MANILA, Philippines — From borrowing a costume to use in the independent film “Ekstra” opposite Vilma Santos to having her own costume designer in the big-budget Hollywood production “Expats” opposite Nicole Kidman, Ruby Ruiz is living the dream.
The award-winning Filipino actress was in New York this week for the red-carpet premiere at the MoMA of the aforementioned new Amazon Prime series.
Ruby dazzled under the bright lights in a shimmering Paul Cabral black ensemble (a gift from her friend Flora Chua), which she topped with a burgundy coat from Maricel Soriano.
In the new series from acclaimed director Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”), Ruby stars as Essie, a nanny in Nicole Kidman’s household. This is not typecasting. Ruby was cast for a reason — her character is pivotal, and she has one episode (the same episode screened during the New York premiere and at the Toronto International Film Festival [TIFF] September last year) where her character Essie is the focus of the story.
In a rave review, Time Magazine hailed “Expats” as “the first must-see show of 2024!”
In particular, the magazine highlighted the episode where Ruby’s character takes center stage. “The gorgeous, 97-minute penultimate episode spends time with Puri, Essie, a pair of activists, and their families, artfully slowing the story’s pace, taking time to illustrate how the main characters’ personal problems overlap with those of neighbors’ native to the island. Now we see how the outsiders’ self-pity amounts to a sort of ugly-American myopia.”
“Essie is a loving, motherly, dedicated nanny to the Woo family. She is self-sacrificing, honest and committed,” Ruby described her character during this writer’s back-and-forth interview with her via Messenger. We started the interview while she was still in New York and continued after she returned to Manila.
“Essie is the heart and soul of the entire series,” Lulu Wang previously remarked in a separate interview during the series’ premiere in Toronto.
So, how did Ruby get the meaty part?
She had to go through four rounds of auditions.
According to her, she sent a self-taped video in English based on the script for her first audition. It was followed by another video in Tagalog.
The decisive third and final auditions were via Zoom with Lulu and the producers present.
When she finally got the part, the director personally called her. “I got a call from Lulu Wang herself that I got the part of Essie as the nanny of the Woo family, then and only then did Lulu reveal that my expat madam is Nicole Kidman,” Ruby recalled.
The series took many months to complete mainly due to the pandemic. Ruby shot scenes in Hongkong before she flew to Los Angeles to finish filming. During those months, Ruby got to bond with the show’s lead star Nicole.
“She is the most giving actor I have ever worked with to date,” Ruby shared. “She comes on set prepared as her character, and all I did was fit in, and react accordingly.”
Nicole is also one of the producers of the series.
“As a co-actor, she makes sure that you are comfortable with her, so in between takes, she finds time to have a small talk with me (in Nicole’s distinct Australian accent) just to make me feel at ease.”
Ruby is joined in “Expats” by another Filipino actor Amelyn Paredilla, who plays the part of Puri.
“Ganda ng performance niya considering that she’s a non-actor. “Expats” is her first acting job,” she raved.
Ruby was also quite effusive with praise to her director.
“Working with Lulu Wang — I have never worked with a female director as dynamic, as energetic, and as profound as Lulu! She directed me with so much sensitivity to our culture and practices. She gave me utmost respect and trust as a Filipino actor. I love her style when she directs with a specific ‘rhythm’ on her mind,” she said.
And if Ruby were to describe her entire experience working on “Expats,” she only had one word in mind: “Magical.”
“Expats” is now streaming on Amazon Prime.