Keen Ruffalo on Following in Dad Mark Ruffalo’s Acting Footsteps

Keen Ruffalo never planned to get into acting. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the now-25-year-old was in school for fashion design. Understandably, he wanted to find his own path instead of jumping into acting like his father Mark Ruffalo.

But the pandemic changed his plans. He found himself not knowing what he’d do next with his life. “I was depressed as most people were during COVID, and needed to figure out what to do,” Ruffalo tells The Hollywood Reporter on a recent Zoom.

He realized that acting had brought his father joy, so he decided to explore why. Instead of looking for roles, Ruffalo opted to study the craft first. He instantly fell in love. “I went to so many goddamn conservatories,” he says.

But Ruffalo was waiting for one specific OK. “Finally, my dad saw a play that I did, and he was like, ‘You might be ready now,’” he recalls. “He gave me the A-OK to go out into the world.”

Getting out into the world was clearly the right move, as the actor’s releasing two projects in Prime Videos’ Sterling Point and the Green Day comedy Nimrods. In Sterling Point, he plays Connor, the twin of the show’s main character Annie, played by Ella Rubin.

Given his father’s long career, one would assume that Ruffalo basically grew up around it. But he found his childhood to be quite removed from Hollywood, both in the figurative and literal sense, having grown up on a farm in upstate New York. He didn’t even realize that what his dad did for work was different from his neighbor’s dad, a dairy farmer, until he was a bit older.

“It wasn’t until someone came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, can you have your dad sign this Hulk Funko Pop for me?’ [that I realized],” he says. “I was like, ‘No, you’re horribly mean to me.’”

“I really didn’t understand the gravity of it all until a little bit later in life, and even then I was kept pretty far away from it all,” he says.

However, working with the Sterling Point cast allowed the actor to collaborate with a host of other young people also newer to the industry. “It’s such a cool thing to be doing with them because we’re all at this weird point [in our careers],” he says. “Being able to work with such talented creators and artists at that point in their career where we’re all still getting the hang of it a little bit is something that’s really special and not very common.”

In a conversation with THR, the the actor digs into Sterling Point, the best advise he’s received, his favorite non-acting activities and why he doesn’t want to get behind the camera (for now).

You said you initially weren’t planning to get into acting. Is it more rewarding to figure it out on your own that you want to be there?

Definitely. My parents were never ones to make us do anything or, especially, impose any of their own ideas for what our career paths might be, which I appreciated a lot. Maybe [they were] a little bit more enthusiastic about playing soccer, but they were kind of like, “Yeah, do whatever.”

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?

God, I don’t know. I feel like it’s a hard one because so many different people say so much. A lot of time people ask me for advice, which I’m like, “Dude, I’ve been here just as long as you have. I don’t know what you want.” I think the thing that always kept me going is hearing about … and this is actually from my dad, so sorry. I’m not breaking the mold here, apparently.

You’ve got a good source for information.

Yeah, resident expert, but he was always talking about how he had to do so many auditions before he even got into a room, where they even gave him a chance. Keeping that in mind and not beating myself up over not getting something that I was really excited for, or knowing that eventually something will come around, [and] you just really need to keep up until you get there and don’t drive yourself crazy. I think that’s a really hard part about it.

Is there anything in the world you feel you can’t live without?

Probably my bed. I love a pillow. I think I couldn’t go without that one pillow. Music is another one that’s super important because that’s always shifting just throughout life.

What do you listen to these days?

I’ve listened to a lot of Midwest emo punk recently. I feel like that’s a little bit of an embarrassing one to admit. There’s one song that I really liked recently, I’ll tell you because honestly, I think that they deserve more eyes on them. It’s “Will They Blame Me If You Go Disappearing” by Hail the Sun. It is so good.

That is the best emo title song as well. It’s always a full sentence.

It is a full sentence question mark at the end. Correct grammar. It’s a really cool song that I’ve been jamming out to a lot recently. I love it. But definitely wouldn’t show it to many people. I’ll go to a photo shoot or something and they’ll ask me if there’s a song I want to put on. I say no whatever they want.

Are you still interested in fashion?

