We’re looking forward to introducing you to Ruthellen Cheney. Check out our conversation below.
Ruthellen, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is a normal day like for you right now?
My days right now are a bit of a whirlwind – busy, creative, and often unpredictable. I’m usually up around 5 or 6 a.m., partly because I like having a head start and partly because my brain rarely waits for my coffee to kick in. I spend the first half hour answering emails from bed so I can feel like I’ve set the day in motion, then I take a quiet 30-minute walk with coffee to reset before everything ramps up.
Ideally, I’d start with a hot yoga class, but my theater company – which I co-run with my friend and collaborator, Alexis Confer – is producing two shows back to back, so my workouts tend to fit wherever they can. Some mornings it’s yoga, other mornings it’s straight into my first Zoom meeting.
Beyond the theater company, I’m also launching a film production company, Tall Poppies Productions, with my friend Georgia Long. That means plenty of meetings with small business advisors and other creatives who’ve been incredibly generous with their insight. I’m also a professional playwright and screenwriter, and to help fund both Tall Poppies and my creative life, I take on a range of freelance projects – from short films and feature scripts to promo videos, transcription writing, and script doctoring.
After that, I head into rehearsal as an actress for Seance – a play I wrote that is one of the shows my company is currently producing – and spend about four hours each night immersed in its world. I’m also developing The Horror Digest, a horror anthology film with a monthly tie-in podcast, which keeps me busy with social media, recording sessions, and post-production alongside my partners Georgia, Phillip Dias Jr., and Ryan Bobila.
By the end of the day, if I’m still in New York, Alexis and I usually wind down on opposite couches with our laptops, catching each other up on everything we’ve tackled – and what’s next. If I’m home in New Jersey, I decompress with my husband and our cat before gearing up to do it all again the next day. It’s a lot, but it’s the kind of full plate I’ve always dreamed of.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m an actress and writer – those are really the two creative centers of my life – but over the years I’ve also become a producer as a way to bring my work (and the work of others I admire) to life. I actually started out as an opera singer, and while I’ve mostly left that part of my life behind, it deeply shaped how I approach storytelling. That early training taught me discipline, emotional honesty, and how to fill a space – lessons I carry with me whether I’m performing, writing something new, or helping a project get off the ground.
I co-run a theater company called The Mechanicals with my collaborator, Alexis Confer. We focus on creating thoughtful, accessible productions that celebrate both classic and contemporary work, often with a modern, inclusive twist. Theater has always been my home base – it’s where I fell in love with storytelling, community, and live connection.
I’m also the co-founder of Tall Poppies Productions, a film company I started with my dear friend Georgia Long. We’re focused on telling stories from unique perspectives that blend humor, heart, and honesty – the kinds of projects that entertain but also linger with you. Right now, we’re producing The Horror Digest, a horror anthology film and companion podcast that explores the craft and culture of horror from multiple perspectives.
What connects all of these things for me is a love of collaboration and a desire to tell stories about complex women – flawed, funny, resilient people trying to make sense of the world around them. Whether it’s on stage, on screen, or behind the scenes, that’s what keeps me coming back to the work every day.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
When I was younger, I had a very black and white view of what it meant to be a good person, to help others and serve my community. I believed that to do that, you had to be completely selfless. Because of that, I spent a lot of my life pouring into other people—friends, boyfriends, coworkers—without ever taking anything in return, including credit for my own work. I gave away my power freely under this false impression that goodness meant disappearing.
As I’ve grown, I’ve learned that prioritizing yourself isn’t selfish; it’s essential. Taking care of my own needs allows me to show up better for the people I love and for the work I care about. I’ve also learned that I can be generous and collaborative without giving away my voice or letting others claim it. Strength and kindness aren’t opposites; they actually rely on each other.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
For me, one of the hardest lessons has been realizing that not everyone operates with the same integrity or respect for others’ work. As much as I love this industry, it can teach you some tough truths about trust. Some people will openly take credit for things that aren’t theirs, while others-the so-called “nice” ones-have a way of making you feel like you’re the problem for standing up for yourself.
Years ago, I wrote a project and created a short proof-of-concept video to go with it. I cast a friend of mine, who suggested including someone he was seeing at the time. The project eventually stalled because of funding, and a few months later, I found out that the two of them were suddenly working on a new project with the same concept, same story, and even the same characters. When I confronted them about it, they gaslit me completely, telling me that I’d really written the story about them and that my being upset was cruel and childish.
That experience taught me to walk away. I let them have the idea and never looked back. I realized that if the best someone can do is steal from me, that means they’ve already hit their ceiling. I can always come up with something new, something better, because creating is what I do. That shift, understanding that my creativity is infinite, and theirs was limited to imitation, was the healing. It gave me my power back.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
I think one of the biggest truths in my life is that everything worthwhile takes time. The world moves fast and celebrates instant success, but the most meaningful work I’ve done has come from patience, persistence, and trusting the process even when no one’s watching.
Another truth for me is that kindness and boundaries can coexist. Throughout my twenties, I was constantly told I was “too nice,” as if kindness was some kind of weakness. But I’ve learned that kindness actually takes more strength than anything else in this world. I’m tired of people lecturing me, even now, as a grown woman, that I’m too kind. Our world has a serious problem when compassion and acts of service toward others are seen as something negative or naive.
It’s the same thing I notice when I work with young, ambitious actors. I’ve once had collaborators say, “Don’t cast her, she wants it too much,” as if enthusiasm or passion were flaws. I find that mindset so strange. I think wanting something deeply, caring about your work, and treating others with decency are all forms of strength, not weaknesses to disguise. Ambition is not a dirty word!
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What false labels are you still carrying?
People often assume I need things explained to me that I already know. My philosophy has always been that there’s something to learn from everyone, so I tend to stay quiet and let people speak, giving them my full attention. Because I do that, people sometimes mistake my listening for inexperience; as if it’s the first time I’m hearing about a topic, when in reality, I might be deeply familiar with it.
Throughout my career, I’ve performed in over thirty plays and operas, worked on more than twenty film and television projects, and written numerous plays and screenplays. So while I’ve been fortunate to build a wide range of experience, I’ve learned that in this industry, composure with a friendly face is often mistaken for lack of substance. I think, at the end of the day, I just have one of those faces people like to lecture to.
In creative environments, that can lead to being underestimated or even undermined, especially when I give others the space to have their moment and they don’t always return that same grace. It’s frustrating, but I’ve learned to see it as information, a reminder of how differently people move through collaboration.
What I’ve realized is that quiet doesn’t mean unprepared, and patience doesn’t mean ignorance. I’d rather lead from a place of openness and confidence than constantly fight to prove what I already know.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehorrordigestofficial/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthellen-cheney-67635741/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thehorrordigestoffical
Image Credits
Phillip Dias Jr, Billy Faraut, Angel J. Rivas
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