Keen Ruffalo didnโt always plan to go into acting. But one particular experience inspired him to follow in his famous dadโs footsteps.
Keen Ruffalo, son of four-time Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo, currently stars alongside Ella Rubin in Prime Videoโs teen drama series, โSterling Point.โ The 25-year-old stopped by TODAY on Aug. 7 and opened up about finding acting amid a period of burnout and isolation.
Keen Ruffalo, who initially went to college for fashion design before dropping out, explained that he decided to make a life change amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
โI got the Covid depression, as many people did, and I needed a change, and I was lost at the time,โ Keen Ruffalo told TODAY. โI saw that acting made my dad so happy, and I was like, โListen, I need to try something new.โโ
Keen Ruffaloโs dad, of course, has long been a critically acclaimed actor whose career spans nearly four decades. Mark Ruffaloโs acting chops have earned him two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards among many other accolades.
But Keen Ruffalo is charting his own path. In โSterling Point,โ he plays Connor who, along with his fellow adopted twin Annie, played by Rubin, uncovers a slew of family secrets previously concealed by their relatives.
While Keen Ruffalo is a pro on set now, his father, though supportive, wasnโt initially sure about his decision to pivot into acting.
โHe was like, โYou sure you want to do this?โโ Keen Ruffalo said, imitating his dad.
At the time, Keen Ruffalo did not have much experience in the acting world. But he did make an appearance as an extra in โThor: Ragnarok,โ the 2017 Marvel film that starred his father as the green and mighty Hulk. The 25-year-oldโs formal acting career started off with 100 auditions before he got a gig, he said in an interview with Cultured Magazine.
To nail the โSterling Pointโ character of Connor โ the voice of sarcasm and wittiness amid an extremely complex period of change in his family โ Keen Ruffalo said he leaned into his instincts.
โI improvised quite a lot of it,โ he said of the comedic banter throughout the show.
Keen Ruffalo added that โpretty much in any scene where thereโs a kind of comedic effect, I do it clean lines for a few times, and then we kind of just had fun with it.โ
His antics also led to a reshoot after he made the director of photography laugh during the first take of a bathtub scene, he told TODAY.
Ruffalo will also be in the upcoming Green Day-produced film โNimrods,โ starring Mason Thames and McKenna Grace, out in theaters on Aug. 14.