Early life

Rubinstein was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Polish parents. His mother, Aniela (née Młynarska), a dancer and writer, was a Roman Catholic native of Warsaw, the daughter of conductor Emil Młynarski. His father was Polish-born Jewish concert pianist Arthur Rubinstein. He attended El Rodeo Public School in Beverly Hills (K-2), Cours La cascade in Paris, France (1954), and St. Bernard's School (3-8) and Collegiate School (9-12) in New York City. He studied theater and music at the University of California, Los Angeles (1964-1967), and later composition at the Juilliard School in New York.

Career

He 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, directed by Mike Nichols, and Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, which earned him a Drama Desk nomination; he replaced William Hurt as Eddie in David Rabe's Hurlyburly, replaced David Dukes in David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, and starred in Getting Away with Murder, by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, directed by Jack O'Brien, and Ragtime, by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty, and Lynn Ahrens. In 2014, he joined the Broadway cast of the hit revival of Pippin, directed by Diane Paulus, this time playing Pippin's father, Charlemagne; and subsequently repeated that role on the national tour throughout the United States and Japan in 2014-15.

In 1987, he made his off-Broadway debut at the Roundabout Theater as Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, with Stephen Lang and John Wood, and subsequently performed in Urban Blight and Cabaret Verboten. In 2005, he received the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Lead Actor in a Play, as well as nominations for both the Outer Critics' and Drama League Awards, for his portrayal of George Simon in Elmer Rice's Counsellor at Law.

His appearances in regional theaters include the musicals Camelot (at various times as "Tom of Warwick", "Mordred" and "King Arthur") and South Pacific; the role of "Billy" in David Rabe's Streamers, "Ariel" in The Tempest, "Marchbanks" in Shaw's Candida, both Sergius and Bluntschli (alternating nights with Richard Thomas) in Shaw's Arms And The Man, several roles in Arnold Weinstein's Metamorphoses, directed by Paul Sills at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Sight Unseen at L.A.'s Odyssey Theatre, The Torch-Bearers, and Our Town at the Williamstown Theater Festival, Arthur Miller's Broken Glass at Monterey Peninsula College, and Warren Smith in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

In 1985 he starred in Merrily We Roll Along at the La Jolla Playhouse, in a version newly re-written by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, directed by James Lapine. He was the original Andrew Ladd III in A.R. Gurney's Love Letters at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, opened the play in New York off-Broadway, and later performed it on Broadway, in San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and on the QE II. He created the role of Molina in Kiss Of The Spider Woman, and the role of Kenneth Hoyle in Jon Robin Baitz's Three Hotels. In 1997, he played Tateh in the American premiere run of the musical Ragtime, by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty, and Lynn Ahrens, at the Shubert Theater, Los Angeles, receiving both an L. A. Drama Critics Circle nomination and a Drama-Logue Award as Best Actor in a Musical, and continued in the show both in Vancouver and on Broadway. He appeared opposite Donald Sutherland in Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's Enigmatic Variations at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, and at the Savoy Theatre in London's West End. He played the Wizard of Oz in Wicked at the Pantages Theatre for 18 months; and co-starred in the world premiere of the musical version of the film Grumpy Old Men at the Manitoba Theatre Centre.

Rubinstein's feature films include 21 Grams, Red Dragon, Mercy, Another Stakeout, Someone to Watch Over Me, Daniel, The Boys from Brazil, Rome & Jewel, Jekyll, Kid Cop, Getting Straight, Zachariah, The Trouble with Girls, and The Car. Since 1965 he has acted in over 200 television films and series episodes including The American Clock, Mrs. Harris, Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, The Sleepwalker, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, Movieola and Roots: The Next Generations.

He received an Emmy Award nomination for his portrayal of Jeff Maitland III in the ABC series Family, a role he played over five years; and he starred for two years with Jack Warden in the CBS series Crazy Like A Fox. He has played recurring parts on The Fosters, The Mentalist, Desperate Housewives, Parenthood, No Ordinary Family, Greek, The Wizards of Waverly Place, Dirty Sexy Money, Day Break, The Practice, Star Trek: Enterprise, The Young and the Restless, and Barbershop.

