Mercedes Ruehl

Acting

Mercedes Ruehl

Born

1948-02-28 (78)

Place of birth

Queens, New York, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

73 titles

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 cre…

Known for

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

NCIS poster
7.6

From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, a team of special agents investigates any crime that has any connection to Navy and Marine Corps personnel, regardless of rank or position.

NCIS

2003

Frasier poster
7.7

After many years spent at the “Cheers” bar, Frasier moves back home to Seattle to work as a radio psychiatrist after his policeman father gets shot in the hip on duty.

Frasier

1993

Psych poster
7.9

Thanks to his police officer father's efforts, Shawn Spencer spent his childhood developing a keen eye for detail (and a lasting dislike of his dad). Years later, Shawn's frequent tips to the police lead to him being falsely accused of a crime he solved. Now, Shawn has no choice but to use his abilities to perpetuate his cover story: psychic crime-solving powers, all the while dragging his best friend, his dad, and the police along for the ride.

Psych

2006

Film credits

2010s · 8 titles

Hustlers poster
6.5

A crew of savvy former strip club employees band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.

Hustlers

2019

Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict poster
6.5

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.

Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict

2015

Star Spangled Banners poster
5.2

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.

Star Spangled Banners

2013

Doctors of the Dark Side poster
6.8

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.

Doctors of the Dark Side

2011

Chu and Blossom poster
4.0

A militant performance-artist and a tall Korean foreign-exchange student become trapped in a small Southern town.

Chu and Blossom

2014

Goldstar, Ohio poster
NR

Four families and a chief of police recount the day marine casualty officers came to their respective small towns in Ohio.

Goldstar, Ohio

2010

No artwork available
NR

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.

Doubt

2013

No artwork available
NR

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.

Robin Williams: Behind Closed Doors

2016

2000s · 12 titles

Guilt by Association poster
5.1

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.

Guilt by Association

2002

What's Cooking? poster
5.5

Four families of different ethnicities prepare for a potentially explosive Thanksgiving dinner.

What's Cooking?

2000

Bad Apple poster
4.1

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.

Bad Apple

2004

Loving Leah poster
6.9

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.

Loving Leah

2009

Mom at Sixteen poster
6.5

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.

Mom at Sixteen

2005

A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story poster
5.2

The story of Gwen Araujo, a transgender teen who was murdered in California in 2002.

A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story

2006

More Dogs Than Bones poster
4.9

A series of mishaps and misfortunes over $1 million in cash leads to murder, mayhem and greed.

More Dogs Than Bones

2000

Spooky House poster
5.9

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.

Spooky House

2002

Zeyda and the Hitman poster
5.5

No synopsis available yet.

Zeyda and the Hitman

2004

The Lost Child poster
7.1

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).

The Lost Child

2000

All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story poster
4.8

A teacher is arrested and jailed for raping her 13-year-old student, and twice gives birth to his child.

All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story

2000

The Amati Girls poster
4.7

Four sisters who disagree about everything... except what matters most. Family.

The Amati Girls

2001

1990s · 13 titles

Last Action Hero poster
6.5

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.

Last Action Hero

1993

The Fisher King poster
7.3

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.

The Fisher King

1991

Gia poster
7.1

Gia Carangi meteorically rises to modeling fame in the late 1970s but becomes overconsumed by persistent loneliness and drug addiction.

Gia

1998

Crazy People poster
5.9

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.

Crazy People

1990

Roseanna's Grave poster
6.6

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.

Roseanna's Grave

1997

The Minus Man poster
5.5

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.

The Minus Man

1999

Another You poster
5.5

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.

Another You

1991

Indictment: The McMartin Trial poster
6.9

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.

Indictment: The McMartin Trial

1995

Subway Stories poster
5.6

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.

Subway Stories

1997

North Shore Fish poster
9.0

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.

North Shore Fish

1997

Lost in Yonkers poster
6.3

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.

Lost in Yonkers

1993

Out of the Cold poster
4.7

An American entertainer and an Estonian woman are torn apart by hate and prejudice.

Out of the Cold

1999

On Hope poster
6.5

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.

On Hope

1994

1980s · 12 titles

Big poster
7.2

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.

Big

1988

The Secret of My Success poster
6.5

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.

The Secret of My Success

1987

Heartburn poster
6.0

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.

Heartburn

1986

Crimes and Misdemeanors poster
7.4

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.

Crimes and Misdemeanors

1989

Married to the Mob poster
6.0

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.

Married to the Mob

1988

84 Charing Cross Road poster
7.2

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.

84 Charing Cross Road

1987

Radio Days poster
7.0

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.

Radio Days

1987

Four Friends poster
6.8

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.

Four Friends

1981

Slaves of New York poster
5.4

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.

Slaves of New York

1989

Twisted poster
4.9

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.

Twisted

1985

Leader of the Band poster
5.0

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.

Leader of the Band

1987

Mom's on Strike poster
NR

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.

Mom's on Strike

1984

Series credits

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit poster
8.0

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

Law & Order poster
7.3

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to convict the perpetrator by proving the person guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Working together, these expert teams navigate all sides of the complex criminal justice system to make New York a safer place.

Law & Order

1990

NCIS poster
7.6

From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, a team of special agents investigates any crime that has any connection to Navy and Marine Corps personnel, regardless of rank or position.

