Ruby Wax appears on the Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer tonight (March 29).
Alongside three fellow celebrity contestants, she’ll join Noel Fielding, Matt Lucas, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith in the famous tent.
But who exactly is Ruby?
Here’s everything you need to know about her. Minus previous baking experience.
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Who is Ruby Wax?
Ruby Wax is an actress, comedian, writer, reality television personality and mental health campaigner.
Currently taking part in The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, Ruby is known for being “loud” and “American”.
This is a stereotype she’s played up to in the past, particularly on her talk shows like The Full Wax and The Ruby Wax Show.
Read more: The Great Celebrity Bake Off: Emma Willis has viewers all saying the same thing
She’s actually a classically trained actress and was with the Royal Shakespeare Company for five years.
Ruby also worked as a script editor on Absolutely Fabulous.
She’s a huge advocate for mental health and has written two memoirs touching on her own experiences; How Do You Want Me and Sane New World.
In 2015 she was given an OBE for her services to mental health.
Where is Ruby Wax from?
Ruby was raised in Evanstan, Illinois and the original spelling of her last name was Wachs.
Her parents were Austrian Jews who left Austria in 1938 because of the Nazi threat. They settled in Chicago, which was when Ruby’s dad changed the spelling of their family name.
Ruby went on to study psychology at the University of California, but left after just a year and didn’t complete her degree.
Instead, she moved to the UK in the 1970s and now has dual US and UK citizenship. When she came to the UK, she enrolled at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.
She began her showbiz career as a non-comic actress at Sheffield’s The Crucible theatre.
Ruby had a long-standing working relationship with legendary actor Alan Rickman.
The pair wrote and directed together and Alan – who died in 2016 – later directed lots of her stage comedy shows.
Who is Ruby Wax married to?
Ruby is currently married to film and TV producer and director, Ed Bye. He’s her third husband. Ed’s known for directing comedy series Red Dwarf.
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