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Streaming Stars, Then and Now

Giancarlo Ruiz is a bilingual artist born and raised in the city of Tijuana B.C. A son of a Mexican Lawyer and an Italian Philosopher Major, he grew up in the sea side of Playas de Tijuana. At an early age he developed the skill of mimicking and making different type of voices. He fell in love with movies at an early age while going to the Drive-In with his family. He had a knack to repeat his favorite scenes at school for his friends. Growing up so close to the United States / Mexico border, crossing to the United States often was part of his upbringing like most border kids and his mother would take him and his friends to the movies on dollar Tuesday. His interest in acting started around high school when an English professor asked of her students to go to a cultural activity for extra credit. He went to The Old Globe Theater in San Diego to see 'Hamlet' with Campbell Scott as Hamlet. That was the turning point for Ruiz to pursue acting as a career.

In 1992 he worked as P.A. for the film "Garden of Eden' directed by Award Winner Maria Novaro. There he learned the behind the scenes of movie making and after that he left Tijuana for Mexico City. He worked in many plays and studied with various teachers. At some point he worked with the famed Almada Brothers who are well known for their low budget shoot em up films. In 1996 he went back to Tijuana and wrote his first play "Shit" that premiered in the underground black box theater of Southwestern college. He continued to work in Theater, writing his next play "Looking for Pablo" produced for the Festival de la Raza. A festival showcasing talent from Mexico and U.S. It was then that he co-founded the theater group with Actress/Producer Raquel Presa where they developed theater for children as well as young adults establishing themselves as a solid theater company working at CECUT as well as other venues. The theater company ran for 14 years creating thought provoking work as well as giving opportunity to up and coming actors.

In 1997 he began shooting his first short film "Ungestezlich" and had a good festival run. After that he kept directing short films and acting in theater. Several of his short films won prizes from festivals. In the year 2000 he was part of the Binacom festival that went to Cuba to showcase the work of emerging filmmakers at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema . He showed his short films "Disneylandia pa' mi" and "Oxigeno". Ruiz directed over 15 short films, 10 art videos, 15 plays and in 2017 he wrote and directed his first feature film "El Vecino" Having its world premier at the Los Angeles Film Festival and at the notorious Macabro: International Horror Film Festival of Mexico City. He is considered to be The Godfather of independent cinema in Tijuana.

As an artist he produced many art videos and collage work. He was part of the art collective YONKE Art as the curator for the itinerant movie experience Cineumatico showcasing works of underground and established filmmakers. In the year 2000 he was one of many artists to show his work "Doomsday" and "Baby Frost" at InSite Art Festival curated by film historian Norma Iglesias He also worked as the media specialist for the UCSD Graduate School of Visual Arts as their media specialist. He decided academia was not for him and finally permanently moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to keep pursuing his love for story telling.

He has had many roles in theater but one of his favorite roles has been portraying the R.P. McMurphy in "One flew over the Cuckoo's nest" for San Diego Theater Inc. garnering great reviews for his visceral performance. He has produced, written, directed, edited many films. He has been able to move in front of the camera to behind the camera and enjoys both practices very much. In 2017 he was able to land a role on the Netflix show "Tijuana" as a recurring role appearing in 8 episodes of 11. In that show he was able to work with one of his heroes, Mexican actor Damian Alcazar. His latest film "El Rey de la Fiesta" has made some noise in the festival circuit with his strong performance as twin brothers Hector and Rafael. "El Rey de la Fiesta" is being distributed world wide by Mexican chain Cinepolis. It will have its theater debut in February 2022. At the moment several projects are in Post-production.

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