One of our most viewed TikTok videos of 2026 is of actor Keen Ruffalo arriving at the Dior cruise show in Los Angeles. Dressed in the fashion house’s slouchy deep-V gray sweater, a blue button-down shirt, and light-wash jeans and sporting his floppy haircut, the 25-year-old posed nervously for the cameras with a boyish charm about him. The clip quickly racked up 1.5 million views and over a thousand comments, with adoring fans calling him “awkwardly cute” and begging to “put him in a rom-com right now.” A star was born.
Little did they know at the time that Ruffalo, the son of Mark Ruffalo and Sunrise Coigney, would be the breakout star of the next big teen drama, Sterling Point. The latest in Prime Video’s wildly successful YA summer series and the brainchild of actor-turned-writer/director Megan Park (My Old Ass and The Fallout), Sterling Point is a coming-of-age romantic drama that follows 17-year-old Annie Jacobson (Ella Rubin) and her twin brother Connor (Ruffalo), whose lives take a turn when they discover their estranged grandfather left them a small island in Canada.
After devouring the show’s first eight episodes, I walked away with both a new TV obsession that I’m telling everyone to watch and wanting to see more of Ruffalo, whose emotionally conflicted Connor injects the show with some of its funniest moments. Luckily, the actor also has the road-trip buddy comedy Nimrods coming out this month.
A scene-stealer with his sights set firmly on a future filled with indie dramas and maybe a period piece or two, Ruffalo is the Hollywood breakout star to watch.
I don’t know if you realize this, but our readers went wild for a video we posted of you from the Dior L.A. show earlier this year.
I saw that. I didn’t really check my phone the day after the event, and then I went on to my Instagram two days afterward, and I was like, “Why do I have a few hundred new followers?” I was so confused. And then my friend sent me the TikTok like 10 minutes later. I was like, “Oh my god, what the fuck is this?!”
Did you have fun at the show?
Yeah, I had a lot of fun. It’s my first fashion show. I was so anxious, and I didn’t know there was a red carpet thing.
When did acting become a serious pursuit for you? Were you quite young?
Obviously, I grew up around my dad doing it. Me and my sisters were kept pretty separate from it all. I grew up on a farm, so I didn’t really understand what it was until, I guess, probably the Marvel stuff. I had some kid come up to me like, “Hey, can you have your dad sign this Hulk toy?” And I’m like, “No, man, you’re mean to me.” But yeah, I didn’t really see the appeal in it for a long time. I was much more interested in what my mom was doing. She was more into fashion and stuff like that. For a long time, I was actually doing fashion and jewelry-making.
Tell me more.
I started going to college for [jewelry-making], and then COVID happened. I ended up dropping out of college and didn’t have the facilities to make jewelry anymore. And then it got to that weird point of COVID where I’m questioning everything I’m doing and being like, What do I want to do with my life? The COVID depression started hitting, and I was like, “I need to try something new. … Acting makes my dad so happy, and he loves doing it.” I never really considered it before, and I was like, “I might as well try it and see how I like it.” So I started taking online classes, which is the weirdest way to learn how to do anything. I started to really enjoy it, and I ended up doing Zoom classes for a little while with a tutor, and then I was like, “I want to go to an actual conservatory and study techniques.” I ended up going to HB Studio in New York and doing the Uta Hagen [program]. And that’s where I really fell in love with it because I was getting to perform in front of other people. What really drew me to it is being able to be these different people. I feel like everybody wants to be someone else sometimes, and it was a nice outlet to get out of myself.
I became a huge nerd about acting technique. That’s my whole thing now. … Every time I meet an actor, I’m like, “What technique do you use?” I ended up studying at all the major conservatories in the U.S. because I wanted to learn all the techniques. I went to RADA for a little while, and after a few years of doing that, probably around 2023, 2024, my dad saw a play that I was doing, and he was like, “Alright, I think you’ve put in enough effort, and you’re ready to start auditioning.” He gave me the go-ahead on that. But he’s an old-school actor. He was like, “You need to be yelled at. You need to be told not to do this by an acting teacher.” I started doing that, and eventually, I was able to finally land something after auditioning for a year or so. It was a small part in Nimrods, this Green Day film. Actually, when I auditioned for Sterling Point, I was still shooting [Nimrods].
