When Keen Ruffalo signs onto our Zoom call, he’s the picture of Gen Z nonchalance. The 25-year-old has his Airpods in, black hoodie on, and is sporting that ruffled, floppy haircut teenagers regularly screenshot and bring to the salon. But make no mistake: Keen is still getting comfortable on camera.
Skepticism would be warranted. His last name does indeed come from Mark Ruffalo, his father, who landed the young actor his first film spot at the age of 12 (as an extra in Begin Again). Keen’s latest roles—a part in the uber-indie Green Day romp Nimrods and inevitably high-profile turn in Amazon’s teen drama Sterling Point—seem a natural evolution for a child of Hollywood. But “contrary to popular belief, I was actually raised on a farm and kept very far away from all of that,” he says of the entertainment industry.
At 12, Keen had no aspirations to act. He describes getting “dragged” to set with the same shrug one might use to recall Bring Your Kid to Work Day at an accounting firm. By 18, he was at Drexel for fashion design, making it a couple semesters before the pandemic hit and caused a crisis of faith. “It was like, I need to figure out what I’m gonna do with my future. Acting makes my dad happy, maybe I’ll enjoy it,” he recalls. Stints at Stella Adler and HB Studio, as well as theater work, proved that he did.
After more than 100 auditions, Keen is now headed to theaters—Nimrods is out Aug. 14—and a home entertainment device near you. Sterling Point comes by way of The O.C. and Gossip Girl showrunners Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who have a long track record of capturing the attention of the tween-to-YA demographic. Keen plays Connor, the twin brother of Annie (played by Ella Rubin), who discovers that their estranged grandfather bequeathed them an island holding a litany of family secrets. Keen’s character offers comic relief—he’s a charmer introduced via a tête-à-tête with sister about the girl he snuck into his room the night prior. Cue the fan edits and Buzzfeed puppy interview.
When I ask Keen if he’s prepared for the rigmarole of public life, he laughs audibly. (“God, no.”) He describes fumbling through meetings with publicists and casting directors with a greenness that was clearly the intentional result of his parents’ tough love approach. Still, he braved an interview with CULTURED to discuss his first days on set, inability to stomach horror, and the one project he’d definitely say no to.
I’d love to start by getting a timeline of how this all came together for you. Did you film Nimrods or Sterling Point first?
I actually did my first Sterling Point self-tape while I was shooting Nimrod. All my castmates also got that same audition. I was going out for Ellis [protagonist Annie’s love interest] originally, not Connor. One of my castmates watches my self-tapes, and he goes, “Oh man. Did you read the script?” I was like, “No, man, I was shooting all of last week. I didn’t have time to read the script.” He’s like, “I just don’t think this is really how he reads.”
Hilariously, I ended up getting a call back for Connor, and he doesn’t. I was like, “Who read the script now?” I ended up going to Canada and doing chem[istry] reads with Ella. They brought me back in because they’re like, “We actually think you’d be an amazing Connor,” and the rest is history.
As a teenager, you had some early credits on your dad’s projects. Were you going along because it was something you were already interested in?
No, not really at the time. I originally was going to school for fashion design and then came to acting during Covid because I dropped out of college, didn’t really have any aim or direction, and got that Covid depression. It was like, I need to figure out what I’m gonna do with my future. Acting makes my dad happy, maybe I’ll enjoy it. I fell in love with it, and now I get to do it. But originally, no, I was kind of just dragged to the set.
So where did you start off? You were doing auditions?
Yeah, I was doing a lot of auditions. Out of convenience, I’d do something my dad had done, but that would be a single scene. They’d still be like, “Hey, do you want to do one scene? You have to audition now.” I’d say I did a lot of auditions. I’ve been acting now for almost five years. God damn, five years. I think it might be even more. Almost six years now. Holy shit.
