Captain's Log, ST-CHI: Gabrielle Ruiz kicks off the Convention with Lower Decks Flair

Actress Gabrielle Ruiz, aka T'Lyn on Star Trek: Lower Decks. Photo via imdb.

The first panel we got to sit in on during ST: Chi was focused on Gabrielle Ruiz, best known to Star Trek Lower Decks fans as T’Lyn. You might not know it, but T’Lyn was always a special character because when she became a series regular in Lower Decks season 4, she was the first novel Vulcan main character in 23 years. She also filled in as more of a “straight man” to the other Lower Decks characters and their antics. So it was definitely a thrill to get a chance to see the actor who brought T’Lyn to life at this year’s con. 

You might know Gabrielle Ruiz as Valencia Perez from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but she’s been everywhere from Broadway to film. A talented singer, Ruiz was asked by a fan whether she would participate in next year’s “Broadway to the Stars 3.” Ruiz said, “I would love to be a part of that, is what I can say.” She was a part of this year’s event, so I anticipate an announcement in the future adding Ruiz to next year’s ST: Vegas. 

With Lower Decks ending with Season 5, it’s too bad we didn’t get more T’Lyn. Ruiz had the perfect stoic delivery. But it was probably harder to get into character as T’Lyn than most might expect, since Ruiz recorded her voice lines without interacting with her fellow castmasts, or even really having a chance to meet them in person. Ruiz said “Luckily I knew Eugene (Cordero, Rutherford on Lower Decks) before Lower Decks. He guested on a show I was a series regular for–a live action TV show called Crazy Ex- Girlfriend.” she went on to say that she also met Tawny Newsome (Beckett Mariner on Lower Decks) on Zoom, and series creator Mike McMahan. Since voice over work is done in solitude Ruiz says “It’s a lot of imagination.” she went on to say that “I, personally, as an actor take those little chunks of lines and offer it four kind of different ways for them–the directors, the producers–-to later match up with (the rest of the cast.”

One fan question asked whether T’Lyn found her way out in Ruiz’s everyday life. Ruiz said, “I do now have ‘I concur’ in my vocabulary I use in everyday life. Oh, well, also ‘curious.’ I do say ‘curious’ in (my own) voice. Or like a text, ‘Curious, do you think we could move this date to this day?’” 

Another fan asked Ruiz if T’Lyn sang, and Ruiz confirmed that T’Lyn does indeed sing. And she even demonstrated what that might sound like when she sang Happy Birthday in Vulcan to a young lucky audience member. You really can’t appreciate Happy Birthday until you hear it sung in Vulcan.