In 1987, Rubinstein made his directorial debut at the Williamstown Theater Festival, staging Aphra Behn's "The Rover", with Christopher Reeve and Kate Burton; the following season he directed the first American-cast production of Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Off-Broadway, he directed the New York premieres of Phantasie (by Sybille Pearson) and Nightingale (by Elizabeth Diggs), and the world premiere of A.R. Gurney's The Old Boy. At the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts, he staged Wait Until Dark. For NYU, he directed productions of The Three Sisters and Macbeth; for UCLA, Company; and for USC, Brigadoon, Into The Woods, On The Town, City of Angels, The Most Happy Fella, and Grand Hotel.

In Los Angeles, at Interact Theatre Company, of which he has been a member since 1992, he co-directed and starred in the revival of Elmer Rice's Counsellor at Law, winning the Dramalogue and L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards in both categories, as well as Ovation Awards for Ensemble Acting and Sound Design; the production itself won 22 awards; he also directed and acted in Sondheim and Lapine's Into The Woods and A Little Night Music, and in Meredith Willson's The Music Man. He also directed Sheridan's The Rivals and Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls. For television, he directed A Matter Of Conscience, which won the Emmy Award for Best Children's Special in 1990. He currently teaches a course in musical theater audition techniques at the University of Southern California, and directs their spring musicals.

In 2011, he provided commentary for the online broadcasting of the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition, a classical music competition held in Moscow, Russia. Twice, in 2013 and 2015, Rubinstein appeared in a performance of The Defiant Requiem at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center.

Family

John Rubinstein is the father of five children: Jessica Katz, Michael, Peter, Jacob, and Max.