NCIS

2003

Frasier poster
7.7

After many years spent at the “Cheers” bar, Frasier moves back home to Seattle to work as a radio psychiatrist after his policeman father gets shot in the hip on duty.

Frasier

1993

Psych poster
7.9

Thanks to his police officer father's efforts, Shawn Spencer spent his childhood developing a keen eye for detail (and a lasting dislike of his dad). Years later, Shawn's frequent tips to the police lead to him being falsely accused of a crime he solved. Now, Shawn has no choice but to use his abilities to perpetuate his cover story: psychic crime-solving powers, all the while dragging his best friend, his dad, and the police along for the ride.

Psych

2006

2 Broke Girls poster
7.2

Comedy about the unlikely friendship that develops between two very different young women who meet waitressing at a diner in trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and form a bond over one day owning their own successful cupcake business. Only one thing stands in their way – they’re broke.

2 Broke Girls

2011

Late Night with Conan O'Brien poster
7.3

Stepping into the late-late slot vacated by David Letterman, Conan O'Brien stars in a show that far outdoes its competition in sheer strangeness. Along with the celebrity interviews and musical numbers typical of late-night talk shows, this program make frequent use of odd walk-on characters and frequent "visits" from celebrity guests.

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

1993

Entourage poster
7.4

Film star Vince Chase navigates the vapid terrain of Los Angeles with a close circle of friends and his trusty agent.

Entourage

2004

New Amsterdam poster
8.3

The new medical director breaks the rules to heal the system at America's oldest public hospital. Max Goodwin sets out to tear up the bureaucracy and provide exceptional care, but the doctors and staff are not so sure he can succeed. They've heard this before. Not taking "no" for an answer, Dr. Goodwin's instinctive response to problems large and small is four simple words: "How can I help?" He has to disrupt the status quo and prove he'll stop at nothing to breathe new life into this underfunded and underappreciated hospital, returning it to the glory that put it on the map.

New Amsterdam

2018

Bull poster
7.1

Dr. Jason Bull is the brilliant, brash, and charming founder of a hugely successful trial consulting firm.

Bull

2016

Bull poster
7.1

Dr. Jason Bull is the brilliant, brash, and charming founder of a hugely successful trial consulting firm.

Bull

2016

The Cosby Show poster
7.0

The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on the Huxtable family, an upper middle-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York.

The Cosby Show

1984

Life in Pieces poster
7.2

Comedy about one big happy family and their sometimes awkward, often hilarious and ultimately beautiful milestone moments as told by its various members. Of the three siblings, middle child Matt may have just found his true love, his co-worker, Colleen; his coddled youngest brother, Greg, and his wife, Jen, are overwhelmed by the birth of their first child; and the eldest, Heather, and her husband, Tim, are dreading their impending empty nest so much, they're considering having another baby. Their parents are Joan the family's adoring matriarch who would do anything for her kids - as long as she agrees with it - and John, the gregarious patriarch who's searching for ways to soften the blow of turning 70. As the family's lives unfold in four short stories each week, they try to savor these little pieces of time that flash by but stay with you forever, because these moments add up to what life's all about.

Life in Pieces

2015

The Oscars poster
7.1

An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.

The Oscars

1953

ABC Afterschool Special poster
6.5

Dramatically presented situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were either in animated form or presented as documentaries. Topics included illiteracy, substance abuse and teenage pregnancy.

ABC Afterschool Special

1972

The Mysteries of Laura poster
7.2

Laura Diamond, a brilliant NYPD homicide detective balances her “Columbo” day job with a crazy family life that includes two unruly twin boys and a soon-to-be ex-husband — also a cop — who just can't seem to sign the divorce papers. Between cleaning up after her boys and cleaning up the streets, she’d be the first to admit she has her “hot mess” moments in this hilariously authentic look at what it really means to be a “working mom” today. Somehow, she makes it all work with the help of her sexy and understanding partner, and things becomes even more complicated when her husband, ironically, becomes her boss at the precinct. For Laura, every day is a high-wire balancing act.

The Mysteries of Laura

2014

Accused poster
6.9

In this crime anthology series, viewers discover how an ordinary person got caught up in an extraordinary situation, ultimately revealing how one wrong turn leads to another, until it’s too late to turn back. Told from the defendant’s point of view, each episode opens in a courtroom on the accused without knowing their crime or how they ended up on trial.

Accused

2023

Kate & Allie poster
6.2

Kate & Allie is an American television situation comedy which ran from March 19, 1984, to May 22, 1989. Kate & Allie first aired on CBS as a midseason replacement series and only six episodes were initially commissioned, but the favorable response from critics and viewers alike easily convinced CBS to commit to a full season in the fall of 1984. The series was created by Sherry Coben.

Kate & Allie

1984

Monday Mornings poster
6.9

Set at the Chelsea General Hospital in Portland, Oregon, the show follows the lives of doctors as they push the limits of their abilities and confront their personal and professional failings. Based on a novel by Sanjay Gupta.

Monday Mornings

2013

Hallmark Hall of Fame poster
8.8

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

Widows poster
8.5

The widows of three men killed while trying to steal a famous painting, join forces to find their husband's killers and finish off the job of stealing the painting.

Widows

2002