Mark Ruffalo is one of those celebrities who is practically impossible to hate. Not only is he
an incredible actor, but he also appears to be a good guy all around. He supports various charities
and causes, often engages with his fans, and is even known to pick up hitchhikers on the road.
Of course, Ruffalo's body of work is equally admirable. His ticket to superstardom was his
role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Incredible Hulk.
But he has also received critical and commercial acclaim for his roles in The Kids Are All Right,
Foxcatcher, and Spotlight. Before Ruffalo became one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood,
however, he encountered some major roadblocks — including a significant health scare.
Ruffalo's first big break came with a role in the 2001 action drama film The Last Castle,
but even as this happened, his world was turning upside down. Around the same time,
Ruffalo found out that he had a brain tumor. In one instance, after wrapping up the film,
producer Jeffrey Katzenberg reached out to him. As Ruffalo told New York Magazine in 2003:
"There I was on the phone with him
and I can't move the left side of my face because it's paralyzed. And no one knows."
"So you were sitting on this, in your head, for a month." "Honestly, I thought I was gonna die."
Ruffalo had something called an acoustic neuroma, a tumor situated behind his ear.
It threatened to compromise his work as an actor, as it put his facial and auditory nerves
at risk. And while the tumor was benign, removing it involved a 10-hour operation.
After Mark Ruffalo's brush with ill health, he began to view his profession in an entirely new
light. He realized that it's something he's truly passionate about — and that he should
be more conscious of his choices when it comes to his career. The experience also
taught him how to be more grateful. In a 2005 interview with The Guardian, Ruffalo explained:
"The whole experience of getting close to mortality changed my perspective on work.
I wasn't enjoying acting before: I felt like I wasn't in charge of
my career. [...] After the brain tumor happened, I realized I love
acting, I've always loved it, I may never get a chance to do it again."
And while some people may view having had a brain tumor as a debacle,
Ruffalo has come to see it as a blessing. In 2004, he told UPI:
"In retrospect, now it was probably one of the greatest blessings that I've had.
It really gave me an in-depth understanding of myself and my strengths and my weaknesses...
It gave me a year to kind of stand back and really think about what I wanted for my career
and my life because things were getting really out of control at that point."
Weirdly enough, Ruffalo wasn't all that surprised when he found out he had a brain
tumor. He told New York Magazine in 2003 that he even had a dream
about having a tumor, which alarmed him enough to consult doctors — who then told him that
he was right. The doctors explained to him that they could operate, but there was a 30%
chance that he'd experience partial facial paralysis. Ruffalo said:
"I woke up one morning with the knowledge that I had a brain tumor. It wasn't so much
that I dreamt I had a brain tumor; it was like someone just poured the knowledge into my head.
It wasn't like an image; it was just like knowing. It was so weird, which is why I paid attention."
Things weren't helped by the fact that Ruffalo had a newborn at home, which led him to worry
about the thought of his son growing up without a dad. He also said that after the surgery,
he experienced cognitive dysfunction, and lost much of his confidence. Ruffalo recalled:
"You know what the biggest thing was?
I lost all my confidence. Just across the board. I completely lost my gut."
It took another year for him to make a full recovery,
and eventually, it was acting that got him back to his feet. As Ruffalo said:
"I finally felt like, I'm okay, I'm back. And it was acting that brought me back."
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