Daphne Rubin-Vega wrapped her Broadway debut in Rent in 1997 at age 28, portraying Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive heroin addict and exotic dancer. Rent, created by Jonathan Larson, drew a devoted following of "Rentheads" and portrayed young artists in the East Village during the HIV/AIDS crisis; Larson died the night before the first off-Broadway preview. Rubin-Vega earned a Tony nomination and developed a screen and stage career with credits including Smash, Jack Goes Boating, and a recent arc on Only Murders in the Building. Rubin-Vega now appears as Maria in Twelfth Night at the Public Theater's Delacorte Theatre, which reopened after an $85 million renovation with a star-studded cast.
In 1997, Daphne Rubin-Vega had just wrapped her Broadway debut in Rent, the groundbreaking rock musical that inspired a generation of theatergoers and sparked a devoted following of "Rentheads." The then-28-year-old actor, who was grappling with sudden fame, was also beginning to come into her own. "I was learning to become more fully what people call authentic," says Rubin-Vega, 55. "Sometimes the word is so overused, it no longer means what it's meant to mean. But I was becoming more fully myself."
The show, created by the late Jonathan Larson, who died suddenly at 35 of an undiagnosed aortic dissection the night before the first off-Broadway preview, is loosely based on La Boheme and follows a group of struggling young artists working and living in the East Village in the shadow of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Rubin-Vega earned a Tony nomination for her role as Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive heroin addict who works as an exotic dancer.
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