Ruby Wax

Ruby Wax is an American-born British comedian, actress, author, and mental health advocate who has reinvented herself as one of the UK's leading voices on mindfulness and neuroscience. Born Ruby Wachs in Evanston, Illinois, in 1953, she moved to Britain to study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, became a household name as a comedian and television interviewer in the 1980s and 1990s, and later earned a Master's degree in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy from Oxford University and an OBE for services to mental health. Wax's books include Sane New World, A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, How to Be Human (with a neuroscientist and a monk), and And Now For The Good News..., which searches for reasons for optimism in a world that seems determined to provide none. Her writing combines scientific research with her trademark wit, making complex ideas about the brain accessible and entertaining. She founded the charity Frazzled Cafe, offering free peer-support meetings across the UK. Her audiobooks and books offer listeners and readers a funny, scientifically informed guide to mental wellbeing from someone who has been open about her own struggles with depression and who refuses to let important subjects be boring.