This lanky, long-faced character player of American stage, film, and TV has proven adept at playing guys of a relatively conservative and nervous bent. Often unsympathetic, Ruck was widely seen as the annoying tourist on the bus in Jan De Bont's blockbuster actioner "Speed" (1994). He was also quite convincing as the inexperienced captain of the new Enterprise in the opening sequence of "Star Trek: Generations" (1994). Perhaps his finest and most indelible screen role was that of Cameron, the cautious and depressive buddy of Matthew Broderick's title character, in John Hughes' "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986).He would rarely be so likable again.

Ruck began his career on the Chicago stage appearing in various off-Loop productions in the early 1980s. He also worked in regional theater and off-Broadway before making his 1985 Broadway debut in Neil Simon's autobiographical "Biloxi Blues", co-starring Broderick. Ruck originated the role of Carney, the soldier who aspires to be the next Perry Como. Segueing to the small screen in the mid-80s, Ruck appeared in several busted pilots, guest shots and TV-movies. He had stints as a regular in a series of unsuccessful TV comedies in the 90s including "Going Places" (ABC, 1990-91), as a socially maladjusted TV writer, "The Edge" (Fox, 1992-93), as an ensemble member for sketch comedy and "Daddy's Girls" (CBS, 1994), as Dudley Moore's son-in-law and "the world's most boring ophthalmologist". That last failure was followed by the short-lived "Muscle" (WB, 1995), a serialized sitcom in which he played a sex-obsessed shrink.

Credit: ferrisbueller.net