Acting filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1967	Dragnet	Paul Whidden	Episode: The Grenade
	The Virginian	Billy Simmons	Episode: The Deadly Past
	Ironside	2nd Hippie	Episode: The Leaf in the Forest
1969	The Trouble with Girls	Princeton
	Room 222	Martin Kaufman	Episode: The Flu
1970	The Bold Ones: The Protectors	Private Kelley	Episode: A Thing Not of God
	Getting Straight	Herbert
	The Young Lawyers	Dan Fulton	Episode: We May Be Better Strangers
	The Psychiatrist: God Bless the Children	Teddy, the Student Addict	TV film
1971	Matt Lincoln	Christopher	Episode: Christopher
	Zachariah	Zachariah
	Men at Law	Ron Martin	Episode: Hostage
	Nichols	Fred Buckerman	Episode: Paper Badge
	The Psychiatrist	Randell File	Episode: Ex-Sgt. Randell File, U.S.A.
	The Sandpit Generals	Professor
	The Mod Squad	Larry Wheeler	Episode: Survival
	A Howling in the Woods	Justin Conway	TV film
1972	Something Evil	Ernest Lincoln	TV film
	Cannon	Larry Bolinger	Episode: A Deadly Quiet Town
	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Matt, Jr.	Episode: You Certainly Are a Big Boy
1972, 1977	The Streets of San Francisco	Lindy/Walter J. Young	2 episodes
	Hawaii Five-O	Harold/Joey Kalima	2 episodes
1975	All Together Now	Bill Lindsay	TV film
	Police Woman	Tommy Donlevy	Episode: Glitter with a Bullet
	Mr. & Ms. and the Magic Studio Mystery	David	TV film
	Wide World Mystery	David	Episode: Mr. & Mrs. and the Bandstand Mystery
1975-1976	Harry O	Jack Dawes/Richard Trask	2 episodes
	Barnaby Jones	Chris Garrison/Larry Christopher	2 episodes
1976	The Quest: The Longest Drive	Wakely	TV film
	Barbary Coast	Garrison	Episode: The Dawson Marker
	The Rookies	Dr. Richard Komansky	Episode: The Mugging
	The Quest	Wakely	2 episodes
1976-1980	Family	Jeff Maitland	12 episodes
1977	The Car	John Morris
	Corey: For the People	Dan Corey	TV film
	Lou Grant	Andrew Martin	Episode: Hostages
	What Really Happened to the Class of '65?	Jaik	Episode: The Girl Nobody Knew
	The New Adventures of Wonder Woman	Major Dexter	Episode: The Deadly Toys
1978	Happily Ever After	Richy	TV film
	The Boys from Brazil	David Bennett
1978-1987	The Love Boat	George Allison/Jack Forbes/Allan Davis	4 episodes
1979	Vega$	Vance Spilroy	Episode: Best Friends
	Roots: The Next Generations	Lieutenant Hamilton Ten Eyck	TV mini-series
	In Search of Historic Jesus	Jesus
	The French Atlantic Affair	Herb Kleinfeld	TV mini-series
	She's Dressed to Kill	Alan Lenz	TV film
1979, 1984	Fantasy Island	Johnny Court/Donald King	2 episodes
1980	Make Me an Offer	Dr. Max Westcott	TV film
	The Silent Lovers	Irving Thalberg	TV film
1981	Killjoy	Dr. Paul Trenton	TV film
	Skokie	Herb Lewisohn	TV film
1982	Freedom to Speak	William Lloyd Garrison/Patrick Henry/Charles Lindbergh/Rabbi Stephen Wise	TV mini-series
	Quincy M.E.	Dr. Walter Ross	Episode: Unreasonable Doubt
1983	I Take These Men	David Koenig	TV film
	Trapper John, M.D.	Hank Palmer	Episode: Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow
	M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers	Steve White	TV film
	Daniel	Robert Lewin
	Emerald Point N.A.S.	Lt. Cmdr. Edwards	3 episodes
1984	The Paper Chase	Professor Wendell Peterson	Episode: Judgement Day
1984-1986	Crazy Like a Fox	Harrison Fox	19 episodes
1987	The Two Mrs. Grenvilles	Bratsie Bleeker	TV film
	Still Crazy Like a Fox	Harrison Fox, Jr.	TV film
	Jake and the Fatman	Brent Moore	Episode: Happy Days Are Here Again
	Someone to Watch Over Me	Neil Steinhart
1988	Highway to Heaven	Matthew	Episode: Time in a Bottle
	Hotel	Cliff Phillips	Episode: Aftershocks
	Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun	Arthur Kane	TV film
	Sam Found Out: A Triple Play	Johnny	TV film
	Liberace	Jamie	TV film
	Matlock	Carl Benedict/Dr.Douglas Clark	4 episodes
1990	Voices Within: The Lives of Truddi Chase	Norman De Roin	TV mini-series
1991	Father Dowling Mysteries	Tim	Episode: The Prodigal Son Mystery