I wasn’t auditioning at the start, obviously. My dad didn’t want to hand me or my siblings anything because it’s just not how he was raised. So I went to a couple of the major schools and studied different acting techniques. I’m a huge nerd when it comes to acting technique. That’s my bread and butter. I could go on for hours about it. And then [my dad] came and saw one of my plays one day, and he’s like, “All right, I think you’re ready to do this,” after I’d studied for a year or two. Then, it took me another three years of still taking classes and auditions to finally land Nimrods and Sterling Point. I’d probably done at that point upwards of 100 auditions.
I like that he came to the play and ordained, “You’re ready to carry on the Ruffalo name.”
Exactly. He was like, “You need to be better.”
Do you feel like you want to take different kinds of roles than he might take, or you’re not too concerned with the comparison?
It would be really hard not to take a role similar to what he’s taken. I feel like he’s done it all at this point. I’m not really all that concerned about that, as long as it’s not like, “We’re doing a remake of 13 Going on 30, and we want you.” I don’t really want that. But drama, I think it’s something that he’s very passionate about, and I also find to be appealing. Really, if the character is interesting, I like it. It’s kind of what drew me to Connor, is that he’s such a large personality. That’s not really something you get to do very often.
Do you feel like you were learning on the go on set?
Doing the work is the best training, because it is like trial by fire a little bit. You either get there and you do good and you keep working, or you get there and you do bad and you don’t work anymore. You gotta really nail it on the first one a little bit. In my career trajectory in my mind, for the next four years I was gonna be doing small indie roles—no leading man, nothing with a lot of screen time. Then this kind of came out of nowhere. I definitely learned a lot. It was just five months of acting on a single character.
You said you really love acting technique. Does that all go out the window once you’re on set, or you were able to pull some of it in?
Well, that’s like the whole thing, is that as soon as you step on stage, you have to forget it all. I simply enjoy learning about it, and even if I don’t implement it, I’m still like, “That’s cool. Oh man, animals, that’s an interesting way to do it.” I’m a history fan. I like learning the history of how acting came to be.
After 100 auditions, was there a moment where you’re like, Maybe this isn’t for me, or do you feel like you’re pretty resilient?
Oh no, not hearing back crushes you. That is the worst. I’m almost like, “Please tell me I didn’t get it.” I’d take that over just not hearing anything for weeks. Just being like, Maybe they’ll call me back. And it’s fucked up because that sometimes does happen. You’re just sitting there in this weird limbo where you’re not sure if you got it, you don’t think you did, but then you’ll hear these stories of people getting roles that they auditioned for like half a year ago. I definitely had moments where I was like, I don’t know if I can do this. And now that I’m thinking about it, it’s probably a lot more than 100 auditions.
Is there a moment from the Sterling Point set that you know is gonna be coming up again and again?
There’s one moment that really was sweet. It was my first or second week in Canada, and everyone had just gotten there. Some people hadn’t arrived yet. It was my birthday on the 19th, and I wanted to do something with everybody, but literally everyone either had work stuff to do or ended up having to travel. And so I was like, Oh well, gonna be spending my birthday alone in a foreign country where I don’t know anyone or what to do.
I was kind of bummed out because originally I’d been told I was showing up to set a few weeks after my birthday, and so I planned all this stuff with my family to go and visit them. [In the] morning on my birthday, I heard knocking on my front door, and I came down, and [castmates] Ella [Rubin], Bo [Bragason], and Amélie [Hoeferle] were down there with balloons and flowers and a cake, and they sang me happy birthday before they had to go. That was really special, and it stayed with me.
What’s the best reaction you’ve gotten from friends or family seeing you in either of these projects, or their trailers?
My mom was really excited, and she’s French. So, you know, if she’s actually stoked about something, she’s actually stoked about something. I’ve always deferred to her if I’m actually trying to gauge how I did on something, because she’ll fully be like, “That wasn’t great.” And I appreciate that. That’s an uncommon thing to have.
You’ve got a pair of pretty levelheaded parents. They’re gonna tell you if it’s not okay.
