Gabrielle Ruiz

BROADWAY STAR, singer, actress, and dancer Gabrielle Ruiz established a name for herself playing Valencia Perez on the CW’s Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning musical comedy series My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Now, the Texas-born Latina is adding recording artist to her title, with the release of her first original holiday spiritual single, Twinkle, Twinkle. Ruiz has also made the jump to the world of sci-fi and comics, lending her voice as the Vulcan T’lyn in the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks and as Rio in the series Spidey and His Amazing Friends.

Ruiz got her start on Broadway, starring in the musical If/Then opposite Idina Menzel, then in Evita with Ricky Martin, and In The Heights with LinManuel Miranda. Ruiz is also the co-host of the popular podcast What are Friends For alongside Pallavi Sastry, where they delve into joyful, meaningful, and uncomfortable conversations about platonic love in a socially distanced world. They have featured interviews with notable talent including Jaime Camil, Melissa Fumero, Danielle Bayard Jackson, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, and Megan Hilty, to name a few.

Ruiz hails from Edinburg, Texas where she grew up developing dance as her primary passion. She trained at Melba’s School of Dance under Melba Huber and Anne Bowling. To further her education, Ruiz received a ballet scholarship to attend the Texas Association for Teachers of Dance summer convention. She began vocal lessons early on and was classically trained by the late David Custer of San Antonio, Texas. Gabrielle attended Oklahoma City University’s Ann Lacy School of Dance and Arts Management where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance. After college, Ruiz moved to New York where she dove headfirst into the theatre world.

By Alex A. Kecskes

Thank you for taking the time for this interview. So you initially trained as a dancer but you got your start in theatre. What was that like?

Gabrielle Ruiz: I think it was a combination of telling a story using my body and my voice. I trained vocally in a public school and performed in the Texas all-state choir. Combining that with my dance training made absolute sense. In the summer of my college years, I performed in an ensemble in their summer stock. But I think what really made it click for me was getting a paycheck for it (laughs).

You then went on to play Tina in Law & Order SVU. Was that a learning experience, transitioning from theatre to a TV police drama?

Gabrielle: It was pretty cool and completely different from the momentum where you get everything done in one day. The director and crew were fantastic to let me learn on the job. It was also a different schedule. In TV, you shoot out of order; on a live stage, it’s in order. It was a challenge, but it made sense to me.

Did you have detective consultants to advise you on procedures?

Gabrielle: There are firearm consultants who make sure you understand the safety, logistics, and what level of firearms education you have—be it security guard, detective, or military.

After that, it was a string of TV appearances—from the romance drama Sex Love & Salsa to the comedy Alone Together. Were you thinking, okay, I’m just a one-episode actor now?

Gabrielle: That’s a good question. The theatre auditions were coming more frequently because I’d told my agent it was what I wanted. So that was going well. But we would just dabble here and there on TV to see where I fit. When it comes to TV, I don’t feel I’m raw talent but more of a student. So I took some TV acting classes. The auditions are different for TV but I found a manager who helped me with that. It sounds so funny but with TV you have a weekend, with Broadway, you don’t.

Then came your big break in My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. What attracted you to the role of Valencia Perez?

Gabrielle: It’s so much fun. The creators--Rachel Bloom and Aline McKenna--the magic they have with the show. One of the things I like to point out about the four seasons is that in season one, all the principals had solos with professional dancers behind them. But by the time you get to season four, you see the evolution of the cast as a family to the point where we’re supporting and dancing behind David Hull in Love is Not a Game. We’re all the ensemble and we all have featured moments. And that’s when rehearsals were even more fun with Kathryn Burns. So Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was the first big show that moved me and my husband to Los Angeles. It’s my first family here in L.A.

Finally, a show that lets you tap into all your dance training and voice talent.

Gabrielle: I was very lucky, we were lucky to have a choreographer to help us explore all the genres, styles, parodies, angles, and jokes. And there’s a lot of trust because there were moments, as in Friendtopia where we weren’t quite sure where we were going (laughs) but it worked.

How do you prepare for the role of Valencia? Do you have friends that are like Valencia? Or is there a Valencia trying to break out of you?

Gabrielle: (Laughs) Vella Lovell says I roll my eyes a lot and I think it’s because of Valencia. One of her first lines was “Oh, you made a joke. I don’t like humor,” which is a nod to my sister. She sometimes doesn’t get my jokes. And when I ask her, she’ll say, “okay.” Her intensity, her actions, and demeanor definitely inspired Valencia. I hope she takes that as a compliment. My sister is very fierce with her love and so is Valencia. So I discovered the Valencia in myself.

What inspired you to create the holiday spiritual single, Twinkle, Twinkle?

Gabrielle: Well, I definitely didn’t come to Hollywood to get into the music industry. But I love to sing and create. And I had this desire to get creative with spirituality and make music with friends. I worked with Chensiang Tiow, a poet/ mathematician, and Charlie Malcolm, a talented composer to create this lovely song and video. I loved the poems that Chen created during the holidays. So I asked him if we could do something with his poem Twinkle, Twinkle.

What do you find challenging about your voicework in Star Trek: Lower Decks and as ‘Rio’ in the series Spidey and His Amazing Friends?

Gabrielle: It’s a blast. It lets me hone in on my vocal and music skills. There’s rhythm, cantor, and waiting and stopping and speeding up how you speak. The pressure’s off when it comes to memorizing because the script’s in front of you but there’s a different kind of pressure with timing. When you’re recording your lines—even during the audition—there’s a lot of darkness of not knowing the whole picture because the actors are not with you. You’re all by yourself in a studio. But it’s imagination with reckless abandonment because you can do a voiceover without setting up lights, cameras, makeup, or hair. You learn the timing and style and just run with it. So I love that style of auditioning, you skip a lot of steps.

Tell us a bit about the popular podcast What are Friends For.

Gabrielle: I needed a project that was not about acting or the entertainment industry. I just wanted to talk about something else with my best friends. It’s about friendship, adulting, platonic love, and how to manage skills as an adult who isn’t in a romantic relationship. We also have pop culture conversations where we talk about movies and TV shows.

Are you now content with the idea that acting is my life? That you won’t do anything else?

Gabrielle: That’s a really good question. It goes back and forth all the time (laughs). I feel that during the pandemic, a lot of people paused to reflect and maybe thought about trying other things. I recently had a baby so now I challenge my life and my lifestyle every day. I do love and will continue to pursue acting, choreography, and podcasting.

If not acting, what career path would you have chosen?

Gabrielle: I’m my alternate universe, I’d be a child psychologist. I teach dance and my favorite age spectrum is young children who are learning motor skills and dance.

What have you learned about working in entertainment that surprised you?

Gabrielle: Well, right now, I’m shooting a movie and the role is everything that I want and nothing that I trained for.

When my manager called and said, “You have 48 hours,” I said, “I don’t have any experience for a role like this. Do I audition for it?” And he said, “No, I just sent them your stuff.” And I said, “What stuff?” So I took a full-on crash course in the skills I’d need for the job. And what I learned is to not assume in any way where your career will take you.

Just go for it and let go. Stay sane while you do it and make sure you can pay the bills (laughs). Every audition is so unpredictable.

What advice would you give to a young Latina eager to get into acting?

Gabrielle: Anthony Wayne is a good friend of mine. The best advice he gave me was, Gabrielle, get your water, get your rest, and save your coins. It’s basic and makes complete sense but can be hard to follow.

What were you like in high school? The girl most likely to….?

Gabrielle: I actually was listed as something in my senior yearbook. I think to be famous (laughs). My class was 2003. Go Cougars!