Ruby Wax
Ruby Wax OBE (née Wachs; born 19 April 1953) is an American-British actress, comedian, writer, television presenter, and mental health campaigner.[1][2]
Born in Evanston, Illinois, to Austrian and Polish Jewish refugee parents, Wax moved to the United Kingdom in her youth, where she trained as an actress at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company before pivoting to comedy.[3][4]
She rose to prominence in British television during the 1980s and 1990s with her brash, satirical interviewing style on shows including Girls on Top (1985–1986), The Full Wax (1991–1994), and Ruby Wax Meets..., where she conducted unscripted encounters with celebrities such as Madonna and Imelda Marcos.[1][5][2]
Wax also contributed as a script editor to the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.[6]
In the 2000s, after publicly addressing her recurrent depression and bipolar disorder, she shifted focus to mental health advocacy, authoring memoirs like How Do You Want Me? (2002) and self-help books including Sane New World (2013) and How to Be Human (2018), while earning a master's degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from Oxford University.[7][8]
For her contributions to mental health awareness, Wax received an OBE in the 2015 Special Honours.[9][10]
Early Life
Family Background and Childhood Challenges
Ruby Wax was born Ruby Wachs on April 19, 1953, in Evanston, Illinois, to Austrian Jewish parents Edward (also known as Edmund) Wachs and Berta (or Berthe) Goldmann Wachs, who emigrated from Vienna in the late 1930s amid the escalating Nazi persecution following the Anschluss. Her father, who later established a sausage-skin manufacturing business in the United States, had been arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo in April 1938 on suspicion of anti-Nazi activities, enduring physical mistreatment before securing release and fleeing with his family.[11][12][13] Wax's childhood was characterized by rigid, emotionally withholding parenting; her father exhibited authoritarian control marked by frequent anger and physical outbursts directed at both his wife and daughter, leading Berta to privately label him a "torturer." This dynamic fostered a home environment of chronic tension, with Wax later recounting persistent feelings of isolation and rejection within the family. At school in Evanston, she faced bullying over her physical appearance and social awkwardness, prompting her around age 15 to reinvent herself as the class clown to deflect ridicule and gain acceptance.[14][15] Signs of early rebellion emerged in her mid-teens, culminating in Wax leaving home around age 17 to study abroad, initially attending a finishing school in Europe before relocating to England in the 1970s. The unspoken legacy of her parents' wartime displacements contributed to intergenerational strains, including patterns of detachment and conflict that permeated daily family interactions without overt discussion.[16][17][18]Education and Path to Acting
Wax attended Evanston Township High School in Illinois.[3] Following graduation, she enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, to study psychology but departed after one year without completing her degree.[19][20] Determined to pursue acting, Wax relocated to the United Kingdom in 1977, where she repeatedly auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London—seven times in total—despite initial rejections, having prepared intensively with speech exercises to refine her American accent and delivery.[21] Ultimately unsuccessful at RADA, she secured admission to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow, completing a Diploma in Dramatic Art and receiving classical training as a straight actress.[22][23] After graduating from RSAMD, Wax's early career involved minor theater roles, including performances at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, demonstrating persistence through professional rejections in a competitive field.[3] This foundational period emphasized rigorous dramatic technique over improvisation, laying groundwork distinct from her subsequent comedic work, as she navigated entry-level opportunities with self-reliant ambition.[24]Professional Career
Early Roles in Acting and Scriptwriting
Ruby Wax began her professional acting career in the late 1970s after training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company.[25] Her television debut came in 1979 with a guest appearance in an episode of the BBC satirical sketch series Not the Nine O'Clock News, where she also contributed as a writer alongside talents like Rowan Atkinson.[26] This role marked her entry into British alternative comedy, blending performance with script development in a format that emphasized sharp, topical humor.[27] In 1980, Wax appeared as Lonnie, an American student, in the episode "Blood Sports" of the ITV action series The Professionals.[28] She followed this with a minor role in the 1981 cult film Shock Treatment, the sequel to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, playing a character in the film's exaggerated musical narrative.[1] These early acting parts were typically small, reflecting her status as an emerging performer transitioning from stage to screen while honing comedic timing.[29] By the mid-1980s, Wax shifted toward greater involvement in scriptwriting to exert more creative influence, co-writing and co-starring in the ITV sitcom Girls on Top (1985–1986) alongside Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, and Tracey Ullman. The series, which followed four mismatched women sharing a London flat, featured Wax's contributions to sketches that showcased ensemble absurdity and character-driven wit, fostering collaborations with rising stars of the alternative comedy scene.[30] This period highlighted her dual role in production, prioritizing writing as a pathway to shaping content amid limited leading acting opportunities.[31] Wax extended her behind-the-scenes presence in 1987 by conducting spoof interviews and documentary-style segments for the Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Third Ball, a live event blending comedy sketches with musical performances.[32] These contributions underscored her growing affinity for improvisational and satirical elements, bridging acting with scripted interstitials in high-profile ensemble formats.[33]Rise as Television Presenter and Interviewer