Yeah, but if it’s anything but acting, my dad’s like, “That was amazing.” When it comes to the actual work, he’s like, “It’s okay. He did alright.” But they both liked it, and I trust their input.
Do you have an influence that you think might surprise people, someone whose performances you’re watching?
Daniel Day-Lewis?
That’s a classic.
Denzel? I feel like it’s a bit weird to be like, “Timothée Chalamet,” and even Cooper Hoffman, they’re my contemporaries, so it’s a bit like, Do I look up to this kid that’s younger than me?
Maybe the newer directors, like Sean Baker and Kane Parsons. It’s really cool that they’ve made an opening for young directors and writers in Hollywood. It’s never been better to be a young writer-director. First time ever, it’s been good.
What do you look out for? It sounds like you watch horror.
Horror gets my ass. It could be telegraphed for like five minutes and it’ll get my ass. I’ll know it’s coming. It just gets me. But I wouldn’t say I like horror more than any other particular genre. Birdman is my most recent watch that was like, God, this ruined my day. This is way too close to home.
It’s so hard. I never know how to answer the movie or television questions.
What’s your favorite one from when you were younger? That’s an easier answer sometimes.
Oh, Treasure Planet. Love me an animated movie.
Maybe some voice acting in your future?
Maybe. I just need a few other roles. It’s like movies, theater, and then voice acting. I need to be able to support myself with movies and the theater.
Theater once you’ve made money and you don’t need to make any more.
Once I’m able to not worry, then I can be like, Okay, I can do theater, where actors for some godforsaken reason aren’t paid anything.
Is there a red flag that you’ve learned to look out for, like, This project maybe isn’t for me?
If you read a script and you’re counting how many pages you have left, that’s not a project you should be taking. If the script feels like it went by quickly, then that’s a really good project. You need to enjoy what you’re doing, and that’s not an option really at the start of it all. I’ve taken just about anything that came across my table being like, “Hey, you wanna do this?”
Do you have like a few people that you’d love to work with? A dream project?
Yorgos Lanthimos, phenomenal. Scorsese. Ruben Östlund. Triangle of Sadness blew me away. Curry Barker, I’d just be curious to see what his career is looking like. He was so good on Obsession. That movie rocked my world. Everyone in that was so good. Sorry, I’m gushing over Obsession. I watched it like two days ago and now it’s all I can think about.
You’ve grown up around the industry. Do you feel prepared for everything that comes with it? You’re entering an interesting moment where you’re gonna be doing a lot of interviews, lining up new projects. Is your game face on?
God, no. Contrary to popular belief, I was actually raised on a farm and kept very far away from all of that, just because my dad didn’t enjoy being in it. He was like, “I just wanna go and hang out on my farm and do work.” If you could just survive off theater, I bet he’d do that. I’d say I have no idea what I’m doing. I was taking meetings with publicists, and they’d be talking at me like I knew what they were saying, and I’d be like, “All right, we need to pause, because I have no idea what you’re talking about right now.”
I’m like a newborn. I’m like a baby in all this. I’ll do something, and then I’ll be telling an actor friend about it and he’s like, “Wait, what? You didn’t have a lawyer for when they’re making your contract?” I’m like, “What, should I? I didn’t get told anything.”
I hesitate to tell you this, but you could have had a publicist on this call.
You can?
You can.
You learn something new. I think I just enjoy acting.
More of our favorite stories from CULTURED
Audacious Ghosts and Sunbaked Villas: How to Make the Most of 36 Hours in the Veneto
Is ‘I Want Your Sex’ Actually Gregg Araki’s Tamest Film to Date?
What One Angeleno Learned From a Six-Week Bender With the Downtown NY Art Scene
McNally Jackson’s Sarah McNally Breaks Down the Modern Bestseller
The Best Parks and Pools in New York, According to Luke Evans, Sohla El-Waylly, Bowen Yang, and More
Sign up for our newsletter here to get these stories direct to your inbox.
in your life?
