Mark Ruffalo movies: 13 greatest films ranked worst to best

13. COLLATERAL (2004)

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Director: Michael Mann. Writer: Stuart Beattie. Starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo.

If Ruffalo hadn’t gone into acting, he’d have made a great cop (at least he has that look). In Michael Mann’s terrific L.A.-based thriller, Ruffalo plays narcotics Detective Ray Fanning who finds the links among the victims that hitman Vincent (Tom Cruise) has left behind. It’s not an enormous role — Fanning does manage to save cab driver Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) before meeting his fate — but Ruffalo’s presence gives “Collateral” the kind of weight on the good guys side that the story needs.
12. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004)

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Director: Michel Gondry. Writer: Charlie Kaufman. Starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo.

Ruffalo again takes a small role to be a part of Charlie Kaufman’s Oscar-winning story of a couple (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) who have erased each other from their memories and once again wind up dating each other. Ruffalo plays a key role in the film’s subplot as a mind-erasing technician who is romantically involved with the firm’s receptionist (Kirsten Dunst) who has no memory of dating the company’s primary doctor (Tom Wilkinson).
11. INFINITELY POLAR BEAR (2014)

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Writer/Director: Maya Forbes. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Zaldana.

In Maya Forbes’ comedy/drama, Ruffalo portrays Cam, an unemployed family man suffering from bipolar disorder in Boston. To keep their family financially afloat, Cam’s wife Maggie applies to business schools to qualify for higher-paying jobs. She is accepted at Columbia University, which means that she has to move to Manhattan, while Cam stays home to care for their two daughters who were leery of their dad’s parenting skills. For his performance as Cam, Ruffalo earned his second Golden Globe nomination.
10. The MARVEL Series (2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018)

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Directors: Various. Writers: Various. Starring Mark Ruffalo.

The selection of Mark Ruffalo to play Bruce Banner and The Hulk raised a few eyebrows in the film community. Ruffalo’s distinguished career as a actor would seem to be at odds for a role that has never seemed to have required serious acting initially seemed curious, but what Ruffalo brought to Hulk in “The Avengers” (2012), “Iron Man 3” (2013), “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015), “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017) and will likely bring to “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) was an unexpected gravitas to a comic book series.
9. SHUTTER ISLAND (2010)

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Director: Martin Scorsese. Writer: Laeta Kalogridis. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams.

Martin Scorsese’s twisted thriller, is set in a psychiatric facility which is being investigated by U.S. marshals including Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Ruffalo). Teddy, who suffers from severe migraines, becomes convinced that no one in the facility is whom they appear to be and suspects that it may be true about Aule as well. It’s a thrill to see a great actor like Ruffalo have the chance to work with a director of Scorsese’s caliber.
8. BEGIN AGAIN (2013)

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Writer/Director: John Carney. Starring Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Adam Levine, James Corden, Catherine Keener.

In John Carney’s musical follow-up to his Oscar-winning “Once,” Ruffalo plays a caffeine and nicotine-driven record executive who, down on his luck, meets promising singer/songwriter Gretta James (Keira Knightley) who, having just broken up with her heel of a boyfriend (Adam Levine, very good), joins him in recording her accomplished songs at various outdoor locations in New York City. Though it’s Knightley’s film, Ruffalo carves out his own idiosyncratic character powerfully.
7. ZODIAC (2007)

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Director: David Fincher. Writer: James Vanderbilt. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey, Jr., Anthony Edwards.

Ruffalo is back in cop mode again in David Fincher’s brilliant procedural covering the trackdown of San Francisco’s notorious Zodiac killer of the 1960s and 1970s. Ruffalo plays real-life SFPD Inspector David Toschi, who with his partner Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards), attempts to narrow the potential suspect list. Ruffalo always brings a certain weight to his cop roles, but when the material is this good, he elevates it to a whole other level.
6. MARGARET (2011)

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Writer/Director: Kenneth Lonergan. Starring Anna Paquin, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith Cameron, Allison Janney.

Kenneth Lonergan’s troubled but underrated film provides an acting showcase for Ruffalo as Gerald Maretti, a New York bus driver who, temporarily distracted by high-school student Lisa (Anna Paquin), runs a red light and strikes a pedestrian (Allison Janney) who dies a painful death. Lisa initially tries to cover for Maretti by saying the light was green, but out of guilt, changes her story, thus beginning a legal battle against the driver. Ruffalo’s performance will break your heart.
5. FOXCATCHER (2014)

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Director: Bennett Miller. Writers: E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman. Starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Vanessa Redgrave.

Loosely based on real events, “Foxcatcher” received much acclaim, especially for Steve Carell’s dramatic turn as multimillionaire John E. du Pont, who, as a wrestling enthusiast, enlists Olympic gold medalist brothers Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave Schultz (Ruffalo) to begin his Olympic empire. Ruffalo, however, also received great acclaim for his performance as Dave, earning his second Oscar nomination, his first Golden Globe nod and his third SAG nomination.
4. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010)

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Director: Lisa Cholodenko. Writers: Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg. Starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska.

Obstetrician Nic (Annette Bening) and landscape designer Jules (Julianne Moore) are married and has each borne a child using the same sperm donor. Now that the kids are teenagers, they become curious about their father, who turns out to be Paul (Ruffalo), a biker who becomes part of the family’s life which results in serious consequences. For his performance as Paul, Ruffalo earned his first Oscar nod and his second Screen Actors Guild nomination.
3. YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000)

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Writer/Director: Kenneth Lonergan. Starring Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Rory Culkin, Matthew Broderick.

Ruffalo made his first big splash as a leading man in Kenneth Lonergan’s film as Terry, a drifter who, practically broke, travels back to his hometown in the Catskills to reunite with his sister Sammy (Laura Linney) and her son Rudy (Rory Culkin) who are happy to see him. As he has throughout his entire life, Terry gets in and out of trouble, upending the family’s stability. A stage actor at heart, Ruffalo brought that discipline to the role of Terry, which began his journey as an esteemed film star.
2. SPOTLIGHT (2015)

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Director: Tom McCarthy. Writers: Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber.

Ruffalo won his first Screen Actors Guild Ensemble Award and earned his third Oscar nomination for his role as Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Michael Rezendes, who was part of The Spotlight Team, a group of journalists at The Boston Globe determined to get to the bottom of charges that Roman Catholic priests molested children and that the Boston Archdiocese covered it up. Ruffalo’s performance was a key part of the success of the 2015 Oscar-winning Best Picture.
1. POOR THINGS (2023)

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Director: Yorgos Lanthimos. Writer: Tony McNamara. Starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Margaret Qualley, Christopher Abbott.

In a career filled with distinguished portrayals of serious, often introverted characters, it’s almost inconceivable that Ruffalo’s greatest career high point may be as buffoonish cad Duncan Wedderburn in Yorgos Lanthimos’s hilarious black comedy. Duncan is a misogynist who is unfamiliar with the concept of morality and totally shameless in his relentless wooing of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone). Ruffalo’s is a high-wire comedic performance of the highest order, yet he imbues the character with a sense of loneliness just beneath the surface that results in a character who becomes surprisingly complex.

13. COLLATERAL (2004)

12. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004)

11. INFINITELY POLAR BEAR (2014)

10. The MARVEL Series (2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018)

9. SHUTTER ISLAND (2010)

8. BEGIN AGAIN (2013)

7. ZODIAC (2007)

6. MARGARET (2011)

5. FOXCATCHER (2014)

4. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010)

3. YOU CAN COUNT ON ME (2000)

2. SPOTLIGHT (2015)

1. POOR THINGS (2023)