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Mercedes Ruehl
Highest Rated: 98% Big (1988)
Lowest Rated: 5% Another You (1991)
Birthday: Feb 28, 1948
Birthplace: Queens, New York, USA
Like many who achieve "overnight success," Mercedes Ruehl had spent many years honing her craft on stage and in small roles in film and TV before breaking through in 1988 with two high profile parts. The New York native spent a somewhat peripatetic childhood, moving frequently until her FBI agent father and teacher mother finally settled in Silver Spring, Maryland. After returning to New York to attend college, Ruehl settled in Manhattan and studied acting with Uta Hagen while supporting herself with the usual battery of odd jobs (e.g., waitressing). She landed her first film role (a bit part as a policewoman) in 1979's "The Warriors." Ruehl went on to spend the next two years as a company member of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, acting in such works as "Medea" and "Much Ado About Nothing."
Photos
Filmography
Movies
| Credit | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 87% | 65% | Hustlers | Mom (Character) | $105.0M | 2019 |
| No Score Yet | 56% | Chu and Blossom | Mrs. Fefterg (Character) | - | 2014 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Banner 4th of July | Rosalind Banner (Character) | - | 2013 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Doctors of the Dark Side | Narrator | - | 2011 |
| No Score Yet | 71% | Loving Leah | Janice Lever (Character) | - | 2009 |
| No Score Yet | 90% | A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story | Sylvia Guerrero (Character) | - | 2006 |
| No Score Yet | 79% | Mom at Sixteen | Terry Jeffries (Character) | - | 2005 |
| No Score Yet | 12% | Bad Apple | Lorraine Gibbons (Character) | - | 2004 |
| No Score Yet | 30% | Zeyda and the Hitman | Esther (Character) | - | 2004 |
| No Score Yet | 62% | Guilt by Association | Susan Walker (Character) | - | 2002 |
| No Score Yet | 20% | Widows | Unknown (Character) | - | 2002 |
| 46% | 64% | The Amati Girls | Grace (Character) | $47.8K | 2001 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Mary Kay Letourneau Story: All-American Girl | Jane Newhall (Character) | - | 2000 |
| No Score Yet | 46% | Spooky House | Boss (Character) | $64.5K | 2000 |
| No Score Yet | 57% | More Dogs Than Bones | Victoria "Vic" Galletti (Character) | - | 2000 |
| No Score Yet | 58% | The Lost Child | Rebecca (Character) | - | 2000 |
| 52% | 65% | What's Cooking? | Elizabeth Avila (Character) | $1.0M | 2000 |
| 58% | 46% | The Minus Man | Jane (Character) | $368.8K | 1999 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Out of the Cold | Tina (Character) | - | 1999 |
| 88% | 82% | Gia | Kathleen Carangi (Character) | - | 1998 |
| 38% | 82% | For Roseanna | Roseanna 'Rosa' (Character) | $120.4K | 1997 |
| No Score Yet | 61% | Subway Stories | Leyla (Character) | - | 1997 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | North Shore Fish | Florence (Character) | - | 1997 |
| No Score Yet | 77% | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | Lael Rubin (Character) | - | 1995 |
| 41% | 48% | Last Action Hero | Irene Madigan (Character) | - | 1993 |
| 71% | 77% | Lost in Yonkers | Bella Kurnitz (Character) | $9.1M | 1993 |
| 5% | 34% | Another You |
Elaine/ |
$2.5M | 1991 |
| 85% | 85% | The Fisher King | Anne Napolitano (Character) | $39.4M | 1991 |
| 35% | 62% | Crazy People | Dr. Liz Baylor (Character) | - | 1990 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Locos, Locos de Remate | Unknown (Character) | - | 1990 |
| 30% | 70% | Slaves of New York | Samantha (Character) | $294.4K | 1989 |
| 88% | 49% | Married to the Mob | Connie Russo (Character) | $19.7M | 1988 |
| 98% | 82% | Big | Mrs. Baskin (Character) | $113.5M | 1988 |
| 48% | 58% | The Secret of My Success | Sheila (Character) | $65.3M | 1987 |
| 86% | 81% | 84 Charing Cross Road | Kay (Character) | $572.7K | 1987 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Leader of the Band | Miss Cooper (Character) | - | 1987 |
| 45% | 46% | Heartburn | Eve (Character) | $24.3M | 1986 |
| 80% | 62% | Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands | American girl in casino (Character) | - | 1976 |
TV
| Credit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Score Yet | 52% | New Amsterdam | Grace Ramirez (Guest Star) | 2022 |
| No Score Yet | 59% | Bull | Judge Hudson (Guest Star) | 2018-2020 |
| No Score Yet | 83% | NCIS | Marie Quinn (Guest Star) | 2017 |
| No Score Yet | 62% | 2 Broke Girls | Olga (Guest Star) | 2016 |
| 24% | 78% | The Mysteries of Laura | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2016 |
| No Score Yet | 84% | Life in Pieces | Mia (Guest Star) | 2016 |
| 78% | 81% | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Lucia Barba (Guest Star) | 2015 |
| 52% | No Score Yet | Monday Mornings | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2013 |
| No Score Yet | 83% | Law & Order | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2004 2009 |
| 65% | 82% | Entourage | Rita Chase (Guest Star) | 2006 2008 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | 1-800-Missing | Emanuelle Baker (Character) | 2004 |
| 95% | 94% | Frasier | Kate Costas (Guest Star) | 1995-1996 |
| No Score Yet | 64% | The Cosby Show | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1990 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Kate & Allie | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1986 |