Despite her many achievements, celebrated thespian Ruby Ruiz believes that she is still a work in progress.
‘Being an actor is a continuous learning process. Even at my age, I have to continue to evolve in order for me not to stagnate as an artist. I’m glad that I am entrusted with interesting roles that allow me to explore, and to grow, and to learn. I’m grateful that there are roles that find their way into my life, and I’m even more thankful there are now roles that are specifically written for me.’
It was not an easy climb for this amazing actress. Her close friends tell her that her professional life is now more colorful than her personal life because of the many wonderful roles that she has done in the past few years.
But like actors everywhere, Ruiz has experienced periods of downtime, and she admitted that it can feel like a threat. Actors, who tend to measure their worth by how busy they are, almost always fall into the trap of feeling like they are losing momentum, especially when they are in between jobs or waiting endlessly for their next project.
‘I had lots of downtime in the past especially when I came back from Canada and tried my luck again in the Philippine entertainment industry. I guess the key lies on how one sees these long breaks, and if we can replace fear and anxiety with focus and positivity, and accept these as essential part of the process, then we can use it to fuel our next moves.’
Yes, Ruiz searched for greener pastures overseas, but decided to come back and try it out again in her homeland. In 2013, she got a good role in Jeffrey Jeturian’s festival movie Ekstra but even after being noticed by both movie audiences and critics alike (Ruiz won the festival’s best supporting actress plum for this movie), acting jobs were few and far between.
‘I almost quit. I even started to apply for regular work. I am a single mother, I have to raise my family. I have to be practical. But deep inside me, the passion was never extinguished. I’m glad I never gave it up,’ she shared.
So Ruiz took control of what were within her reach-sent audition videos, texted talent casters, requested production friends and acquaintances for work-and when she got positive feedback, she bravely took in any role, big or small.
Then in 2019, she landed her first lead role in a Cinemalaya movie, Theodore Boborol’s Iska, and that was when her career pivoted. Ruiz, who played an elderly woman taking on odd jobs to help raise her autistic grandson, won the festival best actress award that year and acting offers started to pour in.
Cinemalaya is undoubtedly Ruiz’s favorite movie festival. She also won for Christian Paolo Lat’s Ginhawa in 2022. And just early this week, Ruiz tied with Marietta ‘Pokwang’ Subong for the Best Actress plum. Ruiz won for first-time filmmaker Vahn Leinard Pascual’s Status: Rejected, where she played a woman past her prime who was swept into an online romance that challenged her sense of self worth, her family ties and her great American dream.
With her recent big win, Ruiz is now the actor to beat with the most number of Cinemalaya balanghai acting trophies. She now has four, edging out the late, great Eddie Garcia who had three.
Ruiz’s plate may seem full, but it still has some space for roles she has not done. She has worked with Nicole Kidman in Lulu Wang’s limited Amazon Prime series Expats. She led the main cast of the James Robinson movie First Light, a Philippine-Australian collaboration which premiered in Melbourne. She is part of the ensemble cast in the new Cholo Laurel movie Ganito, Ganyan, Ganoon, which is now streaming on Netflix.
Ruby Ruiz is aware that an acting career-or any other in the field of arts-is a constantly moving forward experience. As she gets more roles on film, television or theater, she knows that she needs to develop and improve her brand, which is herself. She is also aware that it will be a journey full of surprises, including the unexpected. Progress means that there is no time limit or deadline to reach your goals, because by seeing herself as a work in progress, she has learned to relax into the process, meaning less stress, less worry and less self-judgment. And that’s what truly matters now, that she has found her spot in the crowded room of actors, truly happy and fulfilled.