Wax's breakthrough as a television presenter came in 1987 with the BBC comedy chat show Don't Miss Wax, marking her shift from acting and writing to on-screen hosting with a distinctive irreverent tone.[34] This was followed by The Full Wax (1991–1994), a BBC series where she conducted comedic interviews in a talk-show format, featuring guests such as James Belushi, Shelley Winters, and Joan Rivers, often incorporating physical comedy and unorthodox segments like mock weddings or sports challenges.[35][36] Her approach emphasized spontaneity and confrontation, diverging from the era's more formal celebrity chats by intruding into personal spaces and eliciting unguarded responses, which drew comparisons to emerging tabloid television trends.[37] In the mid-1990s, Wax expanded into location-based celebrity profiles with Ruby Wax Meets... (1996–1998), pioneering a documentary-style format that took interviews out of studios and into subjects' environments for raw, extended encounters.[38] Notable episodes included her 1994 meeting with Madonna, where Wax probed the singer's persona amid provocative staging; a 1996 session with Imelda Marcos, exposing the former First Lady's eccentricities through unfiltered dialogue; and a 1998 interview with O.J. Simpson, during which the guest mimicked a stabbing gesture with a banana, heightening the show's notoriety for boundary-pushing interactions. These segments highlighted Wax's fearless, "wacky" technique—characterized by direct challenges and physical proximity—which critics noted as refreshing against polished contemporaries, though it sometimes veered into sensationalism.[39][37] Wax also hosted the travel game show Don't Forget Your Toothbrush (1994–1998) on BBC One, blending quiz elements with audience participation and exotic prizes, which earned acclaim as a top entertainment series and contributed to her status as a primetime draw. The program's success underscored her versatility, appealing to broad audiences through high-energy presentation and viewer involvement, while her overall 1990s output influenced subsequent reality and confessional TV by normalizing intrusive, personality-driven formats over scripted politeness.[40][41]Later Ventures in Writing, Academia, Corporate Speaking, and Performance
In the 2010s, Wax pivoted toward stage performance, developing one-woman shows and comedy tours that integrated her research on mindfulness and neuroscience, marking a shift from television toward live, interactive formats emphasizing personal resilience and humor.[42] This adaptability sustained her career commercially, with tours drawing audiences through practical demonstrations of mental fitness techniques.[3] Wax pursued formal academia by earning a master's degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from Oxford University's Kellogg College in 2013, equipping her to deliver evidence-informed lectures on brain science and cognitive strategies for stress management.[43] Her academic credentials facilitated keynote speaking engagements at corporate events, where she focused on neuroscience applications for leadership and team dynamics, often charging fees reflective of her established profile as a high-demand presenter.[25] Complementing these efforts, Wax expanded into corporate training via mindfulness workshops, offering tailored sessions on defusing critical thoughts, body awareness, and compassion practices to enhance workplace productivity and rapport among executives.[44] These programs, delivered through practical exercises, underscored her commercial viability in the burgeoning corporate wellness sector.[45] Her diversification culminated in recognition with an OBE in 2015 for contributions to mental health advocacy, alongside continued outputs like the 2023 publication I'm Not as Well as I Thought I Was, which examined psychological relapse through autobiographical lenses.[46] [24] In 2025, she headlined a comedy-infused mental health event at Oxford's New Theatre on September 28 as part of the Transform Trauma conference, blending wit with insights on meditation and emerging therapies.[47]Mental Health Experiences
Personal Struggles with Depression
Wax first experienced significant depressive symptoms in her early teens, with a major episode occurring in 1994 when she checked into the Priory Hospital shortly after the birth of her third child.[23] Her family history includes mental illness, such as institutionalization of a great-aunt and great-grandmother in asylums, compounded by her parents' unprocessed trauma from fleeing Nazi-occupied Vienna in 1939.[24] [48] Diagnosed with clinical depression in the 1990s, Wax has emphasized recurrent unipolar episodes over bipolar disorder, despite occasional mischaracterizations in media reports.[49] [50] Around 2007, she endured what she termed a "tsunami of all depressions," resulting in hospitalization and months of intensive therapy sessions.[51] After initial treatments with medication and therapy, Wax incorporated mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, earning a master's degree in the field from Oxford University in 2013, which facilitated a 12-year period without major episodes.[23] A relapse struck around 2022 during research for a travel memoir, leading to psychiatric hospitalization where she received transcranial magnetic stimulation alongside ongoing mindfulness practice.[24] [52] These recurrent depressions have constrained her professional output, including reduced television opportunities amid persistent symptoms, though she maintained some performance work post-recovery.[24] [50]Advocacy Initiatives and Key Contributions
Ruby Wax established the "Sane New World" initiative in 2013, which included a bestselling book, national theatre tours performed in mental health facilities, and mindfulness-based training programs designed to educate on brain function and reduce mental health stigma through accessible neuroscience and humor.[53][54][49]
She holds ambassadorships with mental health organizations Mind and Sane, where she has collaborated on awareness forums and expert-led discussions, and serves as patron of the British Neuroscience Association to promote research and public understanding of neurological aspects of mental health.[55][56][57] In 2015, Wax received an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to mental health, acknowledging her role in advancing public discourse via publications and performances.[46][58] Her efforts extended to media platforms, including a 2012 TED talk examining brain science and the societal bias against mental illnesses compared to physical ones.[49] Wax participated in the 2024 #ChoosePsychiatry campaign, partnering with figures like Stephen Fry to endorse psychiatry recruitment among medical students and highlight its impact on treatment access.[59][60] She also conducts corporate workshops on resilience, applying mindfulness techniques to enhance workplace stress management and emotional regulation for professionals.[61][45]