How much is Mark Ruffalo worth?
| Net Worth: | $30 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Actor |
| Date of Birth: | November 22, 1967 (age 55) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
About Mark Ruffalo
Considered royalty in the indie film circuit, Mark made a name for himself in films like You Can Count on Me, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Kids Are All Right. Before suddenly, and shockingly, transforming into the great green ‘Hulk’ while also appearing in dramas like Spotlight, and thrillers like Dark Waters. Comedy, romance, drama, thriller—Mark has seen it all. Unfortunately the actor has not only experienced drama onscreen, but also in his real life. From a life-threatening discovery to heartbreaking family tragedy, Mark’s personal successes and battles only add fuel to his broad range of acting skills.
Ruffalo is an example of that David Hume quote, that the people who have the most chances are those who craft them out for themselves. Mark did exactly that. A major aspect of his life and career has been his perseverance and determination. He was diagnosed with two very difficult, for an actor especially, disabilities. Both dyslexia and ADHD, and considering he has to read and memorize lines for a living it has been a struggle to say the least.
After filming was completed for The Last Castle in 2001, Ruffalo was diagnosed with a type of brain tumor known as an acoustic neuroma. While the tumor was considered as benign, in the surgery to remove it Mark suffered facial paralysis and damaged hearing. Eventually the paralysis subsided after about one year, Ruffalo however may still suffer partial hearing impairment in his left ear.
Then, about seven years later in 2008, Ruffalo’s younger brother, Scott, was found outside his home on North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills with an execution-style bullet wound to the head. Despite his many setbacks and through personal tragedy, Ruffalo stuck firm to his commitment of becoming a big Hollywood star. His is the story of faith, determination and hard work.
When Mark Ruffalo was 22 he was offered a tiny role in an episode of CBS Summertime Playhouse. After that, he would appear in a wide variety of films in similar small roles. This continued until the early 2000s. Then, his role in the movie You Can Count on Me earned him a lot of fans in the film critics community. Some even compared him to a young Marlon Brando. That decade, the 2000s would see his star steadily rise. He appeared in over half a dozen movies that were both critical and commercial successes. Those movies include Zodiac, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and What Doesn’t Kill You.
He also appeared in thrillers such as Michael Mann’s Collateral to rom-coms like View From The Top. Even as his movie stardom took off, he never forgot his theater roots. He still regularly performed in plays and theaters across the US. For his role in Awake and Sing, he received his first Tony Award for “Best Actor in a Play”. By the end of the decade, he got to work with one of the greatest actors and directors of the last few decades. In Shutter Island, he acted opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, in the movie directed by Martin Scorsese.
At the beginning of the 2010s, Edward Norton had opted out of his role as the Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This decision would redefine Mark Ruffalo’s career. After the Norton exit, Mark Ruffalo was cast for the part. His first movie playing the role of the big green, rage monster was in the 2012 Avengers. Both fans and critics praised him, stating that he brought “a vulnerability to the role” that Norton was never seen to have done.
Despite becoming famous for his role in the Martin Scorsese film, Shutter Island. The role of the Hulk was what finally made him into one of the highest paid actors today. To date, he has appeared in a total of four Avengers movies, as well as in one Thor movie and he has had an uncredited appearance as Bruce Banner in Iron Man 3 and Captain Marvel. In total, for his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ruffalo has earned around $14.8 million dollars.
He didn’t shy away from serious or troubling roles during that period, either. He stared in the TV adaptation of a play by Larry Kramer. That earned him his first Emmy nomination. He has also received three Oscar nominations.
His first Oscar nomination came when he played a sperm donor in the movie The Kids Are All Right, his second was in the biopic Foxcatcher and his third and currently, final Oscar nomination came for the drama Spotlight, which chronicles the staff of the Boston Globe as they discover and publish about a covered up pedophilia scandal in New England at the time.
Since then, despite much of his time being centered around his role as Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also starred in Now You See Me 2 and in 2020 appeared as the identical twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey, in the TV series I Know This Much Is True. He is currently in filming for the upcoming science fiction film, Mickey7 co-starring Robert Pattinson.
Ruffalo’s Total Net Worth
Mark Ruffalo worked hard to achieve his level of fame and success. Watching movies like The Last Castle from 2001, it is easy to see how good an actor Ruffalo was at the time, although his career would not begin to really pay off until many years later. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Zodiac are two more notable examples of the quality of his acting skills. He has a way of removing any idea that he is acting at all in his serious roles and this really came across in his role as Mike Rezendes, in Spotlight.
Despite his clear commitment to his craft, it took him quite some time to be recognized for it financially. Many of his roles before and including the year 2010 did not really pay him what he was worth and even in 2015 for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ruffalo was paid only $2.8 million dollars. In 2016 he was paid $2.1 million for Now You See Me 2 which is around double what he was paid for the first installment in 2013.
