Gloria Elizabeth Reuben is a Canadian-American actress, producer, and singer. She is well-known for her role as

Jeanie Boulet Jeanie Boulet is a fictional character from the television series '' ER''. The role was portrayed by Gloria Reuben who debuted as a recurring character in the first season episode, "Long Day's Journey", aired on January 19, 1995. Reuben was promo ...

on the

medical drama A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...

'' ER'' (1995–1999, 2008), for which she was twice nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, and for portraying

Elizabeth Keckley Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (February 1818 – May 1907) was an American seamstress, activist, and writer who lived in Washington, D.C. She was best known as the personal dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. Born into slavery, she was ow ...

in the 2012

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

–winning,

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

–directed film ''

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

''. Additionally, she has been featured in films such as ''

Timecop ''Timecop'' is a 1994 American science fiction action film directed by Peter Hyams and co-written by Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden. Richardson also served as executive producer. The film is based on '' Timecop'', a story created by Richar ...

'' (1994), '' Nick of Time'' (1995), ''

Admission Admission may refer to: Arts and media * "Admissions" (''CSI: NY''), an episode of ''CSI: NY'' * ''Admissions'' (film), a 2011 short film starring James Cromwell * ''Admission'' (film), a 2013 comedy film * ''Admission'', a 2019 album by Florida s ...

'' (2013), and ''

Reasonable Doubt Beyond a reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the balance of probabilities standard commonly used in civil cases, becau ...

'' (2014). She played Krista Gordon on ''

Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociati ...

'' (2015–2019), as well as a recurring character on '' City on a Hill'' (since 2019). She also played Adina Johnson on ''Cloak & Dagger'' from 2018 to 2019.

Early life

Gloria Reuben was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario, to Pearl Avis (Mills), a classical singer, and Cyril George Reuben, an engineer. Her parents are both Jamaican-born. Her father was mostly

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

(with

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

and

Sephardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

roots), though he also had some African ancestry; her mother is of mostly African descent. Her father died when she was young. Reuben was the subject of a segment of

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Ame ...

's television genealogy series ''

Finding Your Roots ''Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'' is a documentary television series hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that premiered on March 25, 2012, on PBS. In each episode, celebrities are presented with a "book of life" that is compiled with ...

''. Reuben grew up one of six children. Her older half-brother,

Denis Simpson Denis Simpson (born Dennis Anthony Leopold Simpson; 4 November 1950 – 22 October 2010) Her younger brother David died in 1988. Reuben details her relationship and experience with the deaths of her brothers in her 2019 memoir ''My Brothers' Keeper.'' Reuben began learning

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

as a child and later studied music technique and theory,

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

the Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher as The Toronto Con ...

Career

Screen acting

Reuben began her career as an actress after having a few jobs as a model and in television advertisements. Reuben came to prominence on the American television series '' ER'' as

, an HIV-positive

physician assistant A physician assistant or physician associate (PA) is a type of Mid-level practitioner, mid-level health care provider. In North America PAs may diagnose illnesses, develop and manage treatment plans, prescribe medications, and may serve as a pri ...

on the hospital's staff. She was a guest star throughout the first season and was promoted to full-time cast member at the beginning of the second. She continued that role until early in the sixth season. In 2008, Reuben returned to ''ER'' for one episode during its 14th season. She has stated that this role led to her HIV/AIDS activism. In 1996, she was chosen by ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

magazine'' as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. Reuben again held a major role in a television series when she starred as FBI agent Brooke Haslett in ''

1-800-Missing ''Missing'' (originally titled ''1-800-Missing'') is a Canadian crime drama television series based on the ''1-800-WHERE-R-YOU'' book series by Meg Cabot. The series aired on the A network and W Network in Canada, and on Lifetime in the United ...

'' (2003–2004). She later starred as Rosalind Whitman in the

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

series '' Raising the Bar''. Reuben guest-starred in the season two finale of ''

Drop Dead Diva ''Drop Dead Diva'' is an American legal comedy-drama/fantasy television series that aired on Lifetime from July 12, 2009, to June 22, 2014. The series was created by Josh Berman and produced by Sony Pictures Television. It stars Brooke Elliott ...

