50 interesting facts about actor Mark Ruffalo: known as The Hulk in the movie The Avengers

50 things about career and personal life of Mark Ruffalo.

1. Spent his teenage years in Virginia Beach, Virginia, before moving with his family to San Diego after high school.

2. Eventually settled in Los Angeles, studying acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory.

3. Co-founded the Orpheus Theatre Company.The theater was a platform for Ruffalo's own acting.

4. Meeting with playwright Kenneth Lonergan changed his fate.

5. Began appearing in Lonergan's plays, notably This Is Our Youth, which led to his landing the male lead in Lonergan's soon-to-follow film, You Can Count on Me.

6. Ruffalo suffered a setback in 2002 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

7. The surgery to remove the tumor, which was determined to be benign, led to a period of partial facial paralysis, but Ruffalo recovered fully and his career picked up right where it had left off.

8. Appeared on Broadway in 2006, where he earned a Tony Award nomination for his starring role in Awake and Sing!

9. Directed the indie film Sympathy for Delicious, which was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

10. The Normal Heart earned Ruffalo an Emmy Award nomination.

11. Married to actress Sunrise Coigney since 2000.

12. The couple has three children.

13. His middle name is Alan.

14. He is also a director, producer and screenwriter.

15. His mother, Marie Rose (née Hebert), is a hairdresser and stylist.

16. His father, Frank Lawrence Ruffalo, Jr., worked as a construction painter.

17. Has two sisters, Tania and Nicole, and a brother, Scott.

18. Is of Italian and French Canadian descent.

19. Grew up in a very big family with lots of love.

20. His father was city high school wrestling champion three times.

21. Was raised Catholic and attended Catholic school.

22. He struggled from undiagnosed dyslexia and ADD as a child and a young adult.

23. Competed in wrestling in junior high and high school in Wisconsin and Virginia.

24. With the Orpheus Theatre Company, he wrote, directed, and starred in a number of plays.

25. Worked as bartender.

26. Approached Cholodenko after watching High Art and said he would love to work with her.

27. He starred in Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. She called Ruffalo and said she wrote a script, and had him in mind for the part.

28. Made his directorial debut with Sympathy for Delicious, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize.

29. His wife is former French-American actress.

30. Ruffalo and his family lives in New York City.

31. Has become known for his portrayal of Bruce Banner/The Hulk in the movie The Avengers.

32. Received an Academy Award nod for 2010's The Kids Are All Right.

33. Earned Oscar nomination for his role as a wrestler in the disturbing drama Foxcatcher.

34. In 2006, he appeared on Democracy Now!, a daily news program. He spoke against the War in Iraq, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, torture, and the Bush Administration.

35. Contributed to the campaign of former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel for the 2008 Democratic Party nomination for President.

36. He has appeared on The Colbert Report and Real Time with Bill Maher to discuss his continued opposition to fracking. His neighbors with a family house near his in Callicoon, Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, mobilized their friends around the anti-fracking cause, and in August 2012 Artists Against Fracking was launched with Ruffalo and the two heading it. Alec Baldwin is a member.

37. He's an activist.

38. On April 25, 2013, Ruffalo laid out his case against fracking in a piece co-authored with Phil Radford on CNN.com, where he argued solar and wind are here now, and using fracked natural gas instead of cleaner sources of energy will result in more faucets on fire, methane leaks that cause global warming, groundwater contamination, and cancer-causing chemicals in communities.

39. Began promoting The Solutions Project along with Stanford professor Mark Jacobson and private equity investor Marco Krapels. The Solutions Project is presented as a way for the U.S. to generate 100% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2050.

40. Had to wear a green leotard and crocodile shoes for the motion capture technology to show him as 4,000 pounds of rage on screen while playing Hulk.

41. Both of his sisters are hairdressers.

42. Benicio Del Toro was a fellow student at the Stella Adler drama school in Los Angeles.

43. His parents divorced.

44. He was set to appear in SIGNS but had to drop out when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

45. In an interview with Moviemaker magazine, he claims to have made 800 auditions in his lifetime before making it big.

46. Shares his birthday with Scarlett Johansson.

47. Beat out Robert Downey Jr. and Josh Brolin for the role of 'Chuck Aule' in 2010's 'Shutter Island'.

48. Greed makes him angry.

49. Beside Hulk his favorite Avenger is Black Widow.

50. Did the motion capture for the Hulk's movements and face, making him the first actor to portray the Hulk and Bruce Banner in the same movie.