[1] His father is of Italian descent, from Girifalco[3] and his mother is of French Canadian and Italian ancestry. "There were all kinds of rumours about what had happened to me," he said. Recently, it was rumored that he might finally get a standalone Hulk movie and he makes a cameo in the Disney+ series, Moon Knight. It led to speculations that he was battling alcoholism, drug addiction, or AIDS. Police questioned Shaha Mishaal Adham and her boyfriend Brian Scofield after they willingly came forward. at the Belasco Theatre in New York, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. MARK RUFFALO has starred in some of the highest grossing films including multiple within the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he plays Hulk. [12], In 2008, Ruffalo starred as a con man in The Brothers Bloom with Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz and co-starred with Julianne Moore in Blindness. [42], Also in 2019, Ruffalo starred in and co-produced Dark Waters, which spotlighted another one of his environmental concerns with its true-life depiction of a corporate lawyer's relentless pursuit of justice to expose poisonous pollution by chemical behemoth DuPont. In the UK, acoustic neuroma is rare, affecting approximately 2 per 100,000 according to the British Acoustic Neuroma association. However, he beat the odds and after six months of paralysis, Mark was able to make very slight movements, signalling the beginning of a recovery that would still take several more months. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. He says having a tumor was a "gift" that made him love acting more. Ruffalo first learned of his tumor in 2000, while shooting the film You Can Count on Me. He wanted his loved ones to focus on the happy occasion instead. In May of 2017, heteamed up with the Child Mind Institute to participate in their #MyYoungerSelf initiative, through which celebrities talked about what they would have told their younger selves as they lived with a mental health or learning disorder. It's like a low-grade depression that just is running all the time in the background.". Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a TV Movie, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, List of awards and nominations received by Mark Ruffalo, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, List of actors with Academy Award nominations, List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories, "Mark Ruffalo: intervista con l'attore di Avengers", "Ruffalo ascends to the next level in 'Heaven', "5 Fakta Mark Ruffalo, Dari Kena Tumor Otak Hingga Adiknya Ditembak Mati", "Shutter Island Opens Doors For Home Video", "TOLDJA! As the story gained traction, however, he was forced to start taking it seriously, setting the record straight when he sat down with The Telegraph. "You always wonder, 'What could I have done differently?'" Not for the first time in his career, losing a role because of a tragedy turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as when Ruffalo returned to the fold he gained Academy recognition and a part in what would become the highest-grossing Hollywood franchise of all time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all within the space of a few years. Here's a look back at Mark Ruffalo's tragic real-life story. "Fox News picked it up and bundled it together with my brother's murder to make it sound as ominous as possible. Ruffalo did in fact lose his hearing soon after surgery. Performance & security by Cloudflare. In all, I disappeared for a year." According to Ruffalo, he gained 40 pounds following his operation. ", Ruffalo spent so long dealing with professional rejection (he reckons that he auditioned for anywhere between 600 and 800 roles without hearing back!) "I see it as kind of a gift in a weird way," the actor told W Magazine in 2011. Mark Ruffalo was born on November 22, 1967, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Marie Rose, a hairdresser and stylist, and Frank Lawrence Ruffalo, Jr., a construction painter. document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', function() { [43], In October 2020, speaking to Mehdi Hasan, Ruffalo condemned what he called Israel's "asymmetrical warfare" against the Palestinians, stating, "There is no reason that an ally of America should not be held to the same standards as any other nation in the world." The actor revealed that "recovery really tested what [he] was made of as a man." In 2010, Ruffalo helped to promote the film Gasland, a documentary exploring the negative effects of fracking. As a young adult, the actor also dealt with ADHD and undiagnosed dyslexia. And I thought, 'yep.' In June 2020, Ruffalo appeared in a webinar conference for the Irish Green Party to encourage members to accept the recently negotiated programme for government, agreed between the party, Fine Gael and Fianna Fil. But anaesthesia wasnt the only thing Ruffalo was worried about. Coping with the paralysis proved difficult enough, but the road to recovery posed new challenges. } It was shattering to them.". He was raised alongside two sisters and a brother by working-class parents of Italian and French-Canadian descent. On Jan. 6, 2012, Adham passed away, leaving the case without a critical witness. After burning through his Clearasil money, he started tending at a local dive bar. Here's a look back at Mark Ruffalo's tragic real-life story. Mark also explained that he underwent various therapies to help alleviate the paralysis, including acupuncture, herbal therapy, massage, and other forms of alternative medicine in conjunction with his prescribed regimen. If you have any concerns about the accuracy of our content, please reach out to our editors by e-mailing The unfortunate diagnosis didn't only correspond with the birth of his son