Known for Acting
Mercedes J. Ruehl is an American screen, stage, and television actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, two Obie Awards, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards. 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. Ruehl is known for her leading performance in the play Lost in Yonkers (1990) and supporting performance in the film The Fisher King (1991). Her other film credits include Big (1988), Married to the Mob (1988), Last Action Hero (1993), Roseanna's Grave (1997), and Hustlers (2019). She also played the mother of main character Vincent Chase in HBO's Entourage.
Born
February 28, 1948 (age 78)
Birthplace
Queens, New York, USA
Filmography
49 films, 21 shows


The Nana Project
2023 · 1h 24m
country: United States
Follows Helen "Nana" Lewis, a feisty chess master, and her grandsons, as they embark on a road trip to support her rise to state championships.


Disclosure
2020 · 1h 48m
country: United States
An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.


Hustlers
2019 · 1h 50m
country: United States
A crew of savvy former strip club employees band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
Robin Williams: Behind Closed Doors
Robin Williams: Behind Closed Doors
2016 · 1h 30m
country: United States
A two-hour documentary special Robin Williams: Behind Closed Doors which gives viewers an intimate look at his life from his childhood in the suburbs of Chicago to small comedy clubs in Los Angeles, his breakthrough role on the TV show Happy Days as Mork from Ork and his big screen triumphs.


Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict
2015 · 1h 37m
country: Italy
Bouncing between Europe and the United States as often as she would between lovers, Peggy Guggenheim’s life was as swirling as the design of her uncle’s museum, and reads more like fiction than any reality imaginable. Peggy Guggenheim – Art Addict offers a rare look into Guggenheim’s world: blending the abstract, the colorful, the surreal and the salacious, to portray a life that was as complex and unpredictable as the artwork Peggy revered and the artists she pushed forward.


Chu and Blossom
2014 · 1h 44m
country: United States
A militant performance-artist and a tall Korean foreign-exchange student become trapped in a small Southern town.


Star Spangled Banners
2013 · 1h 25m
country: Unknown
Ten years following the breakup of the family band, The Banner Project, siblings Desiree, Johnny, and Mitchel Banner, are faced with the decision to reunite in order to save their home town from bankruptcy.
Doubt
Doubt
2013 · 43m
country: Unknown
Centers on Vincent, a former cop who's now a cunning but charming low-rent lawyer who uses his street smarts to work the system for his clients while battling his own demons and wooing his ex-wife.


Doctors of the Dark Side
2011 · 1h 14m
country: United States
Doctors of the Dark Side is the first feature length documentary about the pivotal role of physicians and psychologists in detainee torture. The stories of four detainees and the doctors involved in their abuse demonstrate how US Army and CIA doctors implemented the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and covered up signs of torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Interviews with medical, legal and intelligence experts and evidence from declassified government memos document what has been called the greatest scandal in American medical ethics. Based on four years of research by Producer/Director Martha Davis, written by Oscar winning Mark Jonathan Harris, and filmed in HD by Emmy winning DP Lisa Rinzler, the film shows how the torture of detainees could not continue without the assistance of the doctors.


Goldstar, Ohio
2010 · 15m
country: Unknown
Four families and a chief of police recount the day marine casualty officers came to their respective small towns in Ohio.


Loving Leah
2009 · 1h 37m
country: United States
When Leah's husband Benjamin dies suddenly, Benjamin's brother Jake is stunned to learn he is expected to marry the childless Leah to carry on his brother's name. Jake suggests to Leah that they get married and maintain a secretly platonic relationship. The harder they try to disguise their "pretend" marriage, the more their appreciation for each other's worlds grow, and out of understanding, a real love develops.


A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story
2006 · 1h 36m
country: United States
The story of Gwen Araujo, a transgender teen who was murdered in California in 2002.


Mom at Sixteen
2005 · 1h 28m
country: United States
Pregnant sixteen year old Jacey's well-meaning mother forces her to keep the birth a secret and decides to raise the baby as her own.


Zeyda and the Hitman
2004
country: Unknown


Bad Apple
2004 · 1h 36m
country: United States
Black Comedy about a undercover FBI agent in New York who falls for his informant's sister resulting in a deadly game between the criminals and cops.


Spooky House
2002 · 1h 46m
country: Unknown
A magician with a mysterious secret lives alone with his jaguar, Shadow, in the Spooky House, an old mansion rigged with magic tricks and hidden chambers.


