Mercedes Ruehl

Mercedes Ruehl
Ruehl in East Hampton, New York in October 2009
Born	Mercedes J. Ruehl February 28, 1948 (1948-02-28) (age 61) Queens, New York
Occupation	Actress
Spouse(s)	David Geiser

Mercedes J. Ruehl (born February 28, 1948) is an American theater, television and film actress.

Personal life

Ruehl was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City.^[1] Her father was an FBI agent and her mother, also named Mercedes, was a school teacher.^[2] She was raised Catholic,^[3] and has German, Irish, and Cuban ancestry.^[4] Ruehl attended College of New Rochelle^[5] and graduated in 1969. She is married to painter David Geiser, with whom she adopted a son, Jake (born 1997).^[6] She had another son, Christopher, whom she placed in adoption in 1976; Christopher later became Jake's godfather.^[6]

Career

Ruehl began her career in regional theatre with the Denver Center Theatre Company, taking odd jobs between engagements. In the late 1970s, Ruehl began chalking up New York stage successes, notably in I'm Not Rappaport (1985). On the stage, she won the 1985 Obie Award for her performance in The Marriage of Bette and Boo and twenty years later, an Obie for Woman Before a Glass. She also received a 1991 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for Neil Simon's^[7] Lost in Yonkers. Her performances in two other plays earned her two other Tony nominations:

• In 1995 as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for a revival of The Shadow Box;
• In 2002 as Best Actress (Play) for Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?.

Her most acclaimed film role was in The Fisher King; her performance in the film earned her the 1991 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as an American Comedy Award, a Boston Society of Film Critics Award, a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, and a Golden Globe. Earlier she had won the 1989 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Married to the Mob. She played KACL station manager Kate Costas in five episodes of Frasier, and had a major role in the made-for-TV film All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story. She is the first Cuban American female Academy Award winner.

She has also played the mother of Vincent Chase in HBO's Entourage.

In 2008, Ruehl returned to the Broadway stage in Manhattan Theater Club's production of Richard Greenberg's The American Plan playing the role of Eva Adler.^[8] The production opened at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and the limited engagement ran until March 22, 2009.^[9] In his rave review in The New York Times, Ben Brantley called Ruehl's performance "masterly".^[10] Next up for Ruehl is the drama/horror film What Ever Happened to Barker Daniels?; the film is currently in production and has a release date of 2009.^[11]

Music

Though not a singer herself, Ruehl was involved in the production of the album Haunted by Poe; she also reads passages from the book House of Leaves by Poe's brother Mark Z. Danielewski on the CD "Don't be Scared", issued to cross-promote both projects. She is also name-dropped in the song A Change Would Do You Good by Sheryl Crow.

Work

Filmography

Television

References

External links

• Mercedes Ruehl at the Internet Broadway Database
• Mercedes Ruehl at the Internet Movie Database
• ITDb
• Ruehl Rules, a May 2005 Playbill article
• Brief Encounter with Mercedes Ruehl, a May 2002 Playbill interview