Rent and Broadway While performing with
El Barrio USA, Rubin-Vega landed an audition for a new musical written and composed by
Jonathan Larson. The role was for Broadway musical
Rent, and the role was
Mimi Marquez, a nineteen-year-old, HIV-positive heroin addict who works at the Cat Scratch Club as an
exotic dancer. Before landing the role, Rubin-Vega claims that she was not a major fan of musical theater. The struggling actress auditioned for musical director Tim Weil by singing "
Roxanne" by
The Police. She was then handed an original number from the production and told to learn it. She left the cast on April 5, 1997, and was replaced by
Marcy Harriell. Rubin-Vega did not participate in the
film adaptation of Rent, as she was pregnant at the time of the movie's casting and filming. The role subsequently went to
Rosario Dawson. One of her castmates was
Wilson Jermaine Heredia, with whom she also starred in the 1999 film
Flawless. Rubin-Vega has two
Tony Award nominations to her credit:
Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in
Rent, and
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as Conchita in
Anna in the Tropics (2003). She won the
Theatre World Award in 1996 for
Rent. She was also awarded the Blockbuster Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Suspense Thriller for her role in the film
Wild Things. She later appeared in the 2000 Broadway production of
The Rocky Horror Show in the role of Magenta. She continued the role through the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, and in 2005, Rubin-Vega later recounted in an interview with Fox News that the theater had gone from selling out to barely selling any tickets at all: "It went from full house to practically two people." She starred with
Phylicia Rashad in a musical version of
Federico García Lorca's
The House of Bernarda Alba at
Lincoln Center in March 2006. She played the role of
Fantine in the 2006 Broadway revival of the popular musical
Les Misérables beginning November 9. She appeared in a cameo role in the 2008 feature film
Sex and the City. In November 2010, she received an
Independent Spirit Awards nomination, for reprising her role in
the film adaptation of
Jack Goes Boating. She starred Off-Broadway as Yvette in Tommy Nohilly's world premier of
Blood From A Stone at The New Group's Acorn Theater until February 19, 2011. She appeared in the Off-Broadway cast of
Love, Loss, and What I Wore from March 23 to April 24, 2011. Later that year, the feature film
Union Square, co-written and directed by the
Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Award Winner,
Nancy Savoca, premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival. In spring 2012, Rubin-Vega returned to
Broadway in a new revival of
Tennessee Williams'
A Streetcar Named Desire, playing the role of
Stella Kowalski opposite
Blair Underwood as
Stanley. The show opened off-Broadway, in the Newman Theater venue at
The Public Theater, on April 10, 2018, with Rubin-Vega reprising the role. Rubin-Vega performed the lead role in the scripted fiction podcast
The Horror of Dolores Roach, which was released by
Gimlet Media in October 2018. The story, co-starring
Bobby Cannavale as Louis, is a contemporary reimagining of
Sweeney Todd, using
cannibalism as a metaphor for
gentrification.
Dolores Roach is an adaptation of Rubin-Vega's stage performance in the one-woman play
Empanada Loca. Both
Empanada Loca and
Dolores Roach were written by playwright Aaron Mark especially for Rubin-Vega, who said in a
Vulture interview that he "wanted to do a deep dive into a character we haven't seen depicted much in the horror cannon
[sic]." Since 2020, she has played the role of Luisa Lopez, a recurring character, in the television series
Katy Keene on
The CW. In 2021, she played the role of Daniela in
In the Heights, earning praise for her performance from critics. Her involvement with the
original musical dates back to its Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, where she provided the voice of the DJ who opens the show. She also took on the role of
Maria in
Saheem Ali's version of
Twelfth Night; or What You Will through
Shakespeare In The Park.
Music career Rubin-Vegas was credited with being part of the backing vocal choir for
David Bowie's 1986 single "
Underground" from the soundtrack for the movie
Labyrinth. She was the lead singer for the
Latin freestyle girl group
Pajama Party, placing three songs on the
Billboard Hot 100 in 1989 and 1990. As a solo artist her biggest success is on the
Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where in 1996 she hit No. 1 with the song "I Found It." She returned to the top of the dance/club play charts in 2003 with a dance version of
Elton John's "Rocketman". In 2001, she recorded her debut full-length rock album of original songs,
Souvenirs. The album was never officially released after
Mercury Records was purchased by Seagram. After being dropped from her label, Rubin-Vega began gifting copies out to fans, encouraging them to leak it online. The record later saw limited release for the charity Broadway Cares. Rubin-Vega also released her second full-length album of original songs titled
Redemption Songs released in October 2006 on Sh-K Boom Records. == Personal life ==