Saul Rubinek
Encyclopedia
Saul Rubinek is a Canadian actor, director, producer and playwright, known for his work in TV, film and the stage.
, Wolfratshausen
, Germany, the son of Polish Jews Frania and Israel Rubinek, who was a factory
worker, theater company manager
, Yiddish Theatre
actor
, and Talmud
ic scholar. Rubinek's parents were hidden by farmers for over two years during World War II
, and moved to Canada
in 1948.
's popular series of mystery novels set in the Niagara Region
of Canada
. In another TV movie, Liberace: Behind the Music
(1988), he played Seymour Heller
, the long-time friend and manager of Liberace
.
Rubinek appeared in Taylor Hackford
's Against All Odds (1984), Oliver Stone
's Wall Street (1987) as a lawyer, and in Brian De Palma
's The Bonfire of the Vanities
(1990), again as a lawyer, and in The Quarrel
(1991). He is also noted for his performance in Clint Eastwood
's Unforgiven
(1992) as a pulp fiction
writer. He had a notable role in Tony Scott
's True Romance
(1993) as a pompous, cocaine-addicted movie producer. He also co-starred in the 1993
Emmy Award
-winning American
made-for-television docudrama
And the Band Played On
as Dr. Jim Curran. Rubinek played the character Kivas Fajo in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
episode "The Most Toys". Rubinek, an ardent Star Trek fan, abruptly took over the part after David Rappaport
, the actor who was originally cast in the role, attempted suicide shortly after filming of the episode had begun. Rappaport subsequently succeeded in committing suicide just after the episode premiered. Another science fiction role portrayed by Rubinek was as a documentary film director named Emmett Bregman, on the seventh season of the Canadian
-American
military science fiction
television series Stargate SG-1
, in a two-part episode called "Heroes, Parts 1 & 2
". He also played Donny Douglas (Daphne Moon's fiancé and Niles Crane's divorce lawyer) in several episodes of the American sitcom Frasier
. He appeared, in different roles, in two episodes of the 1995 revival of The Outer Limits
. He played the role of Louis The Lion on YTV's The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon
(1995). He also had a cameo appearance as a casino pit boss in the movie Rush Hour 2
.
In 2000 Rubinek played Detective Saul Panzer in The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery
, the series pilot for the 2001-2002 A&E TV series A Nero Wolfe Mystery
, in which he would subsequently play the recurring role of reporter Lon Cohen. In 2005 he appeared in the short-lived American television series Blind Justice, and has appeared in the supporting role of Hastings Hathaway in the Jesse Stone series of TV movies from 2006 to 2011. His single-episode guest appearances during the 2000s include two 2004 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm
, the "Adrift
" episode in the beginning of Lost
s second season in 2005, the 2006 "Invincible" episode of Eureka
, "The Washingtonians", a 2007 episode of the TV series Masters of Horror
, and a 2008 episode of the TV series Psych
. That same year he guest-starred as Victor Dubenich, the antagonist
in the pilot episode of Leverage
.
In 2005 he directed the independent film, Cruel But Necessary
. The following year he appeared in a supporting role in the 2009 Canadian feature comedy The Trotsky
.
Rubinek currently stars in the Syfy
series Warehouse 13
as Arthur "Artie" Nielsen
, a covert agent employed by a secretive council to recover mystical artifacts with his team.
Rubinek's first play, Terrible Advice premiered in September 2011 at the Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre in London, starring Scott Bakula
, Sharon Horgan
, Andy Nyman
and Caroline Quentin
.
Early life
Rubinek was born in FöhrenwaldFöhrenwald
The Föhrenwald DP camp was one of the largest in post-World War II Europe and the last to close . It was located in the section now known as Waldram in Wolfratshausen in Bavaria, Germany....
, Wolfratshausen
Wolfratshausen
Wolfratshausen is a town of the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, located in Bavaria, Germany. The town had a population of 17,118 as of 31 December 2003.-History:...
, Germany, the son of Polish Jews Frania and Israel Rubinek, who was a factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
worker, theater company manager
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
, Yiddish Theatre
Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, and Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
ic scholar. Rubinek's parents were hidden by farmers for over two years during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1948.
Career
Early in his career Rubinek gained the attention of Canadian audiences when he starred as detective Benny Cooperman in two TV movies, The Suicide Murders (1985) and Murder Sees the Light (1986), which are based on books in author Howard EngelHoward Engel
Howard Engel CM is a Canadian mystery writer and CBC producer who resides in Toronto, Ontario. He is well known to Canadian readers for his series of Benny Cooperman detective novels, set in the Niagara Region in and around the city of Grantham, Ontario...
