Abraham Benrubi
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Abraham Rubin Hercules Benrubi (born October 4, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his appearances as Jerry Markovic on the long-running medical
television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...
'' ER'', for his first role as Larry Kubiac on the series '' Parker Lewis Can't Lose'', Dennis in '' Without a Paddle'', and for his
voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animated, off-stage, off-sc ...
on the
Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
claymation Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine cl ...
series ''
Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animation, adult stop motion, stop-motion animated sketch comedy television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The twelve-minute ...
'' as well as numerous video games including many in the ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...
'' series.


Early life and education

Benrubi was born on October 4, 1969, in
Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, the eldest son of Patricia and Asher Benrubi, known professionally as Adam Smasher or "The Smash", who was the lead singer of Roadmaster and a radio personality in St. Louis. His paternal grandfather was from a Greek Jewish family. His paternal grandmother, who was born to a
Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
family, helped shelter Jews in Greece during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and later
converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...
. Benrubi graduated from Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis.


Career

Benrubi's early appearances included roles in the shows ''
Growing Pains ''Growing Pains'' is an American television sitcom created by Neal Marlens that ran on ABC for seven seasons from September 24, 1985, to April 25, 1992. The series follows the misadventures of the Seaver family, including psychiatrist and fathe ...
'', '' Married... with Children'' and ''
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''. His first major role was on the show '' Wings'', as Roy "R.J." Biggins, Jr., Roy's gay son. He would appear as R.J. twice: once during the show's second season, and again during the seventh season, shortly after he began working on NBC's '' ER''. Benrubi portrayed a young Dan Conner, the character portrayed by
John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received List of awards and nominations received by John Goodman, various acc ...
, in a flashback episode of ''
Roseanne ''Roseanne'' is an American television sitcom created by Matt Williams (producer), Matt Williams that originally aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May ...
''. Benrubi appeared on ER from its first season, playing desk clerk Jerry Markovic. He was a regular cast member from 1994 to 1999; again from 2002 to 2006; and again from 2008 to 2009. Benrubi starred as one of the main characters in ABC's show '' Men in Trees'' (2006 to 2008), playing bartender/millionaire Ben Tomasson. This was a role where he got noticeably more main dialog and depth than with his previous longtime characters on ''ER'' and ''Parker Lewis Can't Lose'', where he played a more supporting role. Ben Tomasson was described as "the cuddliest TV character since
Jorge Garcia Jorge Garcia (born April 28, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show '' Becker'', but subsequently became best known for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurl ...
's Hurley on '' Lost''" by TV-critic David Bianculli. Following the cancellation of '' Men In Trees'' in early 2007, Benrubi returned to the cast of '' ER'' in late 2008 for the show's final season. Benrubi starred in the short-lived ABC show, '' Happy Town'' (April to June 2010) where he portrayed the part of Big Dave Duncan. Almost immediately after ABC announced the series' cancellation, he appeared in a new show '' Memphis Beat'', where he portrayed the part of police Sgt. Jody "JC" Lightfoot, a desk sergeant who is 1/16
Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...
by a distant relative, but chooses to embrace Native American culture all the same. In May 2011, it was announced that he would star in '' Glutton'', a "3D psychological thriller" directed by David Arquette. Benrubi would have played Jethro, a 1,200-pound man, forced to save his sister's life. Jethro's sister would have been portrayed by
Patricia Arquette Patricia Arquette (; born April 8, 1968) is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in ''A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' (1987) and has since received several awards, including an Academy Award, two P ...
, while Kacey Barnfield would have also starred as his blind neighbor and only friend. Benrubi is a member of Los Angeles' Sacred Fools Theater Company. Other work includes portraying Mose in the 2003 western '' Open Range'', a role the actor won because he had been cut out of director
Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Costner, various accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primeti ...
's previous film, ''
The Postman ''The Postman'' is a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction novel by David Brin. It is about a man wandering the desolate Oregon countryside who finds a United States Postal Service uniform, which h ...
''. He frequently voices characters on
Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
's stop-motion animation show ''
Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animation, adult stop motion, stop-motion animated sketch comedy television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The twelve-minute ...
'' (created by personal friend Seth Green), and has also contributed to a second show from ''Chicken's'' creators, '' Titan Maximum.''


Filmography


Film


Television


Video games


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benrubi, Abraham 1969 births Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American male video game actors American people of Greek descent American people of Greek-Jewish descent Jewish American male actors Male actors from Indianapolis 21st-century American Jews