Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#8
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Mark Ruffalo represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 31 years in, and Mark is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Mark Ruffalo appears in 59 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Mark. Naturalism so relaxed it reads as documentary until you notice the structure. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the clearest case: a film rated 9.2 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, science fiction, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Anthony Russo, Bart Layton, Sian Heder and others, Mark Ruffalo helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) as Stan · Zodiac (2007) as David Toschi · Avengers: Endgame (2019) as Bruce Banner / Hulk
Career snapshot
Ranked #8 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
59
1996–2027
Career length
37 yrs
Active since 1989
Academy Awards
0
Competitive wins
Oscar nominations
3
Career total
Highest Nutevio score
9.2
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Most frequent director
Anthony Russo
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Anthony Russo
Most common genre
Drama
28 titles
Average runtime
1h 48m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.4
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
7.6
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2010s
7.3 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Avengers: Endgame, Dark Waters, Captain Marvel — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
7.3
Across 21 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
7.2
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Ride with the Devil, 54, The Dentist.
Most productive era
2010s
21 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.32 films | 6.815 films | 7.110 films | 0.01 film |
| Action | — | 6.53 films | 7.67 films | 5.03 films |
| Thriller | 5.51 film | 6.67 films | 7.35 films | 6.82 films |
| Comedy | — | 6.35 films | 6.87 films | 5.34 films |
| Sci-Fi | — | 9.21 film | — | — |
| Crime | — | 7.35 films | 7.02 films | 4.53 films |
| Romance | 6.41 film | 6.79 films | 7.21 film | 7.61 film |
| Horror | 5.51 film | — | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
Career begins
1989Working from 1989
The start of the professional record — years before the catalogue picks the story up.
First film in Nutevio
1996The Dentist
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Steve Landers.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2004Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.2 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
First Academy Award nomination
2011The Kids Are All Right
Best Supporting Actor — the moment the industry started writing the same sentences our editors had been writing.
Most recent film
2027Gatto
The current state of the argument, as Nero (voice).
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
59 of 59 films
as Stan
Directed by Michel Gondry
as David Toschi
Directed by David Fincher
as Bruce Banner / Hulk
Directed by Anthony Russo
as Chuck Aule
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Bruce Banner / The Hulk
Directed by Joss Whedon
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 68 titles · 72 total credits · active 1996–2027
Avengers: Secret Wars
2027 · Bruce Banner / Hulk
Gatto
2027 · Nero (voice)
Crime 101
2026 · Lou
Being Heumann
2026 · Joseph Califano
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
2026 · Bruce Banner / Hulk
Now You See Me: Now You Don't
2025 · Dylan Rhodes
Mickey 17
2025 · Kenneth Marshall
All That's Left of You
2025 · Executive Producer
Task
2025 · TV · Tom Brandis · Executive Producer
Hal & Harper
2025 · TV · Dad
Poor Things
2023 · Duncan Wedderburn
Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter
2023 · TV · Self
All the Light We Cannot See
2023 · TV · Daniel LeBlanc
The Adam Project
2022 · Louis Reed
Oyate
2022 · Self
Bonnie
2022 · Self
The Last Movie Stars
2022 · TV · Self
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
2022 · TV · Bruce Banner / Hulk
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
2021 · Bruce Banner / Hulk (uncredited)
Marvel Studios' 2021 Disney+ Day Special
2021 · Bruce Banner / Hulk (archive footage)
The War of the Worlds 2021
2021 · Actor
Marvel Studios Legends
2021 · TV · Bruce Banner / Hulk (archive footage) (uncredited)
What If...?
2021 · TV · Bruce Banner / Hulk (voice)
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
2020 · Self - Actor, "Avengers: Endgame"
The defining work
#1
Stan
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Performance score9.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Stan gives Mark Ruffalo a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
David Toschi
Zodiac (2007)
Performance score8.9
Zodiac asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. David Toschi is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Bruce Banner / Hulk
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Performance score8.7
Avengers: Endgame asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bruce Banner / Hulk is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Chuck Aule
Shutter Island (2010)
Performance score8.6
Shutter Island asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Chuck Aule is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Stan
Start here. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the clearest statement of what Mark Ruffalo does — accessible, 108 minutes, and rated 9.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Mark at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Zodiac (2007)
Keeps the drama register of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but asks for a colder reading of it.
Shutter Island (2010)
Keeps the mystery register of Zodiac but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Avengers (2012)
A deliberate change of key after Shutter Island — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Keeps the action register of The Avengers but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Anthony Russo
Director
3 films together
Notably Avengers: Endgame
Michel Gondry
Director
2 films together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
David Fincher
Director
2 films together
Notably Zodiac
Kenneth Lonergan
Director
2 films together
Notably You Can Count on Me
Joss Whedon
Director
2 films together
Notably The Avengers
Taika Waititi
Director
2 films together
Notably Thor: Ragnarok
Shawn Levy
Director
2 films together
Notably The Adam Project
Destin Daniel Cretton
Director
2 films together
Notably Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Brian Yuzna
Director
1 film together
Notably The Dentist
Mark Christopher
Director
1 film together
Notably 54
Ang Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Ride with the Devil
Rod Lurie
Director
1 film together
Notably The Last Castle
John Woo
Director
1 film together
Notably Windtalkers
Jane Campion
Director
1 film together
Notably In the Cut
Isabel Coixet
Director
1 film together
Notably My Life Without Me
Michael Mann
Director
1 film together
Notably Collateral
Rob Reiner
Director
1 film together
Notably Rumor Has It...