Did you find that first year of auditioning insightful or defeating?
You’ll work so hard on something, and you’ll want the role so badly, and you’ll go in. You’ll be like, “I killed that one. That’s the best one I’ve ever done.” And then you’ll just never hear anything. You won’t even hear “You didn’t get it.” It’ll just be nothing, which is even worse.
Ghosted.
Yeah. I just kept on going and persevering through it. God, I probably did upward of 100 auditions before I even got that one role. It’s demoralizing. You’re like, “I’ve studied all the time. Am I any good at this?”
Did your dad offer you any good advice during that time?
Yeah. He’s a big believer in you gotta do it yourself. I’ll learn things that I’m like, “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” when it comes to industry things. He’d do an audition with me or work on it with me, but that’s the extent of [how]much he’s willing to help me, which I can appreciate. I feel like I’ve done the work on my own to be able to be here. My name is obviously something that’s helped along the way. There’s no denying that. But what kept me going was probably just that I really wanted to do this. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else, especially since I found acting at such a dark point in my life that it seemed like the only option. I just really loved doing it and wanting to be able to make a living from it.
Sterling Point is the latest in a line of Amazon summer romantic dramas, and I don’t know if you realize, but they’re on a hot streak right now. Are you aware of the viral potential of this moment for you?
I’m sure it’ll feel more real once it comes out, but right now, it’s like, “Oh boy, I hope I get more auditions once this comes in.”
You are such a standout in this show. The writer-director Megan Park also wrote and directed My Old Ass. Were you familiar with that movie before, or was this your introduction to Park?
This was my introduction to her. I went and did my research prior. Finding out just how much she lets you go and play with the character is something I wasn’t expecting. Coming from a theater background, that’s not really a thing. You’re the character that they want you to be, and there’s no deviating from the lines, or your director will come and strike you. I remember my first introduction to it being okay was during the Nimrod shoot. That was a bit of a crash course, and thank God I had that experience going into Sterling Point because then I felt comfortable with the improv. I got to do it on my first day.
I [improvised]the line where I come into the room and Annie’s talking with her boyfriend, her gay boyfriend. I say, “Sup, pimps, grandpa died.” It was originally like, “Hey, guys, grandpa’s dead.” I heard our DP literally break. She laughed while we were shooting the scene, and then Megan was like, “You know Connor so well. Let’s just do one clean take and then improv, and we’ll come in and tell you what to keep and what not to keep.” A lot of my lines [that made it in]are actually improv. I’d never done comedy prior to it, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was really worried that Connor would just be this funny guy, but in my head, I knew that he was going through his own stuff. I was afraid that it didn’t really show, so I’m glad, from what I’m hearing, people are like, “[He] seems to be very conflicted.”
Yes! Connor does bring levity to the show, but it is clear he is harboring his own issues. What conversations did you and Park have about Connor’s journey?
She was like, “Just do whatever you think is right.” I was like, “No one’s just funny. No one that’s had a perfect life is a funny person.” People find humor and darkness in it all, and Connor masks that when he’s uncomfortable or feels that he doesn’t belong. He tries to cope with that by being funny and wanting to be likable and making people laugh. I think it’s his own way of dealing with himself feeling like an other in the family dynamic. He loves his dad, and he loves Annie, but I think he really only feels any familial connection with Annie. There’s a scene that actually didn’t make it in the final cut, sadly, but it’s where they have this huge fight, and he begs [Annie] to go and find their biological parents because he’s like, “You found your family. I don’t have that yet.” I definitely tried to bring some of that in, and I’m glad it’s showing.