Ruffalo was also reaching new heights in his career. The 'Crazy' Way Mark Ruffalo Discovered He Had a Brain Tumor Whether you know Mark Ruffalo as the king of rom coms, the Hulk in the Marvel movie franchise, or as an Oscar-courting dramatic. After a CAT scan, he received a diagnosis of acoustic neroma. He directed a number of plays during his time at the Orpheus Theatre Company, and made his feature film directorial debut with 2010 indie film Sympathy for Delicious,[29] which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize. According to the magazine, it compromised his profession as an actor, as it put his facial and auditory nerves. Understandably, his death affected Mark deeply. The Ruffalo family lived here for a number of years before Soda Butler also went out of business. "For a long time, I felt like someone had it in for me," Ruffalo told Parade. [8], He made his screen debut in an episode of CBS Summer Playhouse (1989),[9] followed by minor film roles, and was part of the original cast of This Is Our Youth (1996). By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. Dark times. Self deprecation is the most lethal weapon in any ladykiller's arsenal. In that time, Ruffalo kept quiet about why he'd dropped off the map, but that didn't stop people from guessing. Marshal Chuck Aule, the partner of Leonardo DiCaprio's character Teddy Daniels. What is it? After high school, he was embarrassed to tell his parents that he wanted to pursue acting so he resorted to spending most of his time surfing or smoking. "It wasn't until theWashington Times finally nailed the story that it went away." "I was like that for about 10 months and the likelihood of it ever getting better looked pretty remote," he told The Telegraph. Ruffalo also kept the diagnosis secret from his wife, Sunrise Coginey who was pregnant with their first child at that time. [52], On December 1, 2008, Ruffalo's younger brother, Scott, was found outside his home on North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills with an execution-style bullet wound to the head. When paramedics arrived at the 39-year-old hairdresser's Beverly Hills condo, they found him with a gunshot wound to the side of the head. I didn't know how to live in the world, how to cope. The way the world looked to me changed.". [49][50], After completing work on the film The Last Castle, Ruffalo was diagnosed with a vestibular schwannoma, a type of brain tumor also known as an acoustic neuroma. Through a chance meeting with writer Kenneth Lonergan, Ruffalo began collaborating with him and appeared in several of his plays, including the original cast of This is Our Youth (1996), which led to Ruffalo's role as Laura Linney's character's brother in Lonergan's Academy Award-nominated 2000 film You Can Count on Me. After he did just that, Ruffalo made a lot of friends in the business, one of whom was Chris Penn. Though Ruffalo continued working on his film, he remained retired from acting until he read the script for The Kids Are All Right. He even began to advocate for environmental causes and social justice. Mark retreated to his home where he stayed in self-imposed exile, refusing visits from colleagues and friends alike. He's enjoying the heights right now, but, before playing Bruce Banner/the Hulk in Hollywood's biggest franchise, he had to first experience the lowest of lows, going through things that most of us would struggle to overcome. He said, " there was a time if you came into my apartment, there were pictures and posters hanging in very odd places where they were covering fist-holes through walls," adding, "Glasses that had been thrown through, coffee mugs, books, whatever I could get a hold of.". Ruffalo stated in an interview that he approached Cholodenko after watching High Art and said he would love to work with her. "The shooting was a result of the victim's chronic playing of Russian Roulette and his dangerous playing with firearms while under the use of controlled substances," Adham's lawyer told the New York Daily News. A nightmare told him he had a tumorand doctors discovered it was true. ", "Conspiracy Theories About Zika Spread Through Brazil With the Virus", "Dear President Obama: The Clean Energy Revolution is Now", "Mark Ruffalo seeks help in stopping MSNBC's white conservative hiring spree", "Mark Ruffalo in hulk rage at NBC, pushes petition to end 'white conservative hiring', "Election 2017: The surprising and not-so surprising ways celebrities will be casting their ballots today", "Who are celebrities voting for in 2017 General Election? In an interview with New York Magazine, Ruffalo detailed his struggles after graduating high school. In 2010, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Pennsylvania's Office of Homeland Security had placed the Oscar-nominated actor on the terror watch list after he publicly discussed his concerns over natural gas drilling in the United States (via CBS). Luckily, they were able to remove the tumor successfully. According to Mayo clinic, this is a buildup of fluid inside cavities deep within the brain known as ventricles. During his ramp-up to wider success, Ruffalo suffered a setback in 2002 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In fact, things went downhill pretty fast. Within an hour of the test, his doctor returned to share the results of the imaging. Small tumours may also be treated by stereotactic radiosurgery, which involves a precise beam of radiation targeting the tumour to prevent it growing bigger. You can unsubscribe at any time. In fact, he made his directorial debut withSympathy for Delicious, a film about a paralyzed DJ who enters into faith-healing. In 2014, Ruffalo starred as Ned Weeks in a television adaptation of Larry Kramer's AIDS-era play, The Normal Heart; his performance earned him an Emmy nomination.