Guilt by Association
2002 · 1h 40m
country: Canada
Life is good for Susan, her two children and new boyfriend Russell. But life abruptly changes when she discovers her perfect boyfriend is a drug dealer.


The Amati Girls
2001 · 1h 31m
country: United States
Four sisters who disagree about everything... except what matters most. Family.


The Lost Child
2000 · 1h 34m
country: United States
Knowing the past changes the future. Seeking a connection to her heritage, Rebecca Hoffman sets out on a journey of discovery following the deaths of her adoptive parents. She finds that connection with her birth family in the Navajo community. But cultures clash when her husband is rejected as an outsider. Rebecca and her family experience rebirth in a rich culture and renewal as a family in this dramatic film based on the autobiography Looking for Lost Bird by Yvette Melanson (with Claire Safran).


More Dogs Than Bones
2000 · 1h 32m
country: United States
A series of mishaps and misfortunes over $1 million in cash leads to murder, mayhem and greed.


What's Cooking?
2000 · 1h 50m
country: United States
Four families of different ethnicities prepare for a potentially explosive Thanksgiving dinner.


All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story
2000 · 1h 33m
country: United States
A teacher is arrested and jailed for raping her 13-year-old student, and twice gives birth to his child.


The Minus Man
1999 · 1h 51m
country: United States
When the quiet and amiable Vann Siegert drifts into town, no one suspects the evil that lies beneath the surface. Despite his easy charm, Vann is merely a reflection of what those he encounters want him to be. Soon, as locals start to disappear, it becomes clear that an eerie subtraction is at work in the sleepy hamlet.


Out of the Cold
1999 · 1h 51m
country: United States
An American entertainer and an Estonian woman are torn apart by hate and prejudice.


Gia
1998 · 2h
country: United States
Gia Carangi meteorically rises to modeling fame in the late 1970s but becomes overconsumed by persistent loneliness and drug addiction.


Subway Stories
1997 · 1h 21m
country: United States
An anthology of 10 stories depicting real-life incidents of subway riders in New York City, which range from compassion and love to violence and loss.


Roseanna's Grave
1997 · 1h 38m
country: Italy
Roseanna is dying of a heart condition, and all she wants is to be buried next to her daughter, in a cemetery that is getting full fast. The cemetery can't expand because Capestro, the man who owns the land next to the cemetery, won't sell. While Marcello is doing good deeds to make sure no one dies, Roseanna thinks of Marcello's future.


North Shore Fish
1997 · 1h 33m
country: Canada
Sal (Tony Danza) has been the foreman at North Shore Fish, a frozen fish factory, for years. He and Flo (Mercedes Ruehl), the "batter" person on the assembly line, not only were high school sweethearts, but are currently carrying on an affair.


Indictment: The McMartin Trial
1995 · 2h 15m
country: United States
The McMartin family's lives are turned upside down when they are accused of serious child molestation. The family run a school for infants. An unqualified child cruelty "expert" videotapes the children describing outrageous stories of abuse. One of the most expensive and long running trials in US legal history, exposes the lack of evidence and unprofessional attitudes of the finger pointers which kept one of the accused in jail for over 5 years without bail.


On Hope
1994 · 34m
country: Unknown
On Hope is a 1994 short film directed by JoBeth Williams, with Annette O'Toole, Mercedes Ruehl, Ray Baker, and Veronica Cartwright. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.


Last Action Hero
1993 · 2h 11m
country: United States
After his father's death, a young boy finds solace in action movies featuring an indestructible cop. Given a magic ticket by a theater manager, he is transported into the film and teams up with the cop to stop a villain who escapes into the real world.


Lost in Yonkers
1993 · 1h 54m
country: United States
In the summer of 1942 two young boys are sent to stay with their stern grandmother Kurnitz and their childlike aunt Bella in Yonkers, New York.


The Fisher King
1991 · 2h 18m
country: United States
Two troubled men face their terrible destinies and events of their past as they join together on a mission to find the Holy Grail and thus to save themselves.


Another You
1991 · 1h 34m
country: United States
George has been in a mental hospital for 3 years and is finally ready to go out into the real world again. Eddie Dash, a dedicated con-man, is supposed to keep him out of trouble, but when people begin to recognise George as a missing millionaire, Eddie wants to take advantage of the situation.


