Jesse Ruda

He was born Jesse Joseph Ruda on January 18 in Baker City Oregon. His father, Benny Ruda, was a bareback rider on the professional rodeo tour turned rancher and horse trainer. His mother, Belinda, was a longtime runway model, turned salon owner and artist. At the age of 3, Jesse suffered a broken neck (3rd cervical vertebrae) from a car accident and was paralyzed from the waist down and the right side of his body. After months of rehabilitation, he miraculously regained feeling and movement in his lower body. After the accident, his parents divorced and Jesse was raised by his mother, along with his older sister, Camie, in Atascadero, Ca. His mother remarried Steve Pybrum and then moved to Santa Barbara, Ca. As a child, Jesse idolized actors such as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stalone, Jean Claude Van Damn, Steven Seagal and Michael Keaton. At the age of 11, Jesse experienced his first theatre experience in How The West Was Won. As he got older, due to his inability to play contact sports because of this injuries, he was forced to choose a less physical sport. His stepfather introduced him to the solitary game of golf. He first "broke par" (-2) at the age of 13 playing with Actor Jason Gedrick. He was a member of the high school state championship golf team as well as a member of the NCAA National Championship team (2004-UC Berkeley). He won many titles from junior golf to the professional level and even holds the course record at Glen Annie GC in Santa Barbara Ca. (-11= 60). In 2008, Jesse turned away from golf and began taking acting classes and auditioning. Jesse made his film debut in a feature film titled "10-20"(2008). In 2010, Jesse joined the prestigious Playhouse West (founded by Mr. Sanford Meisner, Robert Carnegie and Jeff Goldblum). At Playhouse West, he studied the art of dramatic writing and the Meisner Acting Technique for 4 years. During that time, he was cast in numerous theatre plays including Welcome Home Soldier, Boys Life and Made in America. In 2014, Jesse joined the Imagined Life Studio to study with Diana Castle. In 2015, Jesse appeared in AMC's Turn: Washington's Spies as George Washington's most influential brother "Lawrence Washington". He also wrote, produced and starred as "Luke Johnson" in the TV pilot titled "Luke: The Series." In 2017, he was in PBS's Civil War drama titled "Mercy Street". And in 2018, CBS's hit show "S.W.A.T." as Jimmy Street's Father. Jesse is currently working as an Actor, Writer and Producer.