Mark Ruffalo hasdealt with depression since he was a child. "I'd had surgery in the past and had a really bad reaction to the anesthesia anyway I was honestly afraid to die was my biggest fear," he said. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. Mark Ruffalois an American actor and film producer who has starred in numerous films and television series. Mark was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2001 and was left with partial facial paralysis after undergoing surgery to remove it. While filming what would become a breakout role in his career, Ruffalo was diagnosed with a rare form of brain tumor, which he says was "the size of a golf ball" when it was found. In an interview with Parade, Ruffalo described how he and his friend remained close, saying, "He was the only one I knew as sad as me who I could talk to.". However, he beat the odds after six months of paralysis, Ruffalo was able to make very slight movements, signaling the beginning of a recovery that would still take several more months. Ruffalo and Scott were always close, even for brothers. [46][47][48], Ruffalo married Sunrise Coigney in 2000. He had been the angriest man in the world, and he had such a calm demeanor. I was struggling as a young actor, suffering through imagined or real slights from other people's hands. [35], In February 2016, Ruffalo tweeted a Tech Times article in which a group of Argentinian doctors attributed the cause of a microcephaly outbreak in Brazil to the use of a larvicide chemical added to reservoirs of drinking water to combat dengue fever, rather than the Zika virus. 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. [10], Ruffalo played 'Vinnie Webber', a minor character in Series 1 Episode 9 of Due South, first broadcast in Canada in 1994. However, just when he was about to make a name in Hollywood, he was forced to take a break that nearly hampered his career. Mark Ruffalo is an anti-fracking activist. "It wasn't until theWashington Times finally nailed the story that it went away." 210.65.88.143 Prior to 9/11, he moved to upstate New York to get away from the spotlight and focus on recuperating. Therapists say it can damage your connection. "And everything changed. He begged God not to take away the one thing that he used to support his family, but, at that stage, it looked as though his face might never recover, essentially bringing his career as an actor to an end just as it was really getting started. The latest movie news, trailers, reviews, and more. navigator.sendBeacon('https://www.google-analytics.com/collect', payload); Ruffalo has had a range of credits on screen and stage, including several performances of varying genresmostly as a supporting actor. I had become friendly with the set doctor on that movie who was on the board of the local hospital," the Spotlight star told the Acoustic Neuroma Association (ANA) in 2013. Lauren Gray is a New York-based writer, editor, and consultant. Mark Ruffalo health: Actor on 'struggling' with depression "She came in and she was white as a sheet, and she said, 'you have a mass behind your left ear that's the size of a golf ball. "I didn't want any visitors," he later recalled. [1] He appeared opposite Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise as a narcotics detective in Michael Mann's crime thriller Collateral (2004). ", Ruffalo spent so long dealing with professional rejection (he reckons that he auditioned for anywhere between 600 and 800 roles without hearing back!) Even after the tumour was removed, the resulting paralysis of the left side of Marks face caused complications for the actor. Born in Wisconsin to a hairdresser mother and painter father, a Hollywood life was far from what he was used to. It became tough not only for Ruffalo's career but his marriage as well. He's said he spent most of his time smoking, surfing, and wandering around aimlessly instead, a period when he was "just about ready to jump off a bridge. Unperturbed, Ruffalo told GQ (via Fox News) that he found the rumor funny, but that didn't stop different outlets from running stories about his supposed terrorist ties. He also spent close to a decade working as a bartender. His next role was in 2001 in Rod Lurie's The Last Castle playing a bookie in a military prison alongside Robert Redford. [1] Initially it appeared that Scott might have died due to a Russian roulette mishap, but eventually the case was ruled a homicide. Ruffalo has been nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right (2010), the biopic Foxcatcher (2014), and the drama Spotlight (2015). After he did just that, Ruffalo made a lot of friends in the business, one of whom was Chris Penn. 