Ruben Pla

Ruben Pla was raised in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Florida International University majoring in Theatre. Returning to Manhattan, he studied Method acting at the Stella Adler Conservatory and attended the Actors Studio workshop run by Elia Kazan who, after watching Pla in a scene, declared to the class "I believe him."

Pla then plunged into Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, Television, and Film. In Los Angeles, he was cast in many TV shows including How to Get Away with Murder, 24, Weeds, Criminal Minds, CSI: Miami, Without a Trace, The Practice, and Everybody Loves Raymond. Some of his feature films are Insidious, Malignant, Contracted, Big Ass Spider, Chemical Peel, and Glowzies. In his career, Pla's diverse characters have included lawyers, doctors, cops, soldiers, a supreme court justice, and a zombie.

He's shared the screen with such talented actors as Patrick Wilson, Viola Davis, Pierce Brosnan, James Remar, Rose Byrne, Bruce Greenwood, Angie Harmon, Greg Grunberg, Jaimie Alexander, Steve Guttenberg, Kal Penn, Brad Garrett, Annie Potts, and Joe Mantegna. He's worked multiple times each with accomplished filmmakers James Wan, Hank Braxtan, and Mike Mendez. On television, he's been directed by the acclaimed James Burrows, Gary Halvorson, Marshall Herskovitz, Thomas Schlamme, Jon Cassar, and Daniel Sackheim.

Behind the camera, Pla directed the multi-award winning documentary that was selected by over 40 film festivals, The Horror Crowd (2020), in which he interviews Hollywood horror luminaries Lin Shaye, Russell Mulcahy, Darren Lynn Bousman, Oren Peli, Mike Mendez, Jeffrey Reddick, Adam Robitel and many others, delving deep into their dark side to discover what makes them tick.