john rubinstein

Bio

john rubinstein is an actor, director, composer, singer, and teacher. he was born in los angeles, california in 1946, the same year his father, the renowned polish-born concert pianist artur rubinstein, became an american citizen. he is the youngest of four children. his sister, eva, danced and acted on broadway, creating the role of 'margo' in the original production of 'the diary of anne frank'; she later became an internationally known photographer. his brother, paul, recently retired from his career as a stockbroker in new york; his sister, alina, is a psychiatrist in manhattan. john attended st. bernard's school and collegiate school in new york city, and then returned to los angeles in 1964 to study theater at ucla. during his college years, he began his professional career as an actor, appearing in 1965 with howard keel in lerner and loewe's 'camelot' in san carlos and anaheim; playing a role in the civil war film, journey to shiloh (1968); and starting his long list of television appearances in shows, such as the virginian (1962), dragnet 1967 (1967) and room 222 (1969). it was also at ucla that he began composing and orchestrating music: incidental music for theatrical plays, and a musical, 'the short and turbulent reign of roger ginzburg', with book and lyrics by david colloff, that won the 1967 bmi varsity musical award as best musical. rubinstein made his broadway acting debut in 1972, and received a theater world award, for creating the title role in the musical 'pippin', directed by bob fosse. in 1980, he won the tony, drama desk, los angeles drama critics circle, and drama-logue awards for his portrayal of 'james leeds' in mark medoff's 'children of a lesser god', directed by gordon davidson. other broadway appearances were in neil simon's 'fools', and david rabe's 'hurlyburly', both directed by mike nichols; herman wouk's 'the caine mutiny court-martial', which earned him another drama desk nomination; david henry hwang's 'm. butterfly'; 'getting away with murder', by stephen sondheim and george furth, directed by jack o'brien, and the musical 'ragtime', directed by frank galati. in 2014, he joined the broadway cast of the hit revival of 'pippin,' directed by diane paulus, this time playing pippin's father, charlemagne. he repeated this role on the national tour throughout the united states, japan, and europe in 2014-2016.