We’re in this era of YA romantic dramas right now. What really grabbed your attention about this story?
It’s an interesting take on a summer romance because those never last. That’s not really what they’re for. And seeing two people really trying to make it last and then really trying to change, I think, was appealing. In the whole grand scheme of things, I like the “love finds a way” trope. I don’t want to rag on YA shows, and I’m sure a lot of this doesn’t feel relatable and real to a lot of people either, but it felt more connected and grounded than I find a lot of YA shows where it’s these very extreme gestures of romance. That’s what was really appealing for me.
And then the fact that I got to play Connor, who is such a large character… He’s really dominating, just his entire being. It’s so uncommon to get roles like that. He’s very out-there and almost not normal. A lot of the time, you want to be subtle when you’re on film, and it’s different when it comes to theater. You need to be large for the audience. So then being able to play a character who’s, by nature, large like that is really cool.
Talk to me a little bit about filming on location and working with this young cast. Did it feel like a summer-camp vibe?
This job is interesting, especially with the social dynamics of it all, because you’ll get so close with these people that you’re hanging out with and working with every single day. We’re all in the same age range. We’re all hanging out outside of work. There’s like five months of this every single day where I’d see at least one person from the cast. And then suddenly, you don’t see them, and they’re gone. It really is bittersweet wrapping a show like that. Me and Jacob [Whiteduck-Lavoie], every time we had a day off, we’d go and play pickleball together. Me, Bo [Bragason], and Nikko [Angelo Hinayo] would go and watch movies a lot and just go hang in the park or go have a picnic. Especially when we were in Muskoka, we were all staying in the same hotel, so then it became even more like we would just bump into each other when we were going out to grab breakfast or something. So yeah, it did feel a bit [like]a summer camp.
Do you still have a group chat with the gang?
Yeah, we do. It’s become a lot more active recently because we’re all gonna see each other again, which is very exciting. Super stoked for that.
You were filming Nimrods when you auditioned for Sterling Point, and now, they’re both coming out this month. What was it like working on that project?
It was cool being on location for two months and working with Mason [Thames], who’s been doing this forever—that kid is an animal—and getting very close because, again, we were all very similar in age. Me and Ignacio [Diaz-Silverio], who I did pretty much every scene with, me and him got extremely close and were hanging out every day, and me and Mason got very close as well. We formed an interesting sibling-dynamic bond because I played his older brother in the project. I really loved doing an indie [film]. I think that’s where my heart is when it comes to the industry, doing these smaller projects. I think it’s important to do that, especially just to get stuff like that the attention it deserves. They just don’t get that, sadly. So that was a good one to start on because I got to see that and then doing Sterling Point, which is so far in the opposite direction of an indie. On Sterling Point, we had three buildings in a studio, each with three different houses in it. On Nimrods, I shared a honey wagon with the guys, and I just opened up a little sliding curtain, and Ignacio would be sitting there, and I’m like, “What’s up?” There’s a camaraderie that builds in that kind of environment, for sure.
What do you want to do next?
I’m gonna probably stay away from television for the time being. I don’t think I’m writing it off. I just think it would have to be a limited series. And I really want to do a period piece at some point. I’m really into history. I want to do a medieval project at some point, but they just don’t hire Americans for that.
You need to work on your British accent.
Oh, I’ve been trying! It’s been in the process. I have a goal here. But yeah, I definitely want to be doing more dramas. I’ve done this YA thing with Connor, so I got to do that. Now, I just want to play a very different character. For me, that is where the fun comes in—just being able to experience and give a voice to all these different people.
What about jewelry-making? Do you see yourself picking that up again?
I might. It’s definitely very appealing. I would do blowtorch, heating up the silver and then molding it, hammer, everything, so I do need a certain amount of space to do it. And I really want to try silver clay. That always looked very interesting. But for the time being, I just need to focus on acting. Strike while the iron’s hot, you know?
Sterling Point is now streaming on Prime Video.
