You probably know him as the guy who turns green and smashes things. Or maybe the intense journalist in Spotlight. But if you actually run into Mark Ruffalo, he’s likely not at a Hollywood gala. He’s more likely to be found in a pair of muddy boots in upstate New York.
Honestly, the "Hulk" persona is the least interesting thing about him once you look at his real life.
There’s this image of A-list stars living in glass mansions in Beverly Hills. Ruffalo basically rejected that script years ago. He and his wife, Sunrise Coigney, have built something that looks a lot more like a quiet, slightly chaotic farm life than a celebrity tabloid feature. It’s a life defined by some pretty heavy tragedy, a massive health scare that almost ended his career, and a commitment to keeping their three kids—Keen, Bella, and Odette—out of the typical "nepo baby" spotlight.
The Secret World of Mark Ruffalo and Family in the Catskills
While most of his Marvel co-stars were buying up property in Malibu, Ruffalo moved his crew to the Sullivan County area of New York. We’re talking about Callicoon, a tiny town where people care more about the local harvest than box office numbers.
Sunrise, his wife since 2000, is the real architect of this lifestyle. She’s a former actress herself but pivoted into being a shop owner and a curator of what she calls "living collages." She runs a boutique called Sunny's Pop. It’s filled with weird, beautiful things—think Swedish toilet brushes with birch handles and hand-forged bronze flatware.
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It sounds fancy, but it’s actually kind of gritty.
The family lives on a former dairy farm. They’ve got goats. They’ve got a massive garden. Mark has talked about how moving there was about "getting back to the earth." It wasn't just a trend for them; it was a survival tactic for their sanity.
Meet the Kids: Keen, Bella, and Odette
You don't see the Ruffalo kids on every red carpet. That’s intentional.
Keen Ruffalo, the eldest, was born in 2001. He’s dipped his toes into the industry—he actually had a tiny bit role in Thor: Ragnarok and appeared in Begin Again—but he isn't plastered all over TikTok. He’s 24 now and seems to value his privacy just as much as his dad does.
Then there’s Bella Noche, born in 2005. She’s often the one you’ll see accompanying Mark to the occasional premiere, usually rocking a style that’s way more "indie cool" than "Hollywood starlet." At 20, she’s carving out her own identity away from the Hulk's shadow.
The youngest, Odette, was born in 2007. She’s 18 now.
Mark has often said he’s a "hands-on" father, but he also jokes that he’s basically just the "dominating kid" of the household. It’s a loud, opinionated, politically active home. They don’t just sit around talking about movies. They talk about fracking, climate change, and social justice.
The 4 AM Dream That Changed Everything
Most people don't realize how close we came to never seeing Mark Ruffalo in a Marvel movie. Back in 2001, just as his career was exploding after You Can Count on Me, he had a literal nightmare.
He woke up at 3:00 AM with a "pure knowledge" that he had a brain tumor.
He didn't have symptoms, just a weird ear infection. But the dream was so vivid he went to a doctor on the set of the movie he was filming. He told them, "Listen, this is going to sound crazy, but I think I have a tumor."
They did a CAT scan. The doctor came back looking like a "zombie." He had a mass the size of a golf ball behind his left ear.
The Week of Silence
This is where the story gets heavy. Sunrise was nine and a half months pregnant with Keen at the time. Mark didn't tell her.
He sat on that terrifying diagnosis for weeks because he didn't want to stress her out before the birth. He waited until a week after Keen was born to tell her, right before he went in for surgery.
The surgery saved his life, but it came with a cost. The tumor was a benign acoustic neuroma, but the procedure left him completely deaf in his left ear. For a long time, half of his face was paralyzed. He couldn't move his eyelid. He thought his career was over. He spent a year in hiding, just walking in the woods, waiting for his face to wake up.
Sunrise was his rock. She stayed. She did the heavy lifting while he recovered. That’s why you see him looking at her with such adoration on red carpets 25 years later. She didn't marry a movie star; she married a guy who was about to lose everything, and she stayed anyway.
Tragedies and the Bond of the Ruffalo Siblings
The Ruffalo family story isn't all farm life and Marvel checks. There’s a deep well of grief there. Mark was one of four kids—Scott, Tanya, and Nicole.
In 2008, his brother Scott, a popular Beverly Hills hairdresser, was found with a gunshot wound to the head. He died a week later. The case was a mess. Some said it was a "Russian Roulette" accident; the coroner ruled it a homicide. It’s never been fully "solved" in a way that gives the family peace.
Then, more recently in 2023, his sister Tanya passed away.
Today, only Mark and his sister Nicole remain. These losses are why Mark is so vocal about mental health and why he clings so tightly to his own wife and children. When you’ve lost that much, you don't take the quiet moments for granted.
Why the "Ruffalo Way" Actually Works
So, what can we actually learn from how Mark Ruffalo and family navigate the world?
First, they prove that you don't have to live in the "bubble." By moving to the Catskills, they gave their kids a chance to grow up around real people, not just agents and publicists.
Second, they’ve mastered the art of the "reappearing act." Mark shows up, does the work, says something incredibly provocative at the Golden Globes (like his recent 2026 blast against political leadership), and then he disappears back to his farm.
Key Takeaways for a Balanced Life:
- Prioritize the "un-glamorous": Mark’s involvement in local issues in Callicoon shows that real impact happens at home, not just on a global stage.
- Health isn't just physical: His recovery from the brain tumor involved a massive amount of "mental resilience" and leaning on his support network.
- Boundaries are everything: Notice how you don't know every detail of his kids' lives? That's by design.
If you're looking to follow the Ruffalo model, start by checking out the local artisans in your own area or supporting sustainable businesses. Sunrise’s shop, Sunny's Pop, is a great example of how to turn a personal passion into a community staple. Whether you're an Oscar nominee or just someone trying to keep it together, the lesson is the same: find your people, find your "upstate," and don't be afraid to walk away from the noise.
One thing is for sure: in 2026, as he prepares to suit up as the Hulk again for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Mark Ruffalo will still be that same guy who values a walk in the woods over a walk on the red carpet.
To really understand the Ruffalo family, stop looking at the movies. Look at the garden in Callicoon. That's where the real story is.
Next Steps:
To see the Ruffalo philosophy in action, you can look into the local artisans of Sullivan County, New York, or explore Mark’s climate advocacy work through The Solutions Project. If you're interested in the lifestyle Sunrise promotes, browsing the curated collections at Sunny's Pop offers a direct window into the family's aesthetic and values.