MANILA, Philippines — Hollywood actor and the father of Filipina-American Olympic gymnast Levi Jung-Ruivivar, Anthony Ruivivar, is open to doing acting projects in the Philippines. His daughter, Levi, has recently signed with Viva Artists Agency (VAA) as one of its talents.
“We’ve been talking about it,” Anthony responded when asked at a presscon if he is also going to ink a deal with VAA. “We’ve been talking about me coming like, at least, when I’m here, you know, I can be productive.
“I’d love to. I honestly would love to come to the Philippines and do as much as I can. I mean, honestly.”
Anthony started at an early age in the entertainment industry. His father is Tony Ruivivar, the founding member of the musical group Society of Seven, described in the US press as “the most successful show band in Waikiki entertainment history.”
“So he (Tony) started the Society of Seven with Jun Polistico and with Bert Navarro. And so that’s how I grew up with Martin (Nievera, son of Bert) in Hawaii,” he shared.
Born and bred in Hawaii, with seven of his uncles in Society of Seven, it came to no surprise that Anthony got interested in showbiz, too.
“That’s my upbringing, so I always was, you know, I was raised backstage in the light booth or behind the scenes. So, yeah, that was my foray into the entertainment industry. But then I decided that I wasn’t a great singer. So I went into straight drama. I went to school, a conservatory for acting, I went to BU, Boston University, and then moved down to New York.”
He began doing theater in New York and films as well. His debut film was “White Fang 2” with Ethan Hawke. He also portrayed a paramedic in the American crime drama TV series “Third Watch.” One of the creators of the show was John Wells, who is also the showrunner and executive producer of the medical drama “ER.”
“Third Watch” kick started Anthony’s career in the entertainment business. He did several films after that, such as, “Tropic Thunder” with Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr., “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Southland,” to name a few. He likewise worked with Halle Berry and James Belushi in “Race the Sun.”
“A lot of different films and TV shows. So I’ve been lucky enough, knock on wood, to work in the industry, and why I kind of roll my eyes or kind of go, ‘Oh gosh, it’s not because I love the industry, but it’s a hard industry.’ It’s a tough industry to be an actor and make a living.”
Anthony is married to actress and his co-star in “Third Watch,” Yvonne Jung. They met in college but never dated at that time. “But as soon as she graduated first and then I graduated, we started dating. We were both working in New York and I got ‘Third Watch,’” he recalled.
“I wrote a play that she was in and the producers saw her in this play and loved her work. And they wrote a role for her in the show and we became love interests on the show (‘Third Watch’), which was really wild. And we’re doing love scenes in the show, and we’re lying in bed, and they’ve got the cameras, and they’re checking the focus, and we’re talking about our laundry, list of things to do. It’s really interesting, kind of funny.
“And then our characters on the show got married. So in our house we have two sets of wedding pictures. We have our wedding pictures, our real wedding pictures, and we have our on-camera wedding pictures.”
Yvonne played FDNY EMS Paramedic Holly Levine in Seasons 5 and 6 of “Third Watch.”