[1][2] Whilst still at school and with no previous acting experience, he was selected by director Ken Loach to portray the pivotal character Pinball in the gritty drama Sweet Sixteen set in the Inverclyde area (which has a local dialect virtually identical to that of Glasgow).
[4][5] Ruane has worked fairly infrequently as an actor since his early success, and has had several jobs in other industries including a DJ, car salesman and travel agent.
In hindsight he admitted that he did not fully appreciate his good fortune at such a young age, and without any drama school training to refer to, he did not prepare for some auditions as professionally as he could have.
[6][7] Despite the similar level of success to his breakthrough role a decade earlier, Ruane found that The Angels' Share did not bring an increase in job offers as he had anticipated.
[1][2] Having already returned briefly in 2009, Ruane reprised his role as Brian on River City in 2016 (his on-screen mother having remained in the series throughout the period).