Resistance agent
Ruby Engels was a small-time actress who lived in Germany with her husband. They eventually moved to America, where Ruby had to adapt to the color barrier, and lack of work in acting. Many years later, Ruby is now retired from acting, a widow, and neighbor to the Bernstein family. She has struck up a friendship with Abraham, the eldest member of the family, and helps him cope with his memories of the Nazi Holocaust.
When the First Invasion began, she attempted to comfort Abraham's growing fears about the Visitors, but in the end becomes afraid of them herself. After Abraham willingly went to his death at the Visitor's hands, she dedicates herself to fighting the Visitors, first by destroying a Visitor Shuttle in Abraham's memory with a petrol bomb, and then acting as a spy for the L.A. Resistance Cell at the Visitor Embassy by using her old acting tricks to disguise her true identity by posing as a cleaning lady. She befriends many amongst the group, especially Julie Parrish (who she helps gain the confidence to lead the group) and even the gruff Ham Tyler (who feels comfortable around her to the point of talking to her about his tragic past). Ruby became crucial to several key Resistance operations, such as John's unmasking and told her friends that the thrill she experienced from spying is like the big-time acting career she never had.
Ruby became the central part of a Resistance plan to rescue Julie from the Embassy. The rescue was successful, but Ruby is exposed by her old neighbor, Daniel Bernstein, as a Resistance spy. Ruby didn't believe that Daniel would shoot her and walked off and then Daniels orders her to stop, but she kept walking and then he shoots her in the back and kills her as she attempts to leave the Embassy. Ruby's body is recovered and given a proper funeral; with her tombstone marked "Our Beloved Ruby". Ruby was later avenged through the actions of her friend and fellow Resistance member Caleb Taylor, who framed Daniel for the abduction of Brian, leader of the Visitors Youth Movement.