Name: Mark Ruffalo
Character:
Avengers: Bruce Banner/Hulk
Avengers: Age of Ultron: Bruce Banner/Hulk
Date of Birth: 22 November 1967
Place of Birth: Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
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Whedonverse Appearances
THE AVENGERS
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Bio
Mark Ruffalo ws born in Kenosha, Wisconsin to Marie Rose and Frank Lawrence Ruffalo, a hairstylist and construction painter respectively. The family moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia where Mark attended East Columbia High School before morning again to San Diego and eventually Los Angeles.
In L.A., Mark took classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory and co-founded the Orpheus Theatre Company, where he took on every role from building sets to acting whilst also working as a bartender.
Mark first appeared on the screen in 1989 in a pilot for American Nuclear which aired as part of the CBS Summer Series. This was followed by a couple of short films, Rough Trade (1992) and A Song For You (1993), from which time he picked up some regular work with minor roles in movies until he got his big break when he landed a role in Kenneth Lonnergan’s play, This is Our Youth and subsequently his movie You Can Count on Me (2000), for which he was critically acclaimed.
From this time his work picked up, landing a recurring role in short-lived TV series, The Beat, and regular movie roles, including Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 13 Going on 30, Just Like Heaven, Where the Wild Things Are and Date Night, before landing the role of Bruce Banner/Hulk in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, controversially taking over from Ed Norton.
Mark has appeared as Bruce Banner in 7 movies within the Marvel Cinematic Universe and will voice his character in the forthcoming Disney+ animated series, What If…?
He can next be seen in HBO mini-series, I Know This Much Is True.
When he is not acting, Mark is a keen environmentalist and anti-frakking activist and has received a Global Green Millenium Award and a Meera Ghandi Giving Back Foundation Award for his work.
Trivia
Mark was The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier’s choice for Bruce Banner, however the studio wanted Ed Norton who got the role.