From his total involvement with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing the role of Hulk, Ruffalo has earned over $20 million. To put that in perspective, he has earned only around $23 million dollars from all of his other earnings from his entire career, including from his endorsements.
His $3.5 million dollar paycheck for Spotlight stands out among many more appearances where he was paid as little as little as $100,000 during the first stages of his career. What is more, he appeared in movies like The Brothers Bloom in 2009 which he may have been paid $2 million dollars for but considering it only earned $5 million at the box office was a notable disaster.
As Mark Ruffalo has earned essentially all of his money in the movie business to date his career earnings are estimated at $43 million dollars.
Working in Hollywood has made Ruffalo a big star but he would have also had to pay royally for the privilege. So much in fact, that it seems that he skipped over to the East Coast and settled in Brooklyn for most of his high earning years. As a resident of the state of New York, his tax bill would have been lower than it was in California. Still, it is likely that he will have had to pay 47% in taxes on his total career earnings.
Before paying his taxes, as a self-employed individual, Ruffalo will have been able to deduct his business costs. Something in the region of $3-4 million dollars is what is expected. Therefore his $43 million dollars income will have become $39.5 million, and that amount will have become $20.93 million having paid around $18.57 million dollars in taxes.
Mark Ruffalo married Sunrise Coigney in 2000 and they have remain together. They have three children together, Keen, Bella and Odette Ruffalo. Mark has kept his head down even through troubling times and committed himself almost exclusively to his work and his family. He has generally avoided legal trouble, however in May 2022, Ruffalo was sued by residents of Ellenville, New York, after a fire broke out on the set of a car dealership that was used as a location for I Know This Much Is True. The residents allegedly suffered physical and emotional damages. It was added that the fire caused damage to their homes and apparently exposed them to toxic fumes.
In real estate, Ruffalo began with a property purchase in 2004. Just after the filming of We Don’t Live Here Anymore, he bought a $1.65 million dollar property in the Hollywood Hills. He sold that house for $3 million dollars in 2020 to Zooey Deschanel. Mostly, it seems that Ruffalo has purchased property to optimize his home living and not as much as real estate investments. However he has also earned a good profit, as estimated $3-4 million in total.
He lived for a number of years in Brooklyn in a 19th-century townhouse and sold the property for $3.13 million dollars in 2017. Then in 2018 Ruffalo tentatively entertained the purchasing of a $10 million dollar property on the Upper West Side. It seems that he backed out in the end and he and his family retreated to their home in the Catskill Mountains.
It is likely that he holds some of his money in securities and other safe holds. While it may appear given the stock market gains in the last ten years that Ruffalo has earned some 250% returns on his money, that seems entirely doubtful in actual reality. Especially after factoring in likely early losses and trading fees. What is more, Ruffalo seems like he is investing for his family’s security and not likely to have made risky gains and has also put quite some of his money into real estate.
In his personal life Ruffalo has likely spent $3-4 million dollars of his career earnings but also probably possesses assets valued at around $1-2 million, not including investment assets. In his investments, he may have earned investment returns of $9-10 million dollars. Therefore, it is estimated that Mark Ruffalo has a net worth of around $30 million dollars.
Ruffalo is not a big spender on things that don’t hold their value. He has spent large amounts on real estate but also realized an appreciation. He drives a BMW i3, a fully electric car and mixes business with pleasure when he takes family vacations. When he was filming Thor: Ragnarok in Australia, he decided to pay to fly his wife and children into the country and make it a family vacation.
Ruffalo dresses well, in 2013, he wore a gold Altiplano watch by Piaget to the Oscar ceremony; an expensive but classic design. He has also been seen wearing a Frederique Constant watch, a mid level Swiss brand. In 2016, he wore a a custom-designed blue tuxedo signed by Valentino to the 88th Academy Awards Ceremony.
He has also donated money to various causes. He has been very involved in The Solutions Project, an initiative to find ways of generating 100% clean energy. He has also invested in solar panels for some of his properties and given support and funding to the Alzheimer’s Association, Indigenous Environmental Network, Green Cross International and Global Green, among others.
He is a vocal supporter of pro-choice. He has supported the LGBT movement throughout his life and has also starred in plays and movies where he portrayed members of that community.
Summing-Up
A kid from a humble, but hardworking background managed to outshine many others who seemed to have had much greater chances of success. He outworked them and committed faith when other didn’t and through his struggles emerged as an important movie star of his generation. That is not all, with his activism, his talent for selecting and portraying roles of the underprivileged he has given faith that the dreams of even the most downtrodden, could one day be accomplished.
