Mark Ruffalo's Real Name: Mark Alan Ruffalo

Quick answer: Mark Ruffalo's full name is Mark Alan Ruffalo. He was born on November 22, 1967, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He plays Bruce Banner/the Hulk in the Marvel films and has four Academy Award nominations. He also won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for I Know This Much Is True (2020) (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

Britannica's quick facts give his name "in full" as Mark Alan Ruffalo. The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Ruffalo, Mark." It cites "Mark Alan Ruffalo (born November 22, 1967) … born Kenosha, Wisconsin" and lists foreign spellings such as "Rufalo" and the Greek "Ράφαλο."

Britannica says he spent his early childhood in Kenosha. His father ran a construction painting business, and his mother was a hairstylist. Around age 13 the family moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia. He wrestled in high school and acted in West Side Story as a senior. After graduating in 1986, he moved with his family to San Diego. He later studied at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting & Theatre in Los Angeles and co-founded a theater company, working as a bartender to pay the bills.

Career highlights

Early screen work included a 1989 sitcom pilot and low-budget horror films such as The Dentist (1996). Playwright Kenneth Lonergan cast him in This Is Our Youth, which opened Off-Broadway in 1996. Lonergan's film You Can Count on Me (2000), with Laura Linney, was his breakthrough. He went on to In the Cut, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Collateral (all 2003–04). His Broadway debut in Awake and Sing! (2006) earned a Tony nomination. He also appeared in Zodiac (2007).

His directing debut, Sympathy for Delicious, won a special jury prize at Sundance in 2010. That year The Kids Are All Right brought his first Oscar nomination. He first played the Hulk in The Avengers (2012), reprised the role in later Marvel films, and appeared in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). Further Oscar nominations came for wrestler Dave Schultz in Foxcatcher (2014) and reporter Mike Rezendes in Spotlight (2015).

He earned an Emmy nomination for The Normal Heart (2014) and starred in Dark Waters (2019). Playing twin brothers in I Know This Much Is True won him an Emmy and a Golden Globe. His fourth Oscar nomination was for Poor Things (2023). The series Task (2025– ) brought another Emmy nomination. In 2026 he appeared in Crime 101 and returned as the Hulk in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. He married Sunrise Coigney in 2000, and they have three children.

Name notes for searchers

Alan is his middle name, and Ruffalo is his family surname. He does not use a stage name. LOC records several foreign-language spellings of his surname.