Crazy People
1990 · 1h 30m
country: United States
A bitter ad executive, who has reached his breaking point, finds himself in a mental institution, where his career actually begins to thrive with the help of the hospital's patients.


Crimes and Misdemeanors
1989 · 1h 44m
country: United States
A renowned ophthalmologist is desperate to cut off an adulterous relationship…which ends up in murder; and a frustrated documentary filmmaker woos an attractive television producer while making a film about her insufferably self-centered boss.


Slaves of New York
1989 · 2h 4m
country: United States
Meet the denizens of New York City: artists, prostitutes, saints, and seers. All are aspiring toward either fame or oblivion while hoping for love and acceptance. Instead they find high rent, faithless partners, and dead-end careers.


Married to the Mob
1988 · 1h 44m
country: United States
Angela de Marco is fed up with her gangster husband's line of work and wants no part of the crime world. When her husband is killed for having an affair with the mistress of mob boss Tony "The Tiger" Russo, Angela and her son depart for New York City to make a fresh start. Unfortunately, Tony has set his sights upon Angela -- and so has an undercover FBI agent looking to use her to bust Tony.


Big
1988 · 1h 44m
country: United States
When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big, he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight, but he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups, including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.


Leader of the Band
1987 · 1h 31m
country: United States
After several months of hard times, pianist Eddie Layton is offered the job of bandleader at Olmstead University. His first meeting is discouraging, as the young people are a happy group with very basic musical skills. But Eddie doesn't give up, he wants to motivate his students and his enthusiasm pays off. With the help of French teacher and band sponsor Miss Cooper and billionaire Elmo De Lavallard, who buys new instruments and brightly coloured uniforms, Eddie is proud to lead these musicians who play their hearts out for him.


The Secret of My Success
1987 · 1h 51m
country: United States
Brantley Foster, a well-educated kid from Kansas, has always dreamed of making it big in New York City, but once there, he learns that jobs - and girls - are hard to get. When he visits his uncle, Howard Prescott, who runs a multi-million-dollar company, he is given a job in the mail room.


84 Charing Cross Road
1987 · 1h 40m
country: United States
When a humorous script-reader in her New York apartment sees an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature for a bookstore in London that does mail order, she begins a very special correspondence and friendship with Frank Doel, the bookseller who works at Marks & Co., 84 Charing Cross Road.


Radio Days
1987 · 1h 29m
country: United States
The Narrator tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year's Eve 1944, this coming-of-age tale mixes the narrator's experiences with contemporary anecdotes and urban legends of the radio stars.


Heartburn
1986 · 1h 48m
country: United States
She's a magazine writer who gives up her career for love and family. He's a playboy newspaper columnist who can't quite give up his old tricks. And if that combination doesn't give a relationship heartburn, nothing will.


Twisted
1985 · 1h 30m
country: United States
One evening the Collins find their maid Mrs. Murdock at the end of their steps: dead, neck broken. Obviously she had an accident. Consequently they need a new babysitter for an upcoming big party. The sensible Helen meets little Susan Collins at the discount market and likes her, so she offers to do the job. She doesn't know Susan's teenage brother Mark - technically skilled and good in school, but restive and cunning. As soon as the parents have left, he starts psychologically terrorizing Helen and his sister with electronic tricks.


Mom's on Strike
1984 · 46m
country: United States
An ABC (American Broadcasting Company) Afterschool Special about an overworked housewife, who, as the title suggests, goes on strike, in order to persuade the rest of her family to share household chores.


Four Friends
1981 · 1h 55m
country: United States
A young immigrant comes to America in the 60s and is caught up in the counterculture movement which tests his bonds of friendship and love.


The Warriors
1979 · 1h 34m
country: United States
Prominent gang leader Cyrus calls a meeting of New York's gangs to set aside their turf wars and take over the city. At the meeting, a rival leader kills Cyrus, but a Coney Island gang called the Warriors is wrongly blamed for Cyrus' death. Before you know it, the cops and every gangbanger in town is hot on the Warriors' trail.


Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
1976 · 1h 57m
country: Brazil
After the death of her handsome but good-for-nothing husband Vadinho, Flor, a widow, marries Dr. Teodoro, a respectable gentleman. Hilarity ensues when Vadinho's spirit returns into her life.