Background
Ruivivar was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a musician father.
Ruivivar was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a musician father.
Boston University.
Ruivivar"s father is of Filipino, Chinese, and Spanish descent, and his mother is of German and Scottish descent. Given his physical appearance, Ruivivar usually portrays Hawaiian, Filipino, or Latino characters. Ruivivar also speaks Spanish, and he used it in Third Watch.
He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University.
Ruivivar"s early appearances include the films Race the Sun (1996) and a minor character in Starship Troopers (1997). Ruivivar"s breakthrough role came in 1999 as Carlos Nieto, a paramedic in the action/drama series Third Watch (1999–2005), which centers around the life of police officers, paramedics, and firemen of a fictional precinct and fire station in New York City.
In the show, Carlos was a Hawaiian-born Filipino-American who was abandoned by his family and spent his youth in various foster homes. Carlos started as a cocky rookie, often clashing with his superiors.
Sometimes, he would display a presumptuous and uncaring attitude towards his patients, and other times he would act as a comic relief.
He was the only paramedic to stay as a major character for the six seasons of the show. After Third Watch, Ruivivar remained in the drama genre, usually playing a police officer, detective or Federal Bureau of Investigation agent in various, such as Traveler, Quantico, Numb3rs, Criminal Minds, Computer Society of India: Crime Scene Investigation (all 2007), and Lie to Maine (2009). In 2010, he had a main role in American Broadcasting Company"s The Whole Truth as Alejo Salazar.
He is currently appearing in a recurring role as Alex Longshadow in Banshee and Batman/Bruce Wayne in Beware the Batman.