Ruaridh Mollica

Mollica was born in Prato, Italy to a Scottish mother and an Italian father.^[2] Mollica attended Broughton High School in Edinburgh.^[3] He joined the Strange Town youth theatre company, where he met his agent Ruth Hollyman.^[4] Mollica graduated with a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Heriot-Watt University in 2021.^[5] During his time at university, he participated in snowsports.^[6] He intended to do a master's degree in Cybersecurity at a London university, but declined the offer when he was cast in Red Rose.^[2]

Mollica began his career as a child actor, making his television debut aged 12 in an episode of the BBC One series Case Histories with Jason Isaacs and Mark Bonnar and his feature film debut as a background dancer in the Sunshine on Leith adaptation. He worked on-and-off for a number of years,^[2] appearing in the 2015 drama Stonemouth as a young version of Christian Cooke's character^[7] and the 2018 romance film Tell It to the Bees.

During his final year at university,^[2] Mollica returned to acting when his Strange Town agent Ruth Hollyman got him the lead role opposite Joshua Griffin in Sean Lionadh's 2022 short film Too Rough,^[8] which won a Scottish BAFTA. He then landed his first recurring television role as Patrick Hume in the BBC Three horror series Red Rose, which Mollica declined his postgraduate university place to film, and his first main role in the Channel 5 series Witness Number 3.^[9] He also appeared in Wasted at the Jack Studio Theatre.^[10]

In 2024, Mollica starred as the lead character Max Williamson in Mikko Mäkelä's sophomore feature Sebastian, which opened at the Sundance Film Festival.^[11] For his performance, Mollica was nominated for the British Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performance.^[12] Mollica also played a young version of Stephen Moyer's character Teddy in the Paramount+ series Sexy Beast. He has an upcoming role in the film Sukkwan Island.^[13] In July, it was announced that Mollica would make his London West End debut in Clarkston, a play by Samuel D. Hunter, in September alongside Joe Locke.^[14]

Mollica is queer.^[15] While he identifies as bisexual, he prefers the term queer.^[16] Regarding his sexuality, in a February 2024 interview with Queerty, Mollica said, "it was only when I moved to London and had the ability to be myself that I realised, 'Oh actually, no, I like men as well'".^[17] He explained in an interview with The Skinny in April 2025 that "The circles I moved in at school and uni were not really queer circles, so I only started to learn about queer culture as I was coming out in London."^[16] He said in his interview with Gay Times in February 2025, "I moved to London to also be more free and discover myself more. I wasn't completely out as queer in Edinburgh, and that was something that moving to London allowed me to be able to do, and fall into, and embrace. I went on my journey of becoming who I am and being openly queer alongside the film happening and the film coming out. It was actually really beautiful, and it couldn't have been more perfect."^[15]