Anthony Ruivivar

Honolulu's Eye on Giuliani's New York

Anthony Ruivivar was born in Honolulu in 1970 to a mix of heritages that Hollywood took decades to learn how to label. The son of a Filipino musician and a mother of European roots, his face carries the racial ambiguity that is trendy today but was a puzzle for casting directors in the nineties.

He didn't care much.

In 1994, he made his big-screen debut in Colmillo Blanco 2: El mito del lobo blanco. It was a quiet start for an actor who always preferred hard work over teen magazine covers. But his big break came with the turn of the millennium.

In 1999, he landed the role of Carlos Nieto in Third Watch. It was his ticket to big-budget television and the project that defined his public image for five years. He played the rookie paramedic for six seasons and 131 episodes, sharing the set with his future wife, Yvonne Jung.

The NBC series demanded real physical effort, since they filmed on the streets of New York during grueling shifts. Ruivivar learned his craft right on the asphalt, to the rhythm of sirens.

The Supporting Actor Who Never Runs Out of Work

Before the ambulances, he had to get through the rawest action movies. In 1997, he appeared in Starship Troopers from Paul Verhoeven. There he met his end, devoured by a giant bug in a scene that remains cult material for sci-fi fans from the late century.

After the end of Turno de Guardia in 2005, the phone didn't stop ringing. Ruivivar specialized in authority figures, guys who wear a badge or a uniform. He appeared in Numb3rs, Mentes Criminales, and CSI without breaking a sweat.

In 2008, Ben Stiller called him for Tropic Thunder. It was a brief role, but it helped him prove he could hold his own in a big-budget comedy. Still, his natural habitat remained long-running television drama.

Industry opportunities came knocking again in 2013 with Banshee. He played Alex Longshadow, the leader of a local tribe, in a role that demanded a physical toughness he had never shown before. It was a period of choreographed violence and intense dramatic work.

And the gamble paid off.

Voice Work and a Return to the Islands

Few people know that Ruivivar voiced one of comics' great icons. In 2013, he became Bruce Wayne in the animated series Beware the Batman. His take on the Dark Knight aimed for a more detective-like tone and a less guttural delivery than his predecessors.

In 2015, he took part in the anthology American Horror Story: Hotel, bringing Richard Ramirez to life. It was a dark, unsettling role that broke with his buttoned-up, institutional image. Behind that calm exterior, he was always an actor capable of making viewers uncomfortable.

In 2018, he joined the cast of The Haunting of Hill House for Netflix. His role as Kevin Harris gave him a place in one of the most-watched horror phenomena of the decade. It was a contained performance amid a constant nightmare atmosphere.

In 2022 and 2023, he returned to his geographic roots with NCIS: Hawai’i. He played Daniel Bain in a production that let him shoot in his home state after years of working on the mainland. It was a professional full circle before he moved on to other procedural projects.

His most recent credited appearance dates to 2024, in an episode of the long-running Law & Order. At 53 years old, he keeps a steady pace of around two productions a year, as he has for three decades. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children while running his own independent production company.