'' as Professor Kathy Miller. Reuben guest-starred in season 12 of NBC's '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', reprising her role as U.S. Attorney Christine Danielson. In 2012, she appeared in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

TV movie '' Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt''. In 2012, Reuben played

in the historical drama film ''

'' and her portrayal of the character received critical praise. In 2013, she guest starred on the sci-fi drama series ''

Falling Skies ''Falling Skies'' is an American science fiction television series set in a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic era, created by Robert Rodat and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, executive produced by Steve ...

''. In October 2014, it was announced that Reuben had joined the cast of the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

series ''

''. Reuben plays Dr. Krista Gordon, the

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

of the show's unstable main character, Elliott. The show premiered on in June 2015. She acted in all four seasons of the show. At first a recurring role, Reuben's character was upgraded to a season regular for the fourth and final season. In 2017, Reuben was cast as Adina Johnson, mother of Tyrone Johnson, in the series '' Cloak & Dagger''.

Stage acting

In 1999, Reuben acted in an

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

production of ''

The Vagina Monologues ''The Vagina Monologues'' is an episodic play written in 1996 by Eve Ensler which developed and premiered at HERE Arts Center, Off-Off-Broadway in New York and was followed by an Off-Broadway run in at Westside Theatre. The play explores cons ...

''. In 2006, she starred as Condoleezza Rice in the play ''Stuff Happens'' at

the Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

. The following year, she won the

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatre ...

for Outstanding Lead Actress, the preeminent honour for off-Broadway productions, for her portrayal. In 2008, she returned to the Public Theater for ''Conversations in Tusculum.''

Music

In 2000, Reuben sang

backup vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

for

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

on her

Twenty Four Seven Tour Twenty Four Seven Tour (also known as the Twenty Four Seven Millennium Tour and 24/7 World Tour) is the tenth concert tour by singer Tina Turner. The tour promoted her final studio album ''Twenty Four Seven'' (1999). It was reported that the t ...

. Reuben is a regularly performing jazz singer and pianist. She released her first record, ''Just for You'', in December 2007. Her second album, ''Perchance to Dream'', was released in April 2015; it was her first jazz record. Her latest album, ''For All We Know'', was released on February 14th 2020 on the MCG Jazz recording label, where she is accompanied by guitarist and Grammy winning producer Marty Ashby. She performed all around New York City in the fourth quarter of 2019 to promote her upcoming record.

Author

On November 19, 2019, Reuben released a memoir, ''My Brothers' Keeper'', detailing her journey and an exploration of the life she shared with her two brothers, as well as her emotions and experiences after their sudden deaths.

Personal life

Reuben lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York.

Activism

Reuben is a committed social activist. In large part due to her role as an HIV-positive character in ''ER'', she continues to raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS pandemic, lobbying for increased advocacy and speaking at several major fundraising events. She also takes great interest in global issues, predominantly climate change, nature, and human rights. Gloria Reuben is the president of

Waterkeeper Alliance Waterkeeper Alliance is a worldwide network of environmental organizations founded in 1999 in response to a growing movement of organizations with such names as Riverkeeper, Baykeeper and Soundkeeper. By December 2019, the group said it had gro ...

, an organization that strengthens and grows a global network of grassroots leaders protecting everyone’s right to clean water. She is also a special adviser on climate change for

The Climate Reality Project The Climate Reality Project is a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change. The Climate Reality Project came into being in July 2011 as the consolidation of two environmental groups, the Alliance for Cli ...

, former United States vice president

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

's environmental organization. She was formerly on the board for the

National Wildlife Federation The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the United States' largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization, with over six million members and supporters, and 51 state and territorial affiliated organizations (includin ...

. Reuben is also on the Leadership Council for the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

* *
''BroadwayWorld.com'' interview with Gloria Reuben, June 15, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reuben, Gloria 20th-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Black Canadian women singers Living people Actresses from Toronto Canadian film actresses Canadian television actresses Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States Musicians from Toronto Canadian people of Jamaican descent Canadian people of Jewish descent The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni Black Canadian actresses Jewish Canadian actresses Jewish Canadian musicians Black Jewish people Year of birth missing (living people)