MARK RUFFALO TAKES LEAD IN RYAN MURPHY'S "THE NORMAL HEART": JULIA ROBERTS, JIM PARSONS, ALEC BALDWIN & MATT BOMER ALSO ADDED

Mark Ruffalo at TIFF 2008

2012 will be the start of Mark Ruffalo's long-overdue rise as a bona fide Leading Man in Hollywood.  The Actor has been confirmed to take the lead in Glee/American Horror Story Creator Ryan Murphy's new Film, The Normal Heart.  The HIV/AIDs Drama is based upon a TONY Award-winning Play of the same title and centers on Ned Weeks, who is one of the first Advocates in New York to raise awareness about the disease.  Written by Activist/Writer Larry Kramer, the Play largely is autobiographical.

The Cast for The Normal Heart is rather impressive including Julia Roberts, who last teamed with Murphy on 2010's Eat, Pray, Love.  She will be playing a wheelchair-bound Doctor who also is among the first to raise concern about HIV/AIDs.  Matt Bomer, whose star dramatically is on the rise, takes the role of Weeks' Boyfriend contracting the Disease, while another openly-Gay Actor Jim Parsons will tackle the role of an Activist from the South.  Alec Baldwin also has been named to play the Lawyer Brother of Weeks, struggling to cope with the sexuality of Ruffalo's character.

Ruffalo currently is filming Now You See Me, a Bank Heist Thriller which has the FBI circling a team of Illusionists who rob banks as part of their act, rewarding their audiences with money; Isla Fisher, Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg star. His upcoming Drama Thanks for Sharing has him alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, P!nk, Tim Robbins and Joely Richardson, about three Sex Addicts on the road to recovery.  His marquee release however is Disney's all-star The Avengers, in theatres May 4, 2012 which has him starring in what is said to be an important role as Bruce Banner/The Hulk.

(Photo credit: Mr. Will-W.)

THE CAST OF BIG BANG THEORY VISIT eTALK LIVE IN TORONTO

Jim Parsons, Kunal Nayyar and
 Simon Helberg at eTalk

BAZINGA! was the word of the day in Toronto as three cast members of the number one-rated program The Big Bang Theory flew in for a special taping of eTalk Live at CTV Headquarters on Queen St.  With its season premiere pulling in a stellar 3.3 million viewers in Canada, there was cause for celebration as lucky audience members were treated to Hot Dogs, Chips and Beverages.  Some even lined-up in the wee hours of the morning to get a close spot to the sitcom's stars Kunal Nayyar, Simon Helberg and recent Emmy winner Jim Parsons.

Sitting down for half an hour to chat with Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim, the cast members revealed many interesting tidbits about the show like:

• the stairwell featured on the show is actually a decoy, and has three years' worth of Chewing Gum from star Johnny Galecki who was not in attendance today
• Nayyar who often is seen on the show sipping on his favourite libation, The Grasshopper, revealed that when filming they use a Dairy concoction mixed with green Food Colouring claiming it isn't v. delicious at all
• Kaley Cuoco who also wasn't in attendance today has a knack for memorizing Scientific terminology, but Parsons claimed that Cuoco and Galecki are the most likely to fumble their lines when filming.  Cuoco recently injured her leg.
• Nayyar actually is rather amazing at Ping Pong in real life, although his co-stars Helberg and Parsons claim he is unnecessarily dramatic in his exaggerated moves
• Parsons once was invited to a Ping Pong Tournament organized by Susan Saradon who heard he was great at the sport.  He claimed to have been extremely starstruck.
• Helberg laughed off jokes that he wears Boys' Size XL clothing on the show
• Parsons claimed not to know what a Cylon was until he researched it for his role, after Host Mulroney presented him with a Cylon Toaster - often seen on the show.

WATCH BARENAKED LADIES PERFORM THE THEME TO THE BIG BANG THEORY LIVE AT eTALK IN TORONTO

....just a taste of what's to come later tonight on Mr. Will-W.:Pop Maven. Check out Barenaked Ladies performing the theme song to The Big Bang Theory as cast members Kunar Nayyal, Simon Helberg and Jim Parsons arrive at eTalk Live in Toronto. Enjoy and check back for some amazing photos and a recap of their visit today.