Mark Ruffalo, better known nowadays as his MCU alter ego Bruce Banner/Hulk, is an American actor, producer, director, activist, and a brain tumor survivor. He is a multi-awarded actor from different Award-Giving Bodies, but his most notable are these: He is a 3-time Academy Award nominee, 3-time Golden Globe Awards nominee, 3-time BAFTA nominee, and a 2-time Screen Actors Guilds winner.
Ruffalo’s net worth as of early 2020 is estimated at around $35 million. His professional acting career started in the 80s and finally made his big break in 2000 with the movie You Can Count on Me. His biggest paycheck so far (reportedly $15 million) came from playing the role of Hulk for Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Walk Through the Article
Net Worth
With his experience in the field plus the recognitions the actor received, the figures he’s having now financially isn’t that surprising. Here are some of Mark’s fabulous expenses for the past years:
The Callicoon Farm
Mark has previously bought some gorgeous properties such as the $3.5 million Brooklyn Brownstone House back in 2015 which he sold for $3.1 million in 2017 (Yes. $400,000 less). The other one was a $1.6 million house located in Los Angeles he purchased back in 2007 and he sold it to Zooey Deschanel in 2009.
Currently, our guy owns property in Manhattan but the highlight of his family’s life would be the farm they own in Callicoon. It’s a 50-acre land that reflects the actor’s attachment towards the environment. Also, the actor admitted that he wants his kids to have an unsophisticated way of growing up. “It’s pretty much a blue-collar community, a farming community. I wanted my children to have that experience.”
An Eco-Friendly Car
To support his environmental advocacies, Ruffalo extended his efforts into investing in an Eco-Friendly car. The actor has a $45,000 BMW I3 car in his garage. Cool right?
Bruce Banner’s Wardrobe and Accessories
Despite appearing in the public in simple attires most of the time, Ruffalo is still known to dress up when the situation calls for it. For one instance, is spotted to have worn a Frederique Constant, a well-known expensive brand of watch. In the 88th Academy Awards Ceremony, Mark also wore a custom-designed tuxedo by Valentino.
His Support for Solar Energy
It was reported back in 2016 that Mark donated solar panels to Standing Rock Sioux tribal elders. Although it wasn’t cleared how much the actor spent on those we can safely assume that these large panels are pricy indeed.
Early Life
Born on November 22, 1967, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mark Alan Ruffalo is the son of Marie Rose Hébert (a hairdresser and stylist) and Frank Lawrence Ruffalo Jr. (a construction painter). He has 2 sisters: Nicole and Tania, and a brother named Scott. His family’s ancestry includes Italian, French, and Canadian.
Ruffalo describes his younger years to be happy despite having hardships with undiagnosed ADHD and Dyslexia. In his high-school years, he competed in the sport of wrestling. When they moved to Los Angeles, he attended Stella Adler Conservatory and later on co-founded the Orpheus Theatre. The actor also spent several years working as a bartender.
Scott, his younger brother, died in 2008. They discovered his body outside their house in Beverly Hills with an execution-style bullet shot in the head.
Wife and Children
Ruffalo is married for 20 years to actress Sunrise Coigney, well-known for the role in movies like Campfire Stories (2001) and In the Cut (2003). They are blessed with 3 kids (oldest to youngest): Keen, Bella Noche, and Odette. The family lives in a farm-style estate in Callicoon.
According to an interview with Mark, he describes their love story as Sunrise being his redeemer. “I was living in a dump and didn’t even have a driver’s license or a credit card. She thought I was a mess, but she believed in me and kept encouraging me. I saw her and was like, I’m going to marry that girl.” Despite having one of his friends having the same interests as her, that didn’t stop the actor from pursuing the love of his life.
It was reported by The Guardian that Sunrise refused Mark’s proposal at first but eventually, the two still ended up together. Now, they’re one of Hollywood’s lovely and strongest couple to date.
Did Mark Ruffalo once have a Brain Tumor?
Yes. Ruffalo got diagnosed with a benign brain tumor back in 2001, just weeks before their first kid was born. Mark didn’t want to stress Sunrise considering her pregnancy so he decided to keep it to himself. In an interview with Men’s Journal, the actor said: “The worst experience of my life. I was so sure I was going to die that I recorded a video for my son so he could know who his dad was.”
He has undergone surgery which removed the tumor but resulted in partial face paralysis and affected his hearing. While the paralysis went away after a year, his hearing problem in his left ear remains up to this day.
Movies
According to IMDB, he has a total of 69 credits under his name. We’ll check some of his most memorable works in the past years:
13 Going on 30: Matt Flamhaff
Released in 2004, this fantasy romance comedy stars Jennifer Garner as the teenager who woke up as her 30-year-old self after her 13th birthday. Ruffalo plays her childhood best friend whom she thought ruined her 13th birthday party but ends up realizing that Matt 27 years from the current day would be a different person.
Based on an interview with GQ, the director approached Mark saying “Hey man, I want to do this romantic comedy, but I don’t want to do it like all these other things. I want it to have a message.”
Begin Again: Dan Mulligan
In this 2013 musical romance film, Mark plays the role of a washed-up record label producer, and his redemption story after meeting Greta (Keira Knightley), a singer song-writer who’s broken after her boyfriend left her for fame. Aside from getting their career back, Greta also helped Dan reunite with his family and especially with his daughter Violet.
When asked by The Wall Street Journal as to how he prepared for the role, he answered: “I just daydreamed a lot. I think being in the acting business and bartending all these years, I have come into contact with a lot of people like Dan, and then John really had a specific thing he wanted to do with it.” Aside from that, he and Keira hang out for a couple of weeks together so that they could build up their chemistry for improvisations.
The Kids Are All Right: Paul
The film was released back in 2010 and the story revolves 2 separate lives connected by artificial insemination. Mark plays the role of Paul, a sperm donor who discovers that his biological kids are looking for him.
Mark’s brother died before this film came into the process and he admitted that he was in the worst days of his life at the moment. He even considered it to be his last film as an actor so he paid homage to his brother by adapting his traits into the character. The actor then ended up being nominated for Oscars, S.A.G., and BAFTA for that particular film.
Foxcatcher: David Schultz
This 2014 film stars 3 well-known names in the entertainment industry: Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, and Channing Tatum. The story was inspired by real-life events surrounding U.S. Olympic wrestling champions and brothers Mark Schultz and Dave Schultz in the 80s. The film delivers the best acting chops into play which made everyone’s efforts worth it when the reel began rolling.
Marvel Cinematic Universe: Bruce Banner/Hulk
We won’t be missing the fan-favorite of most comic book fans today, Ruffalo’s portrayal of the enormous green rage monster. But before this version of Hulk became famous, the initial response to him being chosen for the role wasn’t accommodating.
When RDJ announces the cast of The Avengers in the Comic-Con for the first time, he introduces the actor as “reprising his role” which means that the audience is expecting Edward Norton. The fans cheered until they heard his name and the cheers went to “What?!”.
In an interview with The Graham Norton Show, Ruffalo stated that his agent called him before the event saying: “Listen. Look out your window at 5 in the morning, if there’s a car there, you got the part. If there’s not, just go back to bed.” Fortunately, the car was there at the very last minute.
As of the moment, it seems that Marvel doesn’t have any plans on making a standalone Hulk movie or series. Anyway, we do hope to see more of Ruffalo’s Hulk in the upcoming MCU projects.
