Ruby Cruz has wielded swords (Willow) and fist-fought football players (Bottoms) while always capturing a lady’s heart — whether her character got game or not. In the latest season of The Sex Lives of College Girls, Cruz lays down her weapons but she’s still bagging a baddie. She made her debut in the third season’s sixth episode, “Halloween & Oat Milk,” as Ash, a lesbian freshman at Essex and a love interest for the fierce fellow lesbian freshman Taylor (Mia Rogers).

In the episode, Taylor attends a queer speed dating event at Bela’s (Amrit Kaur) encouragement. What follows is a series of Taylor having not-so-fun dating partners, featuring cameos from comedian Haley Stiel to freaking Kim Petras. That’s all before Taylor laments on the weirdness of the ladies she’s paired with and a nearby Ash agrees. The two hit it off.

Upon the airing of the following episode ”The Rodeo,” which reunites Taylor and Ash, Cruz and I spoke on a phone call and discussed everything Sex Lives of College Girls and more, from landing her role, collaborating with Mia Rogers, and portraying distinctively different queer characters.

Rendy: What interested you about becoming part of the Sex Lives of College Girls world?

Ruby: I’m always down to contribute to more queer representation. Always down. I was honored and excited to be a part of this show that’s so beloved by so many people and to be another queer character on it.

Rendy: Did you do an audition process or did a casting director just watch Bottoms?

Ruby: Yeah, I think, well, it was super exciting, because it was my first ever straight offer. I was like, “What?” And then I get a call from Justin Nobles, who is the showrunner and co-creator and he also directed the finale. He was like, “I’m about to make a very queer episode of TV, would you like to be part of it?” And I was like, “Yeah!” So that’s how that came about and I simply was just honored and grateful that they thought of me.

Rendy: What was it like embodying Ash? Because she has this mixed aspect of the wardrobe of Hazel, but also the charm and rizz of Kit.

Ruby: That is so funny. Wait, I love that. Yeah, I think it was a cool amalgamation. I think Ash was a really cool character to portray. She’s super chill, she’s super understanding. She loves to listen. She loves to just experience the fiery energy of Taylor and it was really cool to just come to set and hang out and have it be a really laid back experience, honestly, because of who Ash was.

Rendy: What was the collaboration between you and Mia in finding the romantic relationship between your characters?

Ruby: Working with Mia was such a gift. She’s so wonderful to be around. She’s so fun and was really down to be really collaborative. We had just had a bunch of conversations about what this relationship meant to both of these characters and we were able to develop the importance of showing that these two people really care about each other. I think that was rare for both of them. I think Ash, a freshman, just meeting a bunch of people, meeting everyone she can, and then really finding that spark with someone was something that she wanted to follow, and then having that sort of disappear was a let down, but I think it was really exciting for her to get the chance to cross paths again.

Rendy: Within Ash and Taylor’s meet cute at the speed date, my friend Haley, who was in it, told me there was a lot of improv within that sequence. So I was wondering if you got to play with a little bit of improv during that scene as well.

Ruby: Yeah, that was super fun. Everybody was just making each other laugh and it was just such good energy on set. All the people who came in on different dates were so funny and so fun to talk to between takes. Getting to work with Kim Petras? Awesome. I’m such a big fan of hers and I love her very much. And I mean, working with Mia was really cool. We just got to be like, “Okay, here we are. We’re meeting right now. We are sort of at the perfect place in our real relationship just meeting to be representing two people meeting and getting to know each other.” So it was really fun to rely on and play with, and I remember them just sort of shooting, shouting lines out at us to play with, and that was really cool. I loved doing anything and improvising.

Rendy: Tell me about your approach to portraying various queer characters who are so distinct and yet we recognize people like them. We all know a Kit or a Hazel or an Ash.

Ruby: I feel really, really grateful that I get to play with all these different sides of myself. I mean, queerness and gender expression, all of that is such a spectrum and I love getting the chance to explore different sides of myself through characters, explore different sides of myself physically, emotionally. I mean, I feel like that represents who I am every day. I’m a different person in terms of how I express myself and how I dress. So I think it’s really cool to be able to, when I feel —I mean, this is getting kind of deeper about it — but it feels like there’s such a crazy pressure to be an actress and to be some ”femme, slay-like mama.” You know what I mean? Then being able to separate myself from that and get in touch with my more masculine side is, I couldn’t ask for a better career opportunity or life opportunity than to do that.

