{{Short description|American actor and Marine (born 1985)}} {{Infobox person | name = Elliot Ruiz | image = | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | occupation = Actor | years_active = 2005 – present }}
'''Elliot Ruiz''' (born 1985) is an American film actor and a former U.S. Marine.
==Early life and career== Ruiz was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Thomas A. Edison High School in 2002. Ruiz joined the U.S. Marine Corps when he was 17 years old, and with six months into his service he was sent to Iraq – as the youngest Marine in his division.<ref name=tg>{{cite news|url=http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=164&catID=10|title=Haditha on film|work=The Guardian|date=March 6, 2008|access-date=June 1, 2010|first=Anna|last=Bruce-Lockhart}}</ref>
The war ended for him in April 2004 when an Iraqi drove a car through barbed wire at a checkpoint, and the wire almost tore Ruiz's leg apart.<ref name=wc>{{cite news|url=http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/DefendOurMarines/ElliotRuizInterview_BattleForHaditha.htm|title="People died because it's war": An interview with Elliot Ruiz, star of Battle For Haditha|publisher=War Chronicle|date=April 12, 2008|access-date=June 1, 2010|first=David|last=Allender|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101202115020/http://warchronicle.com/TheyAreNotKillers/DefendOurMarines/ElliotRuizInterview_BattleForHaditha.htm|archive-date=December 2, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Doctors told him he would never walk again, but eventually he started to jog and run around.<ref name=tg/> In 2005 he turned to acting, as he got his first movie role in a low budget movie ''Shapeshifter''. In 2007 he got his break with acclaimed drama film ''Battle for Haditha'', which was directed by British director Nick Broomfield.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1767527.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708213847/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article1767527.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 8, 2008|title=Will this be Iraq's Apocalypse Now?|work=The Times|date=May 10, 2007|access-date=June 1, 2010|first=Catherine|last= Philp}}</ref> He was also a cast in the short film ''Juggling in Mosul'' (2009). Ruiz could next be seen in a war film ''21 and a Wake-Up'' (2010), starring Amy Acker, Danica McKellar and Faye Dunaway.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|1992607}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Elliot}} Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of the Iraq War Category:American male film actors Category:American male television actors Category:Male actors from Philadelphia Category:United States Marines