There aren’t a lot of actors more present in the industry right now than Mark Ruffalo. An active social media user who has always had a good sense of humor about himself, Ruffalo is a veteran of both the stage and screen. He’s routinely been delivering excellent and versatile performance for over two decades, managing to pop up in a good variety of dramas, comedies, indies, and major franchises. He’s also frequently appeared on HBO projects, including his acclaimed work on The Normal Heart and I Know This Much Is True.
Mainstream audiences know Ruffalo best as Bruce Banner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a role he stepped into amidst skepticism. The previous incarnations of the Hulk from Eric Bana and Edward Norton had both failed to launch the character long-term, and Ruffalo had to first appear in the massive crossover event The Avengers. He instantly won the heart of fans and has been a great recurring face over the series for the past decade.
Ruffalo will next be seen in Shawn Levy’s science fiction Netflix film The Adam Project, but he has a packed slate in front of him. When looking at his best work, some great films like Begin Again, Now You See Me, Collateral, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and several MCU projects have to be left off. With that being said, here are the nine greatest Mark Ruffalo films thus far ranked.
9. The Brothers Bloom
Rian Johnson’s wild subversion of the caper film casts Ruffalo in one of the most eccentric roles of his career. While it may not seem obvious considering how subtle he frequently is, Ruffalo is incredibly imaginative and perfectly suited for a character who is constantly giving some sort of performance. In The Brothers Bloom, he stars as con artist Stephen Bloom, who pulls elaborate heists with his brother Bloom (Adrien Brody). Ruffalo hints at the depth to their relationship without ever breaking from the rapid-fire comedy.
8. The Kids Are All Right
The Kids Are All Right is aptly described as a “dramedy,” and explores the awkward reality of sexuality and relationships. The film centers on the two teenagers Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and Joni (Mia Wasikowska), who decide to search for their biological father despite their loving relationship with their parents Dr. Nicole 'Nic' Allgood (Annette Bening) and Jules Allgood (Julianne Moore). Ruffalo received his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his good-natured performance as Paul Hatfield, an organic cook who becomes suddenly intertwined with children he has no relationship with. Even when Paul accidentally throws off the family dynamics, Ruffalo is effortlessly charming.
7. Shutter Island
Ruffalo is an incredibly subtle actor, and he helps mask all the exciting plot twists in Shutter Island until the very end. Martin Scorsese’s psychological thriller follows Leonardo DiCaprio’s Teddy Fields, a U.S. Marshall who is assigned to investigate a psychiatric facility on an enigmatic island alongside his partner Chuck Aule (Ruffalo). The choices Ruffalo makes to mask Aule’s intentions don’t seem obvious at first, but if you rewatch with the ending in mind his brilliance reveals itself.
6. Dark Waters
In addition to his popularity, Ruffalo is also a vocal advocate for social and political causes and has used his star power to promote actual change. It's only natural that he would be attracted to a true story like Dark Waters, which spotlights the shocking corruption within the chemical manufacturing industry. Ruffalo stars as Mark Bilott, a corporate defense lawyer for the chemical company DuPont that decides to take a case against his employer when the residents of a small West Virginia community inform him of the extreme pollution that’s been covered up. What begins as an inspiring story of activism transforms into an anxiety-inducing thriller as powerful voices attempt to silence Bilott.
5. Margaret
Margaret is one of the great underrated masterpieces of the 21st Century, and given the depth of Kenneth Lonergan’s screenplay, every performance had to be perfect no matter how much screen time they had. The film centers on the trauma that the teenage girl Lisa Cohen (Anna Paquin) endures after witnessing a fatal bus accident; she inadvertently distracted the bus driver Gerald Maretti (Ruffalo) before he accidentally hit a pedestrian. It’s a complex role in a film that asks tough moral questions; Maretti has grown to live in denial of what transpired, despite the guilt he feels.
4. Zodiac
Ruffalo is just as meticulous as David Fincher’s direction is with his excellent performance as Inspector Dave Toschi in the 2007 crime masterpiece Zodiac. One of the reasons Zodiac is so distinct among serial killer films is that it centers on the perspective of the journalists Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), but police input is necessary. Ruffalo is completely believable as an exasperated detective who is willing to work with anyone just to catch the elusive killer.
3. Foxcatcher
Foxcatcher is a film that drew attention simply for the dramatic transformations by Steve Carrell and Channing Tatum as the mentally ill billionaire John Eleuthère du Pont and Olympic wrestler Mark Schultz, respectively. However, Ruffalo is equally mesmerizing with his riveting depiction of Mark’s brother Dave, a fellow gold medal winner who grows to question his brother’s allegiance to their enigmatic new coach. The crux of Foxcatcher’s tragedy centers on Dave, and Ruffalo makes the emotional gut-punch of the grizzly ending even more emotional. He received his second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
2. Spotlight
There are few modern films that rival All the President’s Men in their authenticity to the journalistic process, but Spotlight is one of them. It's another story that centers on a shocking issue that Ruffalo had a personal stake in, as he helped to advocate for survivors of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church in the wake of the film’s release. The film centers on the real Boston Globe reporters who first broke the scandal in 2002, and each actor is generous in sharing their screen time to respect each member of the investigation. However, there’s no sequence more powerful than Ruffalo’s fiery monologue that captures the outrage of staff writer Michael Rezendes. “They knew,” he screams. “And they let it happen.”
1. You Can Count On Me
Long before he played a superhero and had action figures made in his image, Ruffalo was known for his versatility on the stage thanks to his frequent work in Off-Broadway productions. It was only natural that his breakout role would come in a film by a playwright, and Kenneth Lonergan’s directorial debut You Can Count On Me has the thoughtful intimacy of a play. It tells the sensitive story of the small town bank employee Sammy Prescott (Laura Linney), whose life is uprooted when her irresponsible brother Terry (Ruffalo) returns to their hometown. Terry is well-meaning but prone to bad behavior, but his loving mentorship of Sammy’s young son Rudy (Rory Culkin) showed Ruffalo’s more thoughtful side.