Mark Waters
Director
1 film together
Notably Just Like Heaven
Steven Zaillian
Director
1 film together
Notably All the King's Men
Terry George
Director
1 film together
Notably Reservation Road
Brian Goodman
Director
1 film together
Notably What Doesn't Kill You
Rian Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Brothers Bloom
Fernando Meirelles
Director
1 film together
Notably Blindness
Spike Jonze
Director
1 film together
Notably Where the Wild Things Are
Lisa Cholodenko
Director
1 film together
Notably The Kids Are All Right
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably Shutter Island
Louis Leterrier
Director
1 film together
Notably Now You See Me
Maya Forbes
Director
1 film together
Notably Infinitely Polar Bear
Ryan Murphy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Normal Heart
John Carney
Director
1 film together
Notably Begin Again
Tom McCarthy
Director
1 film together
Notably Spotlight
Jon M. Chu
Director
1 film together
Notably Now You See Me 2
Ryan Fleck
Director
1 film together
Notably Captain Marvel
Todd Haynes
Director
1 film together
Notably Dark Waters
Bong Joon Ho
Director
1 film together
Notably Mickey 17
Ruben Fleischer
Director
1 film together
Notably Now You See Me: Now You Don't
Sian Heder
Director
1 film together
Notably Being Heumann
Bart Layton
Director
1 film together
Notably Crime 101
Tom Wilkinson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Jim Carrey
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kate Winslet
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kirsten Dunst
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Elijah Wood
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Jane Adams
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
David Cross
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Deirdre O'Connell
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Thomas Jay Ryan
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Ryan Whitney
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Lola Daehler
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Debbon Ayer
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Anthony Russo
Director
3 films together · 5.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Avengers: EndgameMichel Gondry
Director
2 films together · 8.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindDavid Fincher
Director
2 films together · 8.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ZodiacJoss Whedon
Director
2 films together · 7.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The AvengersDestin Daniel Cretton
Director
2 films together · 7.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten RingsTaika Waititi
Director
2 films together · 7.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Thor: RagnarokKenneth Lonergan
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
You Can Count on MeShawn Levy
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Adam ProjectMartin Scorsese
Director
1 film together · 8.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shutter IslandTom McCarthy
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SpotlightRyan Murphy
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Normal HeartTodd Haynes
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dark WatersLouis Leterrier
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Now You See MeMichael Mann
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CollateralJohn Carney
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Begin AgainRod Lurie
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Last CastleBart Layton
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crime 101Mark Waters
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Just Like HeavenBong Joon Ho
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mickey 17Ryan Fleck
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Captain MarvelJon M. Chu
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Now You See Me 2Ruben Fleischer
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Now You See Me: Now You Don'tMaya Forbes
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Infinitely Polar BearLisa Cholodenko
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Kids Are All RightRian Johnson
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Brothers BloomSpike Jonze
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Where the Wild Things AreFernando Meirelles
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BlindnessTerry George
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Reservation RoadJohn Woo
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WindtalkersAng Lee
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ride with the DevilIsabel Coixet
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Life Without MeMark Christopher
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
54Brian Goodman
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What Doesn't Kill YouSteven Zaillian
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
All the King's MenRob Reiner
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rumor Has It...Brian Yuzna
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The DentistJane Campion
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
In the CutSian Heder
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Being HeumannSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
1 win · 2 nominations
No wins yet · 2 nominations
Spotlight · as Actor
The Kids Are All Right · as Actor
1 win · latest 2021
I Know This Much Is True · as Actor
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Stan
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Stan
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Stan
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee
as Self (archive footage)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Stan
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Mark Ruffalo has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.4 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #40 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | 3 recorded | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | 0 | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | 3 | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.0 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Crime, Mystery, Drama, Romance | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | David Fincher, Michel Gondry | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Quiet performance, Drama, Screen presence | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2004–2007 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Stan — Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 2 catalogue films | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Top 100 Crime Movies, Crime Movies, Drama Movies, Sci-Fi Movies
Collaborators in common
Robert Downey Jr.
Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
31 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Most Influential Career
Awarded
Recognised for changing what casting directors thought a leading performance could look like.
Drama Legend
Awarded
28 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Stan
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Zodiac
as David Toschi
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Begin Again
as Dan Mulligan
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Shutter Island
as Chuck Aule
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Avengers: Endgame
as Bruce Banner / Hulk
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
as Bruce Banner / Hulk
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Begin Again
as Dan Mulligan
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Zodiac
as David Toschi
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 10 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
genre
Drama Movies
Includes Zodiac, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Read the collectiongenre
Best Detective Movies
Features Zodiac at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Best Romance Movies
Features Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Romance Movies
Features Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at #1
Read the collectiontheme
Hidden Sci-Fi Gems
Features Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Read the collectiongenre
Best Psychological Thrillers
Features Zodiac
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
Genre guide
The evolution of Mark Ruffalo, read through drama movies
21 min read
Genre guide
Why Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind still sets the terms for best detective movies
4 min read
Genre guide
Best Romance Movies: where Ruffalo fits
4 min read
Genre guide
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, explained
4 min read
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Robert De Niro
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: sci-fi and adventure
Morgan Freeman
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Robert Downey Jr.
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Have your say
Community
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Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
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