I’ve always had a soft spot for Mark Ruffalo — and not just because he’s one of the best actors of his generation, but because he and I have the same hair. Yes, I am this simple-minded. It’s a spiritual bond. Some people connect through religion; I connect through stubborn curls that refuse to commit to any one direction.
The first time I saw him — I knew the guy had something. There was this Brando-esque gravity to him. Not the “I’m-gonna-wreck-a-production-and-see-who-can-piss-further-off-the-Rio-Grande” Brando, but the young, raw magnetism.
And like Brando, Ruffalo doesn’t perform characters — he inhabits them. He makes every role feel like it wandered in from real life: the nervous, grieving brother; the weary journalist; the Hulk who looks like he’s about to apologize for smashing your living room. He’s got that rare thing Brando had: emotional honesty. A barefoot authenticity. You can’t fake this.
Once, I even went to a barber and asked for “the Mark Ruffalo.” Showed a picture and everything. I walked out with the Bob Uecker. My wife still brings it up anytime she wants to feel better about literally anything.
“Remember when you tried to look like Mark Ruffalo and ended up looking like the baseball announcer from Major League.”
Yeah. I remember.
Before Ruffalo, I was a full-blown Marlon Brando nut (still am). I thought Brando was the north star for anyone who wanted to act — this mix of danger, vulnerability, and rebellion. Meanwhile, in my head, I always felt a little more like Burt Reynolds. Strutting around with misplaced confidence, cracking jokes, driving the metaphorical Trans Am of my life straight into a ditch and smiling while I did it.
When I was in acting school, I was working my ass off but having a blast. I was surrounded by these Very Serious Actors who wanted to debate Shakespeare, or they’d gush about how “essential” Woody Allen was. I never felt I fit in.
Look, I know Shakespeare is important. I know Woody Allen movies are supposed to be genius.
But if I’m being honest?
Neither one did anything for me.
I was living a Burt Reynolds life in a Marlon Brando world, and believe me, I wanted to be Brando.
That’s probably why I gravitated toward guys like Mark Ruffalo, Steve Zahn, and Jack Black. They didn’t feel manufactured, pretentious or forced. They felt like people. They were the actors who reminded me you could be brilliant without holding a skull and reciting iambic pentameter in a Brooklyn loft.
Meanwhile, a lot of my classmates were doing these heavy Edward Norton monologues. Where they’d excavate emotional trauma so deep they needed a carnary. I would get self-conscious for being so shallow that I could mold crepes. And there I was, in the corner, trying to hunt down a bootleg script Something About Mary so I could recreate the Matt Dillon picking up Mary scene for class.
I wasn’t rebelling. I just wanted to have fun while working “real” to me. That’s always been my fuel, and part of why I drifted into comedy — or more accurately, comedy grabbed me by the back of the neck and said, “Hey, you’re supposed to be over here.”
And here’s the funny twist: You get a bunch of comics together after a show, and suddenly everyone’s Hemingway with a drink ticket..
Maybe that’s why Ruffalo sticks out to me.
He’s living proof that you can be grounded and human and still be extraordinary. Giving, smart and a profesional.
You can be famous without acting like a “Movie Star”, brilliant without screaming it.
He makes authenticity look cool.
Which is something Brando taught us — and something Burt Reynolds taught us to enjoy.