's popular series of mystery novels set in the Niagara Region
Regional Municipality of Niagara, Ontario
The Regional Municipality of Niagara , also known as the Niagara Region, or, colloquially, "Regional Niagara", is a regional municipality comprising twelve municipalities of Southern Ontario, Canada....
of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. In another TV movie, Liberace: Behind the Music
Liberace: Behind the Music
Liberace: Behind the Music is a 1988 Kushner-Locke Company television production. It is an "unofficial" biopic drama on the life and death of Wladziu Valentino Liberace, who went from a humble working-class background to become a famous American pianist and vocalist...
(1988), he played Seymour Heller
Seymour Heller
Seymour Heller was an American talent agent and artist's manager for over 60 years. He specialized in musical variety entertainers...
, the long-time friend and manager of Liberace
Liberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
.
Rubinek appeared in Taylor Hackford
Taylor Hackford
Taylor Edwin Hackford is an American film director, and the current president of the Directors Guild of America.-Early life:Hackford was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Mary , a waitress, and Joseph Hackford...
's Against All Odds (1984), Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's Wall Street (1987) as a lawyer, and in Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
's The Bonfire of the Vanities
The Bonfire of the Vanities (film)
The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1990 American film adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe. The film was directed by Brian De Palma and stars Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy, Bruce Willis as Peter Fallow, Melanie Griffith as Maria Ruskin, and Kim Cattrall as Judy McCoy,...
(1990), again as a lawyer, and in The Quarrel
The Quarrel
The Quarrel is a 1991 Canadian film directed by Eli Cohen and starring Saul Rubinek and R. H. Thomson. The film was written by David Brandes and Joseph Telushkin.- Summary :...
(1991). He is also noted for his performance in Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
's Unforgiven
Unforgiven
Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
(1992) as a pulp fiction
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
writer. He had a notable role in Tony Scott
Tony Scott
Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable...
's True Romance
True Romance
True Romance is a 1993 American romance crime film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. The film stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette with an ensemble cast consisting of Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin...
(1993) as a pompous, cocaine-addicted movie producer. He also co-starred in the 1993
1993 in television
The year 1993 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1993.For the American TV schedule, see: 1993-94 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
made-for-television docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
And the Band Played On
And the Band Played On
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is a nonfiction book written by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts, published in 1987...
as Dr. Jim Curran. Rubinek played the character Kivas Fajo in the Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
episode "The Most Toys". Rubinek, an ardent Star Trek fan, abruptly took over the part after David Rappaport
David Rappaport
David Stephen Rappaport was an English actor, probably one of the best known dwarf actors in television and film...
, the actor who was originally cast in the role, attempted suicide shortly after filming of the episode had begun. Rappaport subsequently succeeded in committing suicide just after the episode premiered. Another science fiction role portrayed by Rubinek was as a documentary film director named Emmett Bregman, on the seventh season of the Canadian
Canadian science fiction television
-History of science fiction television in Canada:Science fiction in Canada was produced by the CBC in its early years, notably the series Space Command . Actors such as James Doohan and William Shatner first appeared on Canadian television, before finding success in the United States. In the 1970s,...
-American
U.S. television science fiction
U.S. television science fiction is a popular genre of television in the United States that has produced many of the best-known and most popular science fiction shows in the world. Most famous of all, and one of the most influential science-fiction series in history, is the iconic Star Trek and its...
military science fiction
Military science fiction
Military science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction in which the principal characters are members of a military service and an armed conflict is taking place, normally in space, or on a planet other than Earth...
television series Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
, in a two-part episode called "Heroes, Parts 1 & 2
Heroes (Stargate SG-1)
"Heroes" are episodes from Season 7 of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. This two-parter was nominated for a Hugo Award in the category Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form. For Part 2, which aired as the 150th episode of the series, Andy Mikita was nominated for a Leo Award...
". He also played Donny Douglas (Daphne Moon's fiancé and Niles Crane's divorce lawyer) in several episodes of the American sitcom Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
. He appeared, in different roles, in two episodes of the 1995 revival of The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that originally aired on Showtime,the Sci Fi Channel and in syndication between 1995 and 2002...
. He played the role of Louis The Lion on YTV's The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon
The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon
The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon is a children's television series which aired in Canada on YTV and the United States on public television stations, through Tampa, Florida PBS member station WEDU. The show ran for four seasons from 1993 to 1997. It was a live-action show incorporating actors,...
(1995). He also had a cameo appearance as a casino pit boss in the movie Rush Hour 2
Rush Hour 2
Rush Hour 2 is a 2001 martial arts action comedy film. This is the second installment in the Rush Hour film series. A sequel to the 1998 film Rush Hour, the film stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker who respectively reprise their roles as Inspector Lee and Los Angeles police detective James Carter...
.
In 2000 Rubinek played Detective Saul Panzer in The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery
The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery
The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a made-for-television film based on the 1953 novel by Rex Stout. Set in 1950s Manhattan, the A&E Network production stars Maury Chaykin as the heavyweight detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Timothy Hutton as Wolfe's assistant, Archie Goodwin, narrator of...
, the series pilot for the 2001-2002 A&E TV series A Nero Wolfe Mystery
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's classic series of detective stories that aired for two seasons on the A&E Network. Set in New York City in the early 1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin...