Fashion’s something that I’ve kind of been around for a long time. My mom used to be a model, so she’s always been outspoken about fashion. It was jewelry making that I actually was really into. I used to hammer, fire, the whole thing. That’s my medium in that, but I’m definitely still interested. It’s just a cool thing seeing how it’s always changing. I don’t know. I went to my first fashion show.

How was that?

That was a trip. It was really cool. It was the Dior show. I was just enjoying the show, and I looked around and everyone had their phone out. I thought, oh, wait, I should be doing this too. I’ve never experienced anything like that. Being invited to an event was surprising. I don’t know. I’m like, why do they want me there? I’m just a farm boy.

How old were you when you started making jewelry?

I’ve always been a bit of a hands-on person. I didn’t do great in school — I’m ADHD, dyslexic — [and] always had a hard time there, but I liked making stuff. I think the first time I ever did anything like that was maybe at a summer camp. They told us we were going to make leaves out of sheet metal. I really enjoyed that, and then kept going back to this person that ran that little class and doing more stuff with them. [I’ve] probably been doing metal working since, God, maybe I was like eight or seven. Then I started building boats for a while there. I’ve built a few canoes.

They were usable?

Yeah, I sold them.

Wow. You’ve lived a lot of lives.

I’ve done a bunch of different things. I think they all kind of fall into the creative sphere of it all. I wish I was good at music. I wish I could play a guitar or something. That’d be cool.

Is there anything that people would be surprised to know about you?

I feel like building boats is a pretty random one. I don’t know my months. That’s another one that I find weird.

In what way? What do you mean?

I know next month’s August because I keep being told that, and the show’s coming out next month. I don’t know what the next month after that is though. I don’t know what happened there, but something got lost in translation. The worst time management.

At least you have a device with a calendar at your fingertips?

At this point, I’m doing it out of the spite. I’m like, “It gets cold at one point and then it warms back up. That’s all.”

How are you feeling with the release of Sterling Point and Nimrods and people seeing them?

It’s definitely anxiety-inducing, I’d say. It’s hard because I’ve grown up seeing that a little bit. When I got older, I’d be able to go to premieres and stuff and see that. Both of my things are coming out within 10 days of each other. I’m getting my money’s worth out of my PR team right now, which I’m sure they appreciate. I’m excited and anxious. I hope that people can get what they need from these projects and that they enjoy it.

Have you figured out the balance of the creative side of acting with the promotional side?

I’d definitely say a lot of our cast is like, “We need to do what? I don’t have TikTok.” Do I almost just not make a TikTok at this point out of standing on business with that one? I already have a panic attack every time I open up Instagram. I’m like, oh God, do I have to post today? We’ll see. It’s definitely a part of it, and at the end of the day, you get opportunities through doing press. I’m just very honored and feel lucky to be here.

You’re coming to terms with that still then, I guess?

Yeah. I’m like, “The other guy should be here not me.” Imposter syndrome.

I imagine there’s more imposter syndrom when you are doing something that your father is quite famous for?

Yes. There’s definitely been a lot of trying to navigate and cope around that. Obviously, I’m very proud of him and love my parents. I’m just trying to not disappoint them in the long term and stand on my own at the end of the day.

What kind of roles are you into?

Any audition that comes across, I usually do because I just enjoy it. But I love period pieces. I love dramas. I went to drama school, so give me something sad and depressing. I’ll eat that up. I guess also indie projects. I think it’s really important to do as many smaller productions as possible, especially just in this day and age where a lot of creatives aren’t getting that opportunity because they’re smaller. Any way I can use my platform to get something that I think needs the voice to get made, that’s kind of the end goal of all of this. I want to take European jobs from European actors. Put me in a medieval project. I’ll learn the accent. But I think movies are where my head’s at. Doing shows is great, but after doing a long show like this, I want to meet these different people. I want to be able to give a voice to many different people, not just Connor.

Do you have any interest in the filmmaking part of it?

Oh, boy. I think that there are a lot more people who deserve that more than me, who’ve put a lot more time into learning how to do that. Maybe someday I’d love to. I have a production company and my entire thing is if I’m going to make a project, I’m going to do it with two known people and everyone else is unknown. People come and watch, and then people stay for the new faces. I’d want to do that, first of all. Then, maybe, who knows in future, but definitely not right now.