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. "Signs and symptoms could include hearing loss, ringing in the ear, dizziness and facial numbness.". In 2010, Ruffalo helped to promote the film Gasland, a documentary exploring the negative effects of fracking. [1] His father is of Italian descent, from Girifalco[3] and his mother is of French Canadian and Italian ancestry. While Mark Ruffalo was living in Los Angeles and taking classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory, he had a best friend named Michael. [17] He reprised the role again in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015),[18] Thor: Ragnarok (2017),[19] Avengers: Infinity War (2018),[20][21] and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Mark Ruffalo on screen and stage - Wikipedia You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. In an interview with the Acoustic Neuroma Association regarding his experiences before and after his operation, Mark said he focused on trying to move his face muscles for about an hour every day and walking. [34], In 2015, Ruffalo supported "Education Is Not a Crime" campaign among a lot of artists and intellectuals including Nazanin Boniadi, Abbas Milani, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Azar Nafisi, Omid Djalili, Eva LaRue, Mohammad Maleki (former president of the University of Tehran), and Nobel Peace laureates such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi, Tawakkol Karman, Jody Williams, and Mairead Maguire, to draw attention to the Iranian government's systematic denial of university education to young Baha'is. The paralysis eased up after a year but to his day, he's still deaf in his left ear. When he sat down for an interview with Men's Journal, the former C student told them that he believes he suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia for years, but he dug in and finished high school anyway. In 2010, he co-starred in the Martin Scorsese thriller Shutter Island as U.S. Overcoming anger is essentially what playing the Hulk is all about, and, because of that, Mark Ruffalo wouldn't appear to be a natural fit for the part. [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." He knew it sounded very strange, but he followed his gut and was right. He did come back stronger than ever and went on to acquire numerous recognitions for various projects. After burning through his Clearasil money, he started tending at a local dive bar. sound information and advice to make the smartest, healthiest choices. Scofield and Adham (who died of a suspected overdose in 2012) were later released and the coroner's report overruled. "Mark Ruffalo and his family deeply appreciate the outpouring of prayers and support during this most difficult time of the passing of Scott Ruffalo, beloved son, brother and husband," they said in a statement, though they failed to comment on the strange circumstances surrounding his passing. Supplements: Folic acid increase prostate cancer risk, Bowel cancer: Symptoms include hematochezia, Mark Ruffalo: The Hulk actor was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma in 2001, Chris Evans health: Radio DJ on his 'unbearable' symptoms, Mark Ruffalo: The actor's face became paralysed just days after his surgery, Ruth Jones health: Star uses particular spice to help arthritis, Tom Hanks health: Star suffered from 'crippling' aches and fatigue, Michael Caine health: Star, 89, on his health concerns. Speaking about a difficult time in his life, Mark told Parade: "For a long time, I felt like someone had it in for me. "When I woke up I was so sickand I was not dead, so that was goodbut I was so sick I almost wished I was." "I made a tape for him, for when he was old enough to understand. In an interview with New York Magazine, Ruffalo detailed his struggles after graduating high school. [66], In October 2019, Ruffalo tweeted that "until George W. Bush is brought to justice for the crimes of the Iraq War, (including American-led torture, Iraqi deaths & displacement, and the deep scarsemotional & otherwiseinflicted on our military that served his folly), we cant even begin to talk about kindness. After doing his own investigation, New York magazine wrote, he became "anti-fracking's first famous face. However, she played no role whatsoever in his accidental death." The "Crazy" Way Mark Ruffalo Discovered He Had a Brain Tumor, John Lamparski/WireImage via Getty Images, Maria Menounos Says This Was the First Symptom of Her Brain Tumor, Wayne Osmond Says This Was His First Sign of a Brain Tumor, Two-Time Cancer Survivor Kathy Bates Warns Others Never to Do This. After a while, Frank Ruffalo's painting business went under, prompting the family to move to Virginia Beach, Virginia, when Mark was 13. } ); In 2009, he played a brief role in the film Where the Wild Things Are as Max's mother's boyfriend. "I Know This Much Is True," an HBO limited series based on Wally Lamb's 1998 brick of a book, begins when Thomas Birdsey enters a public library and amputates his . Since then, he's received three Oscar nominations for his performances in The Kids Are All Right, Foxcatcher, and Spotlight. While Ruffalo's tumor operation was a success, the effect of the tumor still left its mark on him. The surgery to remove the tumor, which was determined to be benign, led to a. [1] In March 2007, he appeared in Zodiac as SFPD homicide inspector Dave Toschi, who ran the investigation to find and apprehend the Zodiac killer from 1969 through most of the 1970s. [1] With the theater company, he wrote, directed, and starred in a number of plays. He was raised alongside two sisters and a brother by working-class parents of Italian and French-Canadian descent.