Birth name Ruby Wachs Name Ruby Wax Genres Alternative comedy | Years active 1970s to present Nationality British Role Comedian · rubywax.net | |
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Movies and TV shows Ruby Wax Meets, Girls on Top Children Madeline Bye, Max Bye, Marina Bye Books Sane New World: Taming th, Sane New World: A User's Gu, How Do You Want Me? Similar People Ed Bye, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Richard O'Brien, Jim Sharman | ||
We are addicted to our brains with ruby wax
Ruby Wax, (born Ruby Wachs; 19 April 1953) is an American actress, mental health campaigner, lecturer, and author who holds both American and British citizenship and who has resided in the United Kingdom since the 1970s.
Contents
- We are addicted to our brains with ruby wax
- Sane new world with ruby wax at happiness its causes 2015
- Early life
- Early career
- Comedy work
- Writing academia corporate training and returns to television and stage
- Other work
- Popetown
- Slander case
- Opposition to disabled access ramp
- Personal life
- Interview programmes and documentaries
- References
A classically trained actress, Wax starred in the sitcom Girls on Top (1985–86), and came to prominence as a comic interviewer, playing up to British perceptions of the strident American style, in shows including The Full Wax (1991–94) and Ruby Wax Meets... (1994–98). She was the script editor for the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012), also appearing in two episodes. Her memoirs, How Do You Want Me? (2002), reached the Sunday Times best-seller list.
Wax graduated in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and in 2013 she gained a master's degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from Oxford University. In 2015, she was appointed a Visiting Professor in Mental Health Nursing at the University of Surrey.
Sane new world with ruby wax at happiness its causes 2015
Early life
Wax was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Bertha and Edward Wachs. Her parents were Jewish Austrians who left Austria in 1938 because of the Nazi threat. Her father became wealthy as a sausage manufacturer and her mother qualified as an accountant. She majored in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Early career
Wax moved to the UK and studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. She started her acting career as a straight actress at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, where she began a long-standing writing and directing partnership with Alan Rickman, who later was to direct most of her stage comedy shows.
In 1978, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, working alongside Juliet Stevenson in Measure for Measure, as Jaquenetta opposite Michael Hordern in Love's Labours Lost, replacing Zoë Wanamaker as Jane in The Way of the World and appearing in the Howard Brenton three-hander Sore Throats. While at the RSC, Wax also met and befriended Ian Charleson, and later contributed a chapter to the 1990 book, For Ian Charleson: A Tribute.
Wax made a one-off appearance in a 1980 episode of The Professionals, Bloodsports, playing Lonnie, an American student. In 1981, she appeared in the follow up to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, called Shock Treatment. In the film, Wax portrays Betty Hapschatt, who got married to Ralph Hapschatt in the first film. Wax also appeared briefly as a secretary in Omen III: The Final Conflict.
Comedy work
In 1985, she starred as loud-mouthed American actress Shelley DuPont on the British sitcom Girls on Top.
In 1987, Wax was given her own comedy chat show Don't Miss Wax, on Channel 4. She was also hired as a radio presenter by the Superstation, an overnight sustaining service for commercial radio in the UK. In December 1989, she appeared in the Red Dwarf episode "Timeslides" as an American reporter.
Wax began working with the BBC in 1991, with the show The Full Wax (1991–94). In 1994, Ruby Wax Meets Madonna aired on the BBC, followed by the series Ruby Wax Meets... (1996–98), in which she interviewed public figures such as Imelda Marcos and Pamela Anderson. Ruby Wax Meets... was nominated for a 1997 BAFTA Award (credited to Clive Tulloh and Don Boyd), for an interview with Sarah, Duchess of York, an interview which attracted an audience of over 14 million viewers. She also made two guest appearances in Absolutely Fabulous, a programme on which she served as script editor throughout the run of the series.
From November 2001 to June 2002 Wax presented a TV quiz show broadcast on BBC1 called