1992	In My Daughter's Name	Ban Worrall	TV film
	Murder, She Wrote	George Foster	Episode: The Classic Murder
1993	Another Stakeout	Thomas Hassrick, Las Vegas District Attorney
	The American Clock	Moe Baumler	TV film
	Frasier	Phillip Hayson	Episode: The Crucible
	Against the Grain	Mr. O’Brien	Episode: E Pluribus Unum
1994	RoboCop	Chip Chayken	4 episodes
	NYPD Blue	Mr. Bernstein	Episode: Double Abandando
1994, 1996	Diagnosis: Murder	Thomas Taylor/Peter Trent	2 episodes
1994, 1997	Party of Five	Walter Alcott	2 episodes
1995	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Emmet Vale	Episode: Metallo
	Star Trek: Voyager	John Evansville	Episode: The 37s
	Mercy	Frank Kramer
1996	Norma Jean & Marilyn	Darryl F. Zanuck	TV film
	Superman	Peterson	Episode: A Little Piece of Home
	Early Edition	Marcus	Episode: The Choice
	Kid Cop	Stan Dwerkin	Straight-to-video
1997	ER	Dr. Kenner	Episode: Night Shift
	The Sleepwalker Killing	Dr. Frank Corrigan	TV film
1998	The Practice	Judge Joseph Papp	3 episodes
2000	Perfect Murder, Perfect Town	Rev. Hoverstock	TV film
	Family Law	Garwicz	Episode: Family Values
2001	Boston Public	Judge Joseph Papp	Episode: Chapter Thirteen
	The West Wing	Sen. Andy Ritter	Episode: 18th and Potomac
	Gideon's Crossing	Larry Palmer	Episode: Clinical Enigma
2001-2002	Angel	Linwood Murrow	6 episodes
2002	Judging Amy	James Pierpoint	Episode: Can They Do That with Vegetables?
	The District	George Wilson	Episode: Wasteland
	She Spies	Senator Thomas Jefferson Mitchell	Episode: First Episode
	Red Dragon	Dinner Guest
	The Guardian	Sen. Nathan Caldwell	4 episodes
2002, 2004	Star Trek: Enterprise	Mazarite Captain/Minister Kuvak	3 episodes
2003	Without a Trace	Dr. Feldman	Episode: Underground Railroad
	Kôkaku kidôtai: Stand Alone Complex	Ernest Serano	Episode: Stand Alone Complex
	Charmed	Dr. Berenson	Episode: Cat House
	24	Secretary of State	2 episodes
	The Division	Doctor Bertman	Episode: Diagnosis
	21 Grams	Gynecologist
	The Lyon's Den	Mr. Woodard	Episode: The Other Side of Caution
	Strong Medicine	Lyle LaCouer	Episode: Prescriptions
	NCIS	CIA Director Bob	Episode: Marine Down
2004	Becker	Dickie	Episode: Subway Story
	The Parkers	Jonathan	Episode: She's Positive
	Friends	The Doctor	2 episodes
2005	Amber Frey: Witness for the Prosecution	Mark Geragos	TV film
	The Closer	Dr. Brown	Episode: Pilot
	Jane Doe: The Wrong Face	Phil Raphaelson	TV film
	Mrs. Harris	Tarnower's Best Friend	TV film
	Barbershop	Nicholas Kane	3 episodes
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Judge Schuyler	Episode: Raw
	House M.D.	Dr. Ayersman	Episode: The Mistake
2006	Law & Order	Mr. Thurber	Episode: Heart of Darkness
	Related	Dr. Shapiro	Episode: The Godmother
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Judge Crawford	Episode: The Unusual Suspect
	Cold Case	Rafe Gray	Episode: Willkommen
	Criminal Minds	Hayden Rawlings	Episode: P911
	Shark	Lance Horning	Episode: Russo
	Girlfriends	Dr. Wulfberg	3 episodes
2006-2007	Day Break	Barry Colburn	5 episodes
2007	Sublime	Dr. Lichterhand	Straight-to-video film
	Choose Connor	Cary Evor
	Jekyll	Daniel Carew
2008	Seducing Spirits	Dr. Ron Huffman
	Sweet Nothing in My Ear	Dr. Flynt	(uncredited)
	The Delivery	Lance/The Mad Hatter
	Eli Stone	Damon Smalls	Episode: The Humanitarian
	Rome & Jewel	Major Capps
	Dirty Sexy Money	Dr. Zwerling	3 episodes
2009	Supernatural	Charlie	Episode: Criss Angel Is a Douche Bag
	Brothers & Sisters	Dr. Marc Wilson	Episode: Owning It
	Numb3rs	Gene Evans	Episode: Distured
	Hawthorne	Dr. Lee	Episode: No Guts, No Glory
	Greek	Dr. Larsen	2 episodes
2009-2010	The Young and the Restless	Dr. Charles Taylor	12 episodes
2009-2012	Desperate Housewives	Principal Hobson	7 episodes
2011	Wizards of Waverly Place	Gorog	4 episodes
2012	Electric City	Richard "Dick" Jacobs	Web series
2014	Jessie	Ivan	Episode: Spaced Out
2015	The Atticus Institute	Marcus Wheeler

[ Source: Wikipedia ]