Photo: Getty
They've been married for 18 years.
By Amy Lamare — Written on May 04, 2018
Who is Mark Ruffalo's wife? Mark Ruffalo and his wife Sunrise Coigney are, quite literally, too cute for words. Of course, we all know Mark as the charming actor with the goofy smile who has barely aged a moment in the past decade and a half. Perhaps that's his genes, perhaps that's true love! One thing is for certain, the two exude love and goofiness in every public appearance and photograph together. Mark and Sunrise are truly #relationshipgoals.
1. How did Mark and Sunrise meet?
Mark and Sunrise have been married since 2000, right about the time his career skyrocketed. They met in 1998 on the street. Ruffalo was living in a gross apartment and didn't have a driver's license or credit card. One of Ruffalo's friends was interested in him.
Despite the fact that Ruffalo was, at the time, a tangentially employed actor, he didn't let that stop him. He saw Sunrise and thought: I'm going to marry that girl. Ruffalo had booked a Clearasil commercial in 1992 and then didn't work for eight years. He and Sunrise started dating. She thought he was a mess, according to Ruffalo, but she believed in him.
2. She turned down his proposal.
Mark Ruffalo started booking work and getting attention for his acting. He proposed to Sunrise. She turned him down. He tried again and she said yes. Something tells us she doesn't regret changing her mind.
3. She is a California girl and mom of three.
Sunrise was born Christina Sunrise Coigney in San Francisco in 1972. Like her husband, she's an actress who has had roles in "Campfire Stores," "In the Cut," and the TV series "Line of Fire."
She doesn't have any credits on her filmography since the early aughts, but that may be because she and Ruffalo had three kids in that time period. Their son Keen was born in 2001, a year after they got married. Their daughters Bella Noche and Odette, were born in 2005 and 2007, respectively.
4. She inspires and supports her husband.
We all love Mark Ruffalo and the roles he's had. We have Sunrise to thank for at least one of those. In 2014, Ruffalo told Closer Weekly magazine: "I don't know if I would have made it without her." Besides supporting and believing in him when he was a struggling, unknown, broke actor living in a dump without so much as a credit card or driver's license to his name she was also there when Mark had surgery to remove a brain tumor in 2002.
But even before that, Mark was thinking of his wife. It turns out that Mark found out about his brain tumor just weeks before Sunrise was due to give birth to their first son. Mark chose not to tell Sunrise until after their son was born. Keen was born in 2001 and Ruffalo had the surgery in 2002.
In 2008, Ruffalo's brother Scott was shot and killed in Beverly Hills. Mark decided it was time to spend time with his wife and kids and get centered again. Sunrise supported this decision. The family left Los Angeles and moved to a farm in upstate New York where they reside to this day.
5. She's friends with Julianne Moore.
In 2010, Mark Ruffalo appeared in The Kids Are All Right. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role. It turns out, he would never have even been in that defining role of a lifetime if it wasn't for Sunrise. In a 2011 interview with Film Independent, she told the story of how Mark got his role in The Kids Are All Right. The story starts off: "Julianne and I are actually friends and we started texting. Julianne Moore was in that film. You know the saying, behind every good man, there is a good woman. For Mark Ruffalo, that woman is his wife Sunrise.