Lachlan Ruffy

Ruffy has garnered acclaim across Australia for his versatility as a performer, writer, creator, and game designer. He’s a graduate of ANU, University of Canberra and WAAPA. He has been referred to as “a true master of storytelling” (Theatre Travels), “an audience favourite” (NightWrites), a “light entertainment phenomenon” (Canberra Theatre Watcher), and “mildly artistic” (Mum). On stage, Ruffy has played roles as varied as Eddie in Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love, Edward Ridgeway in Pigeonhole Theatre’s sold-out Canberra Theatre season of Switzerland, Coulmier in Marat/Sade and Jamie in The Last 5 Years. In 2024 he played the roles of Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire and Little Charles in August: Osage County, both of which received nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama at the Ovations Awards. In February 2025, he played Banquo in Lakespeare’s Macbeth, performing for crowds of up to 1200. Before he left Canberra a decade ago, he was seen as Thomas Klopper in Canberra Rep’s The Book of Everything, Jay in Lost in Yonkers, Mr Bingley in Pride and Prejudice, multiple roles in Everyman’s Breaker Morant, and Gus the Theatre Cat in Free-Rain’s Cats. He has appeared in ABC’s Rake and Total Control. He may also have been, under an alias, for 18 months, Australia’s most prolific and popular astrologer. As an immersive theatre creator and performer, he has frequently collaborated with Underground Cinema and Ponydog Productions. For the latter, he co-created and performed in Tattletales, an immersive improvised storytelling experience, which received nominations and awards for Best Immersive, Best Theatre, and Spirit of the Fringe at the Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide Fringe Festivals. His voice can be heard as one of the dual narrators in Kirsten Alexander’s Riptides, an audiobook published by Penguin Random House. Ruffy is also an experienced educator. He has taught drama, dance, and English at high schools and colleges for the past decade, and has run improvisation and stagecraft classes for the young artists at Pacific Opera Studio, Sydney, as well as working in the corporate training sphere. Recently he has returned to the world of creative developments, helping to shape early development projects at The Street Theatre, Canberra, as well as working with acclaimed Canberra satirists John Shortis and Moya Simpson.