Editing Ruby Wax (section)

===Early career===
Wax moved to the UK and studied at the [[Royal Conservatoire of Scotland|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.<ref name="ST" />

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]]''<ref name = ST>{{cite book | last=Trowbridge | first=Simon | title=Stratfordians, a dictionary of the RSC | chapter= Ruby Wax | publisher=Editions Albert Creed | location=Oxford, England | year=2008 | page=509 | isbn=978-0-9559830-1-6}}</ref> and appearing in the [[Howard Brenton]] three-hander ''Sore Throats''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Howard |last=Brenton |title=Plays One |publisher=[[Methuen Publishing|Methuen]] |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-413-40430-5}}</ref> 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''.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ian |last1=McKellen |first2=David |last2=Puttnam |first3=Ruby |last3=Wax |first4=Vanessa |last4=Redgrave |first5=Alan |last5=Bates |display-authors=3 |isbn=0094702500 |title=For Ian Charleson: A Tribute |location=London |publisher=Constable and Company |year=1990 |pages=55–61}}</ref> In 1981, Wax appeared as an American track fan in Charleson's breakthrough film, ''[[Chariots of Fire]]''.<ref>Hugh Hudson Commentary on ''[[Chariots of Fire]]'' DVD, Warner Bros. media.</ref> She originally had a much larger role in the film, but it was cut down in editing.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-10-27 |title=Ruby Wax |url=https://metro.co.uk/2009/10/27/ruby-wax-2-636390/ |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=Metro |language=en |quote="I was cut out but it wasn’t my fault. I played the girlfriend to the whole American running team. There was a scene where I snuck into their dorm. But that hit the floor because my friend was playing Ian Charleson’s girlfriend and they didn’t think her acting was great (though they told her it was because she didn’t shave her armpits). So both our careers ended. We went down like kingpins."}}</ref>

Wax made a one-off appearance in a 1980 episode of ''[[The Professionals (TV series)|The Professionals]]'', ''Bloodsports'', playing Lonnie, an American student. 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. The same year, she Wax also appeared briefly as a secretary in ''[[Omen III: The Final Conflict]]''.