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.

Filmography

• Accused — Connie
• 2023The Nana Project — Nana
• 2019Hustlers — Mother
• New Amsterdam — Grace
• Bull — Judge Tessa Hudson, Judge Hudson
• Life in Pieces — Mia
• 2014Chu and Blossom — Mrs. Fefterg
• The Mysteries of Laura — Val Santiani
• 2013Doubt — Mrs. Syd Newman
• Monday Mornings — Judge Beverly Natheson
• 2013Star Spangled Banners — Rosalind Banner
• 2 Broke Girls — Olga
• 2011Doctors of the Dark Side — Narrator
• 2010Goldstar, Ohio — Adriana Rock
• 2009Loving Leah — Janice
• 2006A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story — Sylvia Guerrero
• Psych — Detective Goochberg
• 2005Mom at Sixteen — Terry Jeffries
• 2004Bad Apple — Lorraine Gibbons
• Entourage — Rita Chase
• 2004Zeyda and the Hitman — Esther
• NCIS — Marie Quinn
• 2002Guilt by Association — Susan Walker
• 2002Spooky House — Boss
• Widows — Dolly Rawlins
• 2001The Amati Girls — Grace
• 2000All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story — Jane Newhall
• 2000More Dogs Than Bones — Victoria 'Vic' Galletti
• 2000The Lost Child — Rebecca
• 2000What's Cooking? — Elizabeth Avila
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Lucia Barba
• 1999Out of the Cold — Tina
• 1999The Minus Man — Jane
• 1998Gia — Kathleen Carangi
• 1997North Shore Fish — Florence
• 1997Roseanna's Grave — Roseanna
• 1997Subway Stories — Leyla (segment "Underground")
• 1995Indictment: The McMartin Trial — Lael Rubin
• 1994On Hope
• Frasier — Kate Costas
• 1993Last Action Hero — Irene Madigan
• 1993Lost in Yonkers — Bella Kurnitz
• 1991Another You — Elaine
• 1991The Fisher King — Anne
• 1990Crazy People — Dr. Liz Baylor
• Law & Order — Zina Rybakov, Clara Lloyd
• 1989Crimes and Misdemeanors — Party Guest (uncredited)
• 1989Slaves of New York — Samantha
• 1988Big — Mrs. Baskin
• 1988Married to the Mob — Connie Russo
• 198784 Charing Cross Road — Kay
• 1987Leader of the Band — Miss Cooper
• 1987Radio Days — Ad Man
• 1987The Secret of My Success — Sheila
• 1986Heartburn — Eve
• 1985Twisted — Cybelle
• Kate & Allie
• 1984Mom's on Strike — Sandy
• The Cosby Show — Bernadette Foley
• 1981Four Friends — Woman in Taxi
• 1979The Warriors — Policewoman
• 1976Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands — American girl in casino
• ABC Afterschool Special — Sandy
• Hallmark Hall of Fame — Rebecca
• People Not Places

Appearances as themselves (6)

• 2020Disclosure — Self (archive footage)
• 2016Robin Williams: Behind Closed Doors — Self
• 2015Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict — Self
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien — Self - Guest
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• The Oscars — Self