Ronen Rubinstein

Ronen Rubinstein born November 7, 1993) is an Israeli-born American actor, writer, director, environmentalist, and activist, best known for his roles as Nathan in the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black and as T.K. Strand in Fox series 9-1-1: Lone Star created by Ryan Murphy. 
He is a survivor of Hurricane Sandy, which led him to climate activism.
== Early life and education ==
Ronen Rubinstein was born in Rehovot, Israel, the son of Russian emigrants from the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. At the age of five, he moved with his parents and older sister to the United States. He grew up in the Staten Island borough of New York City. Speaking in 2016, Rubinstein said he grew up in New York feeling like an outsider, taking English as a Second Language classes, and had difficulty adapting to the American way of life.
A troubled child, battling substance abuse in high school, Rubinstein was introduced to performing arts by his school counselor who suggested he try theater as a form of therapy in his junior year. He was "hooked" immediately after his first play and acting became his "new addiction", giving him "something to latch onto". After attending New Dorp High School, he decided to pursue an acting career and graduated from the New York Film Academy in 2012.
== Career ==
=== Early work ===
At the age of 16, Rubinstein wrote Something In the Way, his first short film he later directed and starred in.
He made his screen debut as a teenage rebel named Gangsta in the 2011 drama film Detachment (film), starring Bryan Cranston, Adrien Brody, and James Caan.
In his senior year of high school, Rubinstein landed a leading role in It Felt Like Love, Eliza Hittman's coming of age film shot in intimate close-ups with minimal dialogue, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. He portrayed Sammy, a tough, misogynistic college boy from a working-class Brooklyn neighborhood, described by the New York Times as "a weed-smoking, pornography-watching bad boy whose contempt for women is as potent as his pheromones". The film received a nomination for best cinematography at the Film Independent Spirit Awards as well as nominations at the Gotham Awards.
In the following year, he appeared in another Sundance Film Festival drama film Jamie Marks Is Dead, starring Cameron Monaghan and Liv Tyler.
===2015–2019===
In 2015, Rubinstein guest starred in episode 10, season 3 of Netflix's most-watched original series Orange Is the New Black, portraying the respectful and caring Nathan, Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett's love interest, which gained him mainstream attention. 
In 2016, he was a series regular as Alex Powell in Freeform (TV channel).
In 2018, he appeared in the role of Mike in Netflix comedy drama Dude (film), alongside Lucy Hale and Awkwafina. The film was Olivia Milch's directional debut. Rubinstein, having worked with several first-time female directors (which he called "an absolute honor"), advocates for gender equality in filmmaking and praised Milch as "a future star director". The film also had a female cinematographer which he called "so rare" because "there is not enough women in the industry".
His other credits include a supporting role in Smartass (2017) opposite Joey King, a lead role in the thriller Smiley Face Killers (2017) based on true events, written by Bret Easton Ellis, a lead role in Less Than Zero, 2019's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's debut novel, and a lead role in the anthology film Bushwick Beats (2019).
=== 2020–present ===
==== 9-1-1: Lone Star ====
In 2020, he starrs as an openly gay firefighter and recovering addict Tyler Kennedy “T.K.” Strand in Ryan Murphy's Fox series 9-1-1: Lone Star, alongside Rob Lowe, who plays Captain Owen Strand, T.K.’s father, and Liv Tyler.
The series has become Fox's most watched new show of 2020 among 18-49 adults and has received acclaim for its interracial gay storyline and diverse characters, such as a hijab-wearing Muslim female firefighter and a black transgender male firefighter (portrayed by the transgender actor Brian Michael Smith).
In a 2020 interview with A BOOK OF, Rubinstein said: "I think people for the first time, at least on network television, are seeing themselves on screen, and they feel represented, and they feel represented in a really positive, lovely, good way." 
He has praised Ryan Murphy and the writers for being "willing to show this on primetime television", and for normalizing a gay relationship by not including a coming out story: "A lot of times you'd see a gay couple on television there's something really dramatic and usually sad involved with it. And this is just like, 'Yeah, this is just normal. This is just how it is'."
The series has been renewed for a second season.
=== Other work ===
Rubinstein starrs in CeCe's music video for "Broke AF" (2017).
In 2018, he appeared as himself in the documentary Tyler Shields: Provocateur. 
== Personal life ==
Rubinstein's first language is Russian.
He has been a fan of Red Hot Chilli Peppers and has expressed his admiration for Harry Styles' work and his "own identity and the way he presents himself."
In March 2020, he officially endorsed Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential race.
In 2020, Rubinstein switched from pescetarianism to veganism.
== Activism ==
=== Climate activism ===
Rubinstein is a survivor of Hurricane Sandy, which led him to become a climate activist. In May 2020, he shared his hurricane survival story, describing how his family, in the dark caused by a power outage, swam through the rising waters that flooded the streets, trying to escape death. "That was the scariest moment of my life," he said, stating that while the hurricane took his home and everything inside it, it took some of his neighbors' lives, and the devastation of the neighborhood lasted for years. With nowhere to live, he stayed on friends' couches and was provided with food and clothing from the Red Cross. 
Rubinstein, who was eighteen years old at that time, has stated that his acting career "will coincide with trying to save the planet". He called it his "mission" to raise awareness for the urgency of environmental issues. He promotes sustainable living and uses his platform and publicity to "open people's minds a little bit about everything and just educate them on what's really happening out there." 
He has been an ambassador for Project Zero, a global movement to protect and restore the ocean, and marched with protesters in the September 2019 climate strikes, the largest global climate protest in world history. He also has supported The Solutions Project and The Ocean Cleanup. In April 2020, he was one of the climate activists who participated in Earth Day Live, a three-day climate mobilization that was streamed online amid the Covid-19 pandemic. In his segment, he highlighted the importance of transitioning from fossil fuel to clean energy by switching to zero-emissions fuel cell electric vehicle , which run on hydrogen and omit only water and heat.
=== Other activism and advocacy ===
Rubinstein has lent his support to No Kid Hungry, Mercy for Animals, Humane Society, Black Lives Matter, and Rebecca Corry's Stand Up for Pits Foundation, working on rescuing and ending the abuse of pit bull dogs.
== Filmography ==
===Film===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
2011 	Detachment 	Gangsta 	
2011 	Katya. 	Insurgent 2 	Short film
2012 	A Promise Is a Promise. 	John 	
2013 	It Felt Like Love 	Sammy 	
2013 	Something In the Way 	James Manning 	Writer, director, editor
2014 	Jamie Marks Is Dead 	Ronnie 	
2015 	Condemned 	Dante 	
2015 	Some Kind of Hate 	Lincoln Taggert	
2017 	Smartass 	Nick 	
2017 	West of Time. 	Son 	Short film
2018 	Dude 	Mike 	
2018 	Tyler Shields: Provocateur	himself 	Documentary
2019 	Less Than Zero 	Trent 	
2019 	Bushwick Beats 	Benny 	Anthology
2020 TBA	Follow Me 	Alexei 	
2020 TBA	Smiley Face Killers 	Jake Graham 	Post-production
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
2015 	Orange Is the New Black	Nathan 	Season 3
2016 	Dead of Summer 	Alex Powell	10 episodes
2020–present	9-1-1: Lone Star 	T.K. Strand	Season 1, 2
=== Music videos ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Performer	
2017	"Broke AF"	boyfriend	CeCe 	
== References ==
Category:1993 births
Category:Activists from New York City
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:Living people
Category:American environmentalists
Category:Israeli male actors
Category:Actors from New York City