From 1985, she was the original Éponine in the first English-language productions of Les Misérables in the West End and on Broadway, winning the 1987 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
Her film credits include roles in The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980), P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang (1982), Secrets & Lies (1996), The Road to Ithaca (1999), Les Misérables (2012), Devil's Tower (2014), and Long Forgotten Fields (2014).
Though virtually an unknown outside of the West End, she and Colm Wilkinson were invited to reprise their roles for the Broadway launch.
Her subsequent work on stage included the Ian Dury musical Apples in 1989 and Stephen Schwartz's Children of Eden in 1990, featuring on the cast albums of both.
The creative team behind Les Misérables, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, also used Ruffelle's vocals as Kim while writing Miss Saigon.
Having previously played Roxie Hart in Chicago in the West End from September 2003 to June 2004, Ruffelle reprised the role for the show's 10th anniversary in 2007 and stayed with the production through into 2008.
in January 2007, alongside Donna McKechnie, Diane Langton and Richard Fleeshman, however it was postponed, and was scheduled to open in Toronto in 2009.
In 2010, she appeared in the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables at the O2 Arena as part of the original London cast and in 2011 starred as Fastrada at the Menier Theatre's production of Pippin.
Frances also performs her critically acclaimed solo shows, Paris Original and Beneath the Dress, in London and New York.
Ruffelle also collaborated with Sam Bonner in the group, paTala, making an album called Purify, featuring "a fusion of traditional Sanskrit chants with unique arrangements of contemporary Western beats".