Actor — Past Speakers — The Common Good

Mark Ruffalo is an environmental activist and actor known for his portrayal of Bruce Banner/the Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with The Avengers.

He starred in and was an executive producer of the 2014 television drama film The Normal Heart, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie (as a producer) and he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor in a TV Movie. The same year, he portrayed Dave Schultz in Foxcatcher, for which he was nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2015, he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Infinitely Polar Bear and also received BAFTA and Academy Award nominations for his role in the drama Spotlight.

As an environmental activist, Ruffalo has focused his efforts on combating fracking in New York state. Receiving an environmental award at Dickinson College in early 2015, Ruffalo notably told graduates, "I'm here to tell you that 'activist' is not a dirty word." Living that message, Ruffalo founded the Solutions Project, which pushes for 100 percent renewable energy, and is active with Water Defense, a group dedicated to clean water initiatives.

Ruffalo spoke at The Common Good on the Clean Energy and the Water Defense Fund in 2012.

Twitter: @MarkRuffalo

Jamie Jirak, ‘Mark Ruffalo Shares New Look at His Avengers: Endgame Motion Capture Suit’, Comicbook, 1 July 2019

Denzel Washington

Academy award-winning actor, director and producer

Denzel Washington is an Academy award-winning actor, director and producer best-known for his roles in ‘Glory’, ‘Malcolm X’ and ‘The Hurricane’. As an actor, he is known for his penchant for taking on challenging roles and portraying them to perfection.
He got his first big break when he was chosen to play the role of Dr. Philip Chandler in the NBC medical drama series, ‘St. Elsewhere’. He played several minor roles in films before ‘Cry Freedom’ happened in 1987. His portrayal of anti-apartheid social activist Steve Biko established him as a talented character actor. The decade of 1990 was a very productive period for the talented actor. He played the lawyer Joe Miller in the 1993 drama film ‘Philadelphia’ which was one of the first Hollywood movies to deal with issues like homosexuality, AIDS, and homophobia.

He appeared in several notable films throughout the 1990s, including his first of four Spike Lee collaborations Mo’ Better Blues (1990), Malcolm X (1992) in another Oscar-nominated performance, Philadelphia (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), Courage Under Fire (1996) and The Hurricane (1999), for which he received a Golden Globe for Best Actor and another Oscar nomination. In 2001, he received his second Oscar (this time in a leading role) for the cop thriller Training Day. The following year, he directed his first film, the drama Antwone Fisher, in which he also co-starred.

He went to Fordham University upon graduating from high school and earned a B.A. in Drama and Journalism in 1977. On May 18, 1991, Washington was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Fordham University, for having “impressively succeeded in exploring the edge of his multifaceted talent”. In 2011, he donated $2 million to Fordham for an endowed chair of the theater department, as well as $250,000 to establish a theater-specific scholarship at the school. He also received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Morehouse College on May 20, 2007 and an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania on May 16, 2011. In 2018 he returned to Broadway as Hickey in Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh.

Twitter: @Denzel Washington

Chris Beachum, ‘Spike Lee presents Denzel Washington with 2019 American Film Institute life achievement award tonight on TNT’, GoldDerby, 20 June 2019