Mercedes Ruehl

Mercedes J. Ruehl (born February 28, 1948) is an American theater, television, and film actor. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 for The Fisher King and a Tony Award for her performance in Lost in Yonkers in 1991. 2Personal life Ruehl was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, the daughter of Mercedes J. Ruehl, a school teacher, and Vincent Ruehl, an FBI agent. She was raised Catholic. Her father was of German and Irish descent and her mother was of Cuban and Irish ancestry. Ruehl attended College of New Rochelle and graduated in 1969. She is married to painter David Geiser, with whom she adopted a son, Jake (born 1995). She had another son, Christopher, whom she placed in adoption in 1976; he later became Jake's godfather. Her brother, Peter Ruehl, moved to Australia in 1987 where he was a popular newspaper columnist until his death in 2011. 2Career Ruehl began her career in regional theatre with the Denver Center Theatre Company, taking odd jobs between engagement