Alan Ruck was born on July 1, 1956 in Cleveland, Ohio, and has made over 100 appearances in films and television, and on stage. He is best known for his role as the friend of Matthew Broderick and hopeless hypochondriac Cameron Frye, in John Hughes's Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). During the 1980s he appeared in films such as Class (1983) with Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy and Three for the Road (1987) with Charlie Sheen. The 1990s included Young Guns II (1990) with Emilio Estevez and Lou Diamond Phillips, Star Trek: Generations (1994), Speed (1994) with Keanu Reeves and Twister (1996) (the latter two films are directed by Jan de Bont). Ruck's television appearances include Tales from the Crypt (1989) opposite Lou Diamond Philips, Mad About You (1992) with Helen Hunt (his co-star in Twister), and Spin City (1996) with Michael J. Fox. Ruck made an appearance in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998) which reunited him with his Twister co-star Cary Elwes.