Mercedes Ruehl Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Mercedes Ruehl
OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress
BIRTH DATE: February 28, 1948 (Age: 65)
EDUCATION: College of New Rochelle
PLACE OF BIRTH: Queens, New York
ZODIAC SIGN: Pisces

Best Known For

Mercedes Ruehl is an actress of Cuban and Irish descent. She won a Tony Award for Lost in Yonkers and an Oscar for The Fisher King.

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Mercedes Ruehl

APA Style

Mercedes Ruehl. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 04:06, May 24, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/mercedes-ruehl-212182.

Harvard Style

Mercedes Ruehl. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/mercedes-ruehl-212182 [Accessed 24 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Mercedes Ruehl." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 24 2013, 04:06 http://www.biography.com/people/mercedes-ruehl-212182.

MHRA Style

"Mercedes Ruehl," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/mercedes-ruehl-212182 [accessed May 24, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Mercedes Ruehl," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/mercedes-ruehl-212182 (accessed May 24, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Mercedes Ruehl [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 24] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/mercedes-ruehl-212182.

Bluebook Style

Mercedes Ruehl, http://www.biography.com/people/mercedes-ruehl-212182 (last visited May 24, 2013).

AMA Style

Mercedes Ruehl. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/mercedes-ruehl-212182. Accessed May 24, 2013.

Synopsis

Mercedes Ruehl was born on February 28, 1948, in Queens, New York. Of Cuban and Irish descent, she was the daughter of FBI agents and moved frequently as a child. Ruehl won two Obies and a Tony Award for Lost in Yonkers and an Oscar for her supporting role in The Fisher King. She's married to painter David Geiser; they have a son, Jake.

Early Life

Actress Mercedes Ruehl was born on February 28, 1948, in Queens, New York. Of Cuban and Irish descent, Ruehl is the daughter of FBI agents and moved frequently with her family before settling in Silver Spring, Maryland. After graduating from the College of New Rochelle in 1969, she performed in community theater and supported herself with odd jobs in New York City while pursuing a stage career. She won two Obie awards and a Tony for Best Actress for Lost in Yonkers.

Breakthrough Role

Ruehl's breakthrough came in 1988, when she landed two scene-stealing supporting roles in feature films, that of Josh's mother in Big and a Mafia wife in Married to the Mob. Her next critical and commercial success was an Oscar-winning supporting performance in The Fisher King in 1991.

With a dearth of film roles to choose from in the 1990s, Ruehl turned her focus to television, engaging audiences with a recurring guest role on the sitcom Frasier. She has appeared in several made-for-TV movies and joined the cast of HBO's Entourage.