John D Ruddy is an Irish actor, artist, teacher and YouTuber.

Personal life

Ruddy was born in

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

Career

Acting

Ruddy has been involved in a number of theatre productions in Ireland. His first notable role was in the multi-award-winning production of '' The 39 Steps'' directed by Pluincead Ó Fearraigh which toured across Ireland in September 2012. He went on to play Billy McKeague in ''The Rising'' by Joe O'Byrne, a two-man play of a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

and a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

telling the story of the 1916 Easter Rising. The play premiered in the Powerscourt Theatre,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

in June 2012 and toured Ireland in 2013 and 2014. Ruddy's performance was reviewed in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' where the reviewer stated that "Ruddy's characterisations – particularly his inner-city Concepta and, at times, his Pádraig Pearse – are so funny that they divert us guiltily from the weight of the lesson." Irish culture magazine ''Vulgo'' described Ruddy and his co-star Nick O'Connell as "exciting new talent" and "say that you saw the electric O'Connell and Ruddy here first" in their review of the show.

YouTube

Ruddy created the webcomic Manny Man 2010. The weekly strip poked fun at pop culture including Star Wars, Pokémon, Doctor Who and Game of Thrones. He made his first historical animation, ''Irish History in 6 Minutes'', in 2013 which went viral in Ireland. His subsequent videos covering

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

each amassed over a million views on YouTube. Ruddy's animations have since been inducted into the Donegal County Museum.

Books

In addition to his animations, Ruddy is also an illustrator, and provided illustrations for Kieran Kelly's book, ''Letterkenny: Where the Winding Swilly Flows''. Ruddy also published two books of his own: ''Manny Man Does: Revolutionary Ireland'' and ''Manny Man Does: History of Ireland''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddy, John Living people 20th-century Irish male actors Irish male stage actors Male actors from County Donegal Year of birth missing (living people)