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 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 on the Adult Swim claymation series Robot Chicken as well as numerous video games including many in the World of Warcraft series.
Early life and education Benrubi was born on October 4, 1969, in Indianapolis, Indiana, 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 Christian family, helped shelter Jews in Greece during World War II and later converted to Judaism.Kelly, Robert. (April 20, 2009). Those who aided Jews honored Many put their lives at stake to conceal Jews from Nazis during Holocaust. COMMMERATION. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved May 5, 2012. Benrubi graduated from Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis.
Career Benrubi's early appearances included roles in the shows Growing Pains, Married... with Children and Blossom. 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, in a flashback episode of Roseanne.
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'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 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, 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's previous film, The Postman. He frequently voices characters on Adult Swim's stop-motion animation show Robot Chicken (created by personal friend Seth Green), and has also contributed to a second show from Chicken's creators, Titan Maximum.
Filmography Film Film Year Title Role Notes 1990 Diving In Rick 1992 Crossing the Bridge Rinny 1993 The Program Bud-Lite Kaminski1994 The Shadow Marine Guard Wagons East Abe Ferguson Credited as Abe Benrubi 1995 Magic Island Duckbone Direct-to-video 1996 Twister Bubba 1997 Talking Dessert Short film1997 George of the Jungle Thor U Turn Biker #1 Under Oath Geoff Carmichael1998 Border to Border Geddy Paretti I Woke Up Early the Day I Died Bouncer The Rugrats Movie Serge Voice; credited as Abe Benrubi 1999 Out in Fifty Spike2001 War Story Eric Short film The Man Who Wasn't There The Man at the Dance 2002 Zig Zag Hector2004 Open Range Mose Without a Paddle Dennis 2005 Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous Lou Steele2006 Wristcutters: A Love Story Erik Charlotte's Web Uncle Voice National Lampoon's TV: The Movie Max Gottlieb 2009 Calvin Marshall Coach Dewey 2010 Venus & Vegas Bruno2012 Shoot'er Punisher Short film Deep Dark Canyon Michael Spencer Ambush at Dark Canyon Garrett Kain2013 Bounty Killer Jimbo A Country Christmas Santa Claus A Night in Old Mexico Big Roscoe Hammil Chance at RomanceJackson My Mother Is Not a Fish Walter Short film String Theory Patsy Glen Noël Tim2014 Ghost Light Harvey #Stuck Bartender Big Hero 6 General Voice Ava & Lala Mr. Bear The Blackout Billy 2015 Little Boy Teacup2016 The Finest Hours George "Tiny" Myers Jessica Darling's It List Mr. Pudel The Belko Experiment Chet Valincourt2017 Heart, Baby Tree Olaf's Frozen Adventure Additional Voices Voice; Short film Like.Share.Follow. Detective Yarden Aileron Trevor Short film 2019 Bliss Abe 2020 The Call of the Wild Skookum Bench King 2022 Christmas Bloody Christmas Santa Claus Strange World Lonnie Redshirt Voice 2023 The Old Way Big Mike2024 Rust Big Bill Cochrane
Television Television Year Title Role Notes 1990 Growing Pains Really Big Kid Episode: "Mike, the Teacher" 1990–1996 Wings Roy "R.J." Biggins Jr. 2 episodes 1990–1993 Parker Lewis Can't Lose Larry Kubiac 66 episodes 1991–1993 Married... with Children Jimmy/Baby 2 episodes1992 Blossom Francis Episode: "Whines and Misdemeanors" Angel Street Pilot episode Roseanne Teenage Dan Episode: "Halloween IV" 1993 Grace Under Fire Mark Episode: "Grace Undergraduate" 1994–2009 ER Jerry Markovic 137 episodes 1995 Out There Roy Television film1998 Sleepwalkers Vincent Konefke Main role Cold Feet Man on the Bus Television film Tempting Fate John Bolladine1999 The X-Files Big Mike Raskin Episode: "Arcadia" A Touch of Hope Dr. Neil Bachman Television film 2000 Dark Angel Break Episode: "Flushed" 2001–2002 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Olaf 2 episodes 2002 Going to California Harvey Episode: "Mixed Doubles"2005 Unscripted Himself Episode 1 pilot Criminal Minds Frank Fielding Episode: "The Fox" 2005–2017 American Dad! Todd and Employee Voice, 2 episodes 2005–2018 Robot Chicken Darth Vader, Optimus Prime, Eeyore, Ving Rhames, Fidel Castro, Dominic Toretto, Cyborg, Bowser, various characters 27 episodes; Sometimes credited as Abe Benrubi; One episode uncredited2006 Pizza Time Bruno Television film Dr. Vegas Star Wars Thug Episode 8: "Heal Thyself 2006-2008 Men in Trees Ben Thomasson Main role 2007 Robot Chicken: Star Wars Darth Vader Voice2008 Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II Darth Vader and Owen Lars 1% Citizen Dave Unaired pilot for an HBO series 2009 Titan Maximum Drill Instructor Episode 6: "Dirty Lansbury"2010 Happy Town Big Dave Duncan 6 episodes Memphis Beat Sgt. JC Lightfoot/Jody 10 episodes Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III Darth Vader and Owen Lars Voice 2011 Team Unicorn The Professor Episode: "Alien Beach Crashers"2012 Community Orderly Episode: "Curriculum Unavailable" Robot Chicken DC Comics Special Cyborg, Kilowog, Appa Ali Apsa, Solomon Grundy Voice Bones Willis McCullum Episode: "The Method in the Madness" Pair of Kings Silver Fox Episode: "Yeti, Set, Snow" Star Wars Detours Additional Voices Voice; Series unaired, hiatus 2012–2013 Brickleberry Mr. Cunaman, Meat-Hammer Voice, 2 episodes2013 Once Upon a Time Arlo Episode: "Tiny" The Garcias Have Landed Admiral Lomax Television film Chance at Romance Jackson 2014–2015 Bosch Rodney Belk 4 episodes2014 Beware the Batman Street Thug Voice, episode: "Fall" The Bridge DEA Agent Joe McKenzie 10 episodes2016 TripTank Chief Voice, episode: "Crime Steve Investigation" Outcast Caleb 3 episodes2017 APB Pete McCann 11 episodes Still the King Leslie Episode: "Who's Your Daddy?" 2019 Chicago Fire Russ LaPointe Episode: "The White Whale" 2020–22 It's Pony George Bramley Voice, recurring role
Video games Video games Year Title Role Notes2001 Mystery Island II Voice Myth III: The Wolf Age 2004 World of Warcraft Additional Voices 2005 ER Jerry Markovic 2012 Skylanders: Giants Additional Voices 2013 Skylanders: Swap Force2014 Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Urzael Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Additional Voices and Monster Vocal Effects2015 Heroes of the Storm Diablo StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void Additional Voices 2016 World of Warcraft: Legion 2018 World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth 2022 World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Voice; Credited as Abe Benrubi
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