgender role as the executive producer of the film ‘Anything.’
26. He had spoken out against number of issues from time to time such as, Israel’s Operation Protective Edge and to end white conservative hiring by NBC, by posting a petition on Twitter urging millions of fans to pressure NBC.
27. In 2008, Ruffalo expressed concern that gas companies are scoping out his family’s land in Callicoon, New York. Subsequently fact-finding mission led him to become anti-fracking’s first famous face.
28. A documentary ‘Dear President Obama: The Clean Energy Revolution Is Now,’ directed by Jon Bowermaster, was narrated and produced by Ruffalo, highlights both substantial steps and forward and backward.
29. He is married to actress Sunrise Coigney since June 2000 and the couple have three children, a son Keen, and two daughters Bella Noche and Odette. The Ruffalo family live in Manhattan.
30. Ruffalo has given interviews in support of group called ‘Actors and Artists for 9/11 Truth.’ He stated that ‘I’m baffled by the way all three buildings came down. My first reaction was that buildings don’t fall down like that.’
31. Mark Ruffalo Net Worth: $30 Million