Keen Ruffalo Steps Out of His Father's Shadow in "Sterling Point"

Keen Ruffalo never planned on becoming an actor. Now the 25-year-old is fronting one of the summer’s most talked-about new series, and doing it under a last name that comes with its own weight.

Ruffalo stars in Prime Video’s “Sterling Point,” an eight-episode coming-of-age drama, and appears in the upcoming comedy “Nimrods.” The show follows Annie, played by Ella Rubin, and her twin brother, Ruffalo’s character, after the pair unexpectedly inherit their grandfather’s island in Canada. It comes from writer-director Megan Park, the filmmaker behind “The Fallout” and “My Old Ass,” who set out to build a young-adult series with real emotional texture. “I wanted to make a YA show that felt as authentic as possible,” Park said.

Ruffalo’s path to the role started far from a film set. He was studying fashion design when the pandemic hit, leaving him adrift about what came next. “I was depressed as most people were during COVID and needed to figure out what to do,” he said. Watching his father find fulfillment in acting pushed him to examine the craft for himself, and he enrolled in a string of acting conservatories before landing his footing.

Despite his father’s fame, Ruffalo says his upbringing looked nothing like a typical Hollywood childhood. He grew up on a farm in upstate New York and didn’t grasp that his father’s job differed from a neighbor’s until a stranger asked him to get a Hulk toy autographed. His first brush with a film set came at 12, as an extra in his father’s 2013 film “Begin Again,” though the moment that stuck with him was watching the finished scene beside his dad at the premiere.

On a recent appearance on TODAY, Ruffalo discussed the parallels between his character’s arc and his own decision to abandon a fashion career for acting, along with how his father reacted to that shift. He’s since taken small roles in projects including “Hal & Harper” and his father’s series “Task.” Despite the growing résumé, Ruffalo says he has no interest in moving behind the camera for now, preferring to stay focused on performing as “Sterling Point” builds momentum with audiences and critics alike.

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