Ruthellen Cheney is a small town girl from the idyllic state of New Jersey. She is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and a New York-based actor, singer, and writer for both stage and film. She has trained at The Barrow Group School with Seth Barrish and Lee Brock.
She recently portrayed Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Imogen in Cymbeline (an Art for Progress production), both at Theatre 80 St. Marks. She also just completed a three year run in The Imbible: A Spirited History of Drinking at New World Stages, where she was the resident lady bass in the barbershop quartet.
Ruthellen portrayed Tanya in the short film Small Talk (Zed Fest Film Festival winner Outstanding Acting Performance) and played the lead role of June in the short film Happenstance.
As a playwright, she has won The Players Theatre Short Play and Musical Festival twice for her original short plays A Ghostly Reacharound and Strangers on an E Train. She is currently workshopping her full-length play with music entitled Annalise and the Bike Messenger, a modern take on Peter and the Wolf.
For film, she recently completed principal photography on Dearly Beloved a short sci-fi film she wrote, produced, and starred in and she wrote and starred in Undecided a new interactive miniseries about sexism, LGBTQI, racism, discrimination, corruption but the audience decides how each protagonist handles their given situation.