Ruby Wax

Her parents were Austrian Jews who left Vienna in 1938 because of the Nazi threat.

Her father was a sausage manufacturer and her mother qualified as an accountant.

Once settled in Chicago, her father changed the spelling of the family surname from Wachs to Wax.

Wax majored in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, leaving after a year without completing her degree.

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 directed many of her stage comedy shows.

Ruby Wax (Wachs; born 19 April 1953) is an American-British actress, comedian, writer, television personality, and mental health campaigner.

Wax holds both American and British citizenship and has resided in the United Kingdom since the 1970s.

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.

Wax made a one-off appearance in a 1980 episode of The Professionals, Bloodsports, playing Lonnie, an American student.

In 1981, Wax appeared as an American track fan in Charleson's breakthrough film, Chariots of Fire.

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 married Ralph Hapschatt in the first film.

Wax also appeared briefly as a secretary in Omen III: The Final Conflict.

A classically-trained actress, Wax was with the Royal Shakespeare Company for five years and co-starred on the ITV sitcom Girls on Top (1985–1986).

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 the television host Blaize Falconberger of the fictional show "Lifestyles of the Disgustingly Rich and Famous".

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 came to prominence as a comic interviewer, playing up to British perceptions of the strident American style on television shows including The Full Wax (1991–1994), Ruby Wax Meets... (1994–1998), Ruby (1997–2000), and The Ruby Wax Show (2002).

Wax began working with the BBC in 1991, with the show The Full Wax (1991–94).

She was a script editor for the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012), also appearing in two episodes.

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, O. J. Simpson, 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 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 on BBC One, The Waiting Game.

Her memoirs How Do You Want Me? (2002) and Sane New World (2013) both reached number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list.

Wax was born Ruby Wachs and raised in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Edward and Berthe Wachs (née Goldmann).

In 2002, Wax became the host of Commercial Breakdown.

In that year, Wax published her memoir How Do You Want Me?, which topped The Sunday Times best-seller list.

Her final BBC interview series aired in 2003.

In March 2003, Wax was one of the celebrity contestants on Comic Relief does Fame Academy, a spin-off from the BBC's Fame Academy, with all proceeds donated to Comic Relief.

Although not a good singer, Wax made it to the final, taking runner-up position to Will Mellor.

In 2004, the BBC planned to show the cartoon series Popetown, poking fun at the Catholic Church.

Wax portrayed the Pope as a spoiled child.

After protests, the BBC did not broadcast the show.

In 2005 Wax appeared as a cleaner in the music video to McFly's Comic Relief song All About You.

In 2013, she gained a master's degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from Kellogg College, Oxford.

Wax was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 Special Honours for services to mental health.