Written By: Jayme Face
We caught up with Marcel Ruiz also known as Alex from the hit Netflix series One Day at a Time! Season 2 is out now! And find out what’s coming up next for him!
Photo Credit: Elaine Torres
upfrontNY: Tell us about One Day at a Time!
Marcel Ruiz: Okay One Day at a Time is a television show. It is a sitcom about a Cuban-American family living in Los Angeles. Being raised by a single mom with the help of their Cuban grandma which is played by Rita Moreno. My sister on the show comes out as lesbian and that plays a big role in the show.
upfrontNY: In the second season, you tackle some big topics like racism and bullying. What is it like tackling those topics and is there one that is closer to your heart?
Marcel Ruiz: Yeah, it always feels good to tackle those topics. One of those important topics I feel I could relate to is the one about bullying about being Latino. I felt that related to me because when I was going to school here and I first moved to L.A. a lot of people in my school would say “Oh yeah, all Latinos are the same blah blah blah. Puerto Rican, Mexican, they’re the same” and that would get me mad because people who are Latino have things in common, but at the same time we are all different and they all have different traditions. I feel like it’s kind of like that in the show. Alex gets mad about that and he’s proud to be Cuban and I would get mad about that because I’m proud to be Puerto Rican.
upfrontNY: The show is gaining a huge following, has your life changed at all since being on this show?
Marcel Ruiz: I mean yeah! I feel like I’ve been more away from my friends. I’ve been working a lot. It gets tiring, but at the end it’s always worth it. I feel like that has changed and I’m trying to get used to it. Having to deal with work and school at the same time so I have to work harder to get good grades at school. I guess there are some pros and some cons because I’m meeting a lot of new people in this business which is great. Sometimes I meet other actors in school who know me, but I don’t know them. It’s really fun because they like acting too because I go to performing arts school. The only bad thing is people who don’t know me have a picture or an image of me in their mind and think I act a specific way without knowing me.
upfrontNY: You are also on Snowfall on FX can you tell us about that?
Marcel Ruiz: Yeah, well I mean I was on one episode of that then I was killed, but that was a really good experience- really really fun. We filmed at the Warner Brothers Studios and it was in the jungle. They made a jungle that looked like a real jungle and that was really fun. Getting into character, I think I was from Nicaragua on the show, it was really cool to play a character with an accent. This was something I had never done before because I had done comedy and this was my first drama/ action role. Plus, getting killed some people were sad because they beat me up. They put a lot of prosthetics on my face and that looked scary sometimes when I would just look at myself in the mirror and that was fun.
upfrontNY: You are originally from Puerto Rico and after the Hurricane you were involved with Voices of Puerto Rico. Can you tell us more about that?
Marcel Ruiz: Yeah! Well my parents were the ones who kind of like started the Voices for Puerto Rico movement. They started to work with other artists to be able to make a difference to be able to help Puerto Rico from the U.S. because most of those artists or my parents are people that are Puerto Rican that live here. They were trying to help Puerto Rico. They were trying to find a way because they couldn’t actually go there. When I saw that they could make a difference all the way from here, the following they were getting and all the resources they were getting, it was really inspiring to see all that they did and I wanted to help in whatever way I could. So, I did a PSA and I put stuff on my Instagram where this clothing company, every Puerto Rican business, everything that they would sell for two or three months all of the proceeds would go to Puerto Rico. It was a movement for Puerto Ricans who lived outside of the island and who came together to help Puerto Rico.
upfrontNY: Now you are part of a show business family, what kind of advice have they given you along the way?
Marcel Ruiz: Yeah. All of my family is in show business or are artists. It’s normal for me to be an actor because I grew up on set. It’s just normal to be on set. I feel like it helps a lot too because instead of taking classes or going to an acting coach I just go to my parents. They help me all the time. All the acting skills I have are from my parents. I feel like most of the time the notes that they always give me is just be natural. Always make it as natural as I can, always act as a part of myself in the character because that’s going to make it seem more natural and by doing that the acting is going to be better.
upfrontNY: You write music and are interested in fashion, do you think we will ever see an album or fashion line from you in the future?
Marcel Ruiz: For sure! A fashion line for sure. It interests me a lot. A friend from school and I are always thinking of ideas for clothing lines together. We come up with logos and different colors and shirts we could actual make! And I really like that! It really interests me and it’s a really cool passion. The thing about singing, I’m not really like a singer. I like rapping and sometimes I write lyrics, but if I record it it’s more for me and my friends just to have fun. Maybe if I write something cool I could drop an album, that would be pretty cool.
upfrontNY: Is there anything else you would like to let our readers know?
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