, in which he would subsequently play the recurring role of reporter Lon Cohen. In 2005 he appeared in the short-lived American television series Blind Justice, and has appeared in the supporting role of Hastings Hathaway in the Jesse Stone series of TV movies from 2006 to 2011. His single-episode guest appearances during the 2000s include two 2004 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
, the "Adrift
Adrift (Lost)
"Adrift" is the second episode of the second season of Lost and the 27th episode overall. The episode was directed by Stephen Williams and written by Steven Maeda and Leonard Dick. It first aired on September 28, 2005 on the American Broadcasting Company. In the episode, flashbacks depict Michael...
" episode in the beginning of Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
s second season in 2005, the 2006 "Invincible" episode of Eureka
Eureka (TV series)
Eureka is an American science fiction television series that premiered on Syfy on July 18, 2006. Since then four seasons have aired, and a fifth is currently being filmed. The second half of season 4 began on SyFy on July 11, 2011 and ended on September 19, 2011...
, "The Washingtonians", a 2007 episode of the TV series Masters of Horror
Masters of Horror
Masters of Horror is an informal social group of international film writers and directors specializing in horror movies and an American television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network.- Origin :...
, and a 2008 episode of the TV series Psych
Psych
Psych is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks and broadcast on USA Network. It stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened observational skills" and impressive detective instincts...
. That same year he guest-starred as Victor Dubenich, the antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
in the pilot episode of Leverage
Leverage (TV series)
Leverage is an American television drama series on TNT that premiered in December 2008. The series is produced by director/executive producer Dean Devlin's production company Electric Television...
.
In 2005 he directed the independent film, Cruel But Necessary
Cruel But Necessary
Cruel But Necessary is a 2005 independent film directed by Canadian actor/director Saul Rubinek. Actress, Wendel Meldrum, took a turn as a screenwriter for this project. Meldrum stars in the film as Betty Munson, a woman struggling to put her life back together after her marriage falls apart...
. The following year he appeared in a supporting role in the 2009 Canadian feature comedy The Trotsky
The Trotsky
The Trotsky is a 2009 Canadian comedy film directed by Jacob Tierney.-Plot:Montreal West high school student Leon Bronstein believes that he is the reborn incarnation of Marxist/Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky. Shortly after he starts to work in his family's clothing factory, he attempts to unionize...
.
Rubinek currently stars in the Syfy
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
series Warehouse 13
Warehouse 13
Warehouse 13 is an American fantasy television series that premiered on July 7, 2009 on the Syfy network.Executive-produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins, the dramatic comedy from Universal Media Studios has been described as borrowing much from 1980s television series Friday the 13th: The...
as Arthur "Artie" Nielsen
Arthur "Artie" Nielsen
Agent Arthur "Artie" Nielsen is a fictional character on the US television series, Warehouse 13 , portrayed by Saul Rubinek...
, a covert agent employed by a secretive council to recover mystical artifacts with his team.
Rubinek's first play, Terrible Advice premiered in September 2011 at the Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre in London, starring Scott Bakula
Scott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...
, Sharon Horgan
Sharon Horgan
Sharon Horgan is an Irish actress, writer and comedienne.Horgan was born in London and moved to Dublin at age seven. She grew up in Bellewstown, Co. Meath, Ireland. She went to school in the Sacred Heart Secondary School in Drogheda. Later she went on to an English degree at Brunel University...
, Andy Nyman
Andy Nyman
Andy Nyman is an English actor and magician.Nyman first came to note with his performance as a hard nosed director in Musical! and then as Keith Whitehead in the cult film of the Martin Amis novel, Dead Babies...
and Caroline Quentin
Caroline Quentin
Caroline Jones known by her stage name Caroline Quentin, is an English actress. Quentin became known for her television appearances in Men Behaving Badly, playing Dorothy, and playing Maddy Magellan in Jonathan Creek for three years.-Early life:...
.
Awards
- 1982 Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting RoleGenie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting RoleThe Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best supporting Canadian actor.-1st Genie Awards:* Gordon Pinsent, Jack London's Klondike Fever...
, for role in film Ticket to HeavenTicket to HeavenTicket to Heaven is a 1981 Canadian film about the recruiting of a man into a group portrayed to be a cult, and his life in the group until forcibly extracted by his family and friends. The film was directed by Ralph L. Thomas...
.
Director
- Jerry and Tom (1998)
- Club Land (TV 2001)
- Bleacher Bums (TV 2001) aka The Cheap Seats (Australian release video title)
- Cruel But Necessary (2005)
External links
- "Actor to speak at Holocaust Education Week"; Frances Kraft, Canadian Jewish News, November 1, 2008
- "A simple act of kindness saved lives"; Leslie Scrivener, Toronto StarToronto StarThe Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, December 20, 2009 - "Menier Chocolate Factory:Terrible-Advice"