Rendy: Well, I’ll reciprocate those feelings: When I first came out as non-binary, I thought I had to project androgyny by default.

Ruby: Yes!

Rendy: Yeah, So after a little while I was like, you know what? I dress the way I do.

Ruby: Yeah. And it’s crazy. People will perceive that and then sort of tie you to that image of yourself that they are projecting onto you, but you can just become a new version of yourself the next day. I don’t know. I think it’s so fun to play around with that, and I’ve always done that since I was a kid, so it’s really cool that I get to do that in my career too.

Rendy: What particularly draws you to comedy? I see that as the form you’re playing in these days.

Ruby: Yeah, I mean, feel like I just, that’s funny. I don’t see it that way. I mean, I guess I have been doing a lot of comedies with Bottoms and then Sex Lives, but I just wrapped a show, For All Mankind. That was a very different, it’s scientific, scientifically accurate astronauts and historically accurate thing, you know what I mean? And that was really cool to sort of jump back and forth between genres. But I do really love comedy. I do just want to be laughing and making other people laugh, so I feel like that’s a real joy to get to do that as work.

Rendy: Since you star in several shorts too, what are some of the challenges in playing between different formats between features and television and even short films?

Ruby: I mean, each one requires a different set of skills and awarenesses, and I feel like features, you can really throw yourself into it. It feels like this sort of pocket of time space where you’re surrounded by all these people collectively working on one thing every day and sort of like a month or two of your life where it’s really saturated in this character and in this story. And then with television, Sex Lives and the other show I had mentioned and ones I’ve been in like Mare of Easttown and stuff like that, it’s sort of choppier. There’s a lot of ensemble where you don’t get to sort of follow a character’s storyline the entire time. You just pop in here and there. And same for how it actually works, where I’m working a couple times a week, if anything. And you sort of have to pick up where you left off and sort of jump back into different feelings or different headspace with time in between, which can be a little bit more difficult, honestly. But I mean, I love it all. I’m just happy to be making stuff. Shorts are so fun too. Jean, the short that we just made, was our first sort of dive into it, and that was a whole other story, like a 30 minute one take, which was crazy. But it all just requires different things for you to pull from different areas of your brain or whatever.

Rendy: What are some of your favorite genres to play in or genres you’d love to explore in the future?

Ruby: Yeah, I mean, I’ve loved everything I’ve done, but luckily I’ve gotten to sort of dive into so many different genres and stuff, but I would like to explore horror a little bit more. I’m working on getting scared more, and I feel like that would be a really fun thing to dive into. I’ve done a little bit with Castle Rock. It was a pretty scary moment, but that was a long time ago. I hope to sort of experience some more soon.

Rendy: What are some of your favorite horror films or shows?

Ruby: Ooh I need to look at a list. Let me think about that. I mean, I love The Shining. I love— let me look at my films. I watched a bunch of them during, what’s it called, Halloween.

Rendy: (laughs) Yeah, that one season.

Ruby: I just watched, oh my God, the Smile series is so good. I didn’t expect to love it and be as scared as I was when I watched it, but I really, really loved it. I watched this other movie called Le Vourdalak, which was, I’m pretty sure it was French. I could be so wrong. But it came out recently and it looks like it came out decades ago. Just the way that they filmed it. I don’t know what they did to, or what film they used for camera they used, but it was a really fascinating take on Dracula and they used a puppet to play Lord Vourdalak and that was really cool. I thought that was really creative and I want to research that more.

Rendy: What are some different projects in the future that people could look out for after Sex Lives?

Ruby: I just wrapped last week on For All Mankind, but I think they take a long time between filming and releasing, so I don’t know when that’s planning to come out. Probably in a year from now, they have a lot of CGI and little things to wrap up. So well made though. It’s such a crazy series and that’s another show that’s already established that has a machine that’s already been built, and I got to just enjoy and hop in on, you know what I mean? I don’t know what I’m trying to say, but you know what I mean.

The third season of The Sex Lives of College Girls is streaming on Max.

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