Profile & Biography
Few artists can literally say that "they've done it all", but Canadian born actress / singer / social activist Gloria Reuben is making a concerted bid for that elusive distinction. Over the past decade, Gloria has amassed impressive credentials as a regular fixture on network and cable television, starred in numerous films, performed in a highly-touted off-Broadway production, toured with one of pop music's most celebrated divas, and has successfully added “recording artist” to her list of accomplishments with the release of her debut solo album, Just For You.
Most television viewers will remember Gloria as the health care professional Jeanie Boulet who traumatically battled HIV/AIDS in the NBC-TV hit series, ER, a role that garnered her multiple Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination in a five-year run from 1994-2000. Gloria reappeared on the ER series episode “Status Quo” in 2008, reprising her original role. Her film debut was starring opposite Jean Claude Van Damme in "TimeCop" followed by a leading role opposite Johnny Depp in John Badham's film, "Nick of Time". Other notable television roles include appearances on The Young Riders, The Round Table, China Beach and three episodes of the critically acclaimed Baltimore-based Homicide: Life on the Street. From 2001-2002 she appeared in 22 episodes of the CBS series The Agency and 18 episodes of Lifetime Television’s series 1-800-MISSING between 2003-2004. She has also appeared in episodes of Numb3rs and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Over the years, Gloria has appeared in numerous television movies including Showtime's "Feast Of All Saints", the CBS mini-series, "Innocent Blood: The True Story of the Salem Witch Trials", (opposite Shirley MacLaine), "Indiscreet", (with Luke Perry), "Soul Survivor", (with Billy Zane) "Percy and Thunder", (with James Earl Jones) for TNT, and CBS Television’s "Deep In My Heart" (with Ann Bancroft).
Gloria has never lacked motivation. Her thirst and hunger for the arts and performing started when she was a child. Her mother, an accomplished singer, helped nurture and develop her broad base of talents. Before her teens, Reuben was playing piano, studying music technique and theory at the Canadian Royal Conservatory and also studied ballet and jazz. She also managed to squeeze in a brief fling as a model before relocating to Los Angeles. Upon arriving in Hollywood, she landed a national television commercial, the residuals of which kept her afloat, allowing her to quit her job and commit to acting full time. Expanding her horizons, in 1996 on hiatus from ER, Gloria completed creative writing classes at Oxford University.
In 2000, following her departure as a regular cast member on ER, Gloria extended her burgeoning career into contemporary music, singing back up on the North American leg of Tina Turner's "24/7"concert tour and joining Michael Feinstein for his holiday gala performance to close out 2002.
While Gloria’s acting career has always been on the fast track, her love for music had only sporadically surfaced prior to the Tina Turner tour. Subsequently she taught herself how to play the guitar and decided to record a few songs, explaining, "There's always been a desire within me to make a record about the variations and mysteries of love.” Despite the music industry sending out mixed messages to aspiring new recording artists, Gloria opted to take the plunge and financed her own record. She enlisted Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer Barry Eastmond (who has worked with such artists as Anita Baker, Britney Spears and Whitney Houston) to produce the nine tracks for Just for You.
In 2003 Gloria shuttled between Toronto, where she was co-starring with a 16 hour-a-day shooting schedule as a no-nonsense FBI Agent in the Lions Gate/Lifetime Television dramatic series, 1-800-MISSING, and New York, where she recorded her debut CD on every spare weekend she could muster. In addition, Gloria served as an Associate Producer on the Lifetime series and performed the show’s theme song, "This Dream Is Real", whose lyrics she co-wrote with veteran songwriter Andy Chase. The track also appeared on her album. In 2003 Gloria also performed the Canadian National Anthem for the NBA All-Star Game and she has subsequently sings the “Star Spangled Banner” on numerous Sunday games for the New York Giants during NFL season as well as at Madison Square Garden for the New York Knicks (NBA) and the New York Rangers (NHL).
Most recently, Gloria co-starred in the 20th Century Fox / New Regency Pictures film "The Sentinel" with Keifer Sutherland and Michael Douglas. She has also recently appeared on stage as Condoleezza Rice in a production of "Stuff Happens" for which she won a Lucille Lortel Best Acting Award and in 2007 appeared in the HBO movie "Life Support" with Queen Latifah, which focuses on the HIV/AIDS crisis in the female black community in the U.S. Gloria is currently starring in the hit Steven Bochco dramatic television series Raising the Bar, which began airing on TNT in September 2008.
Gloria spends a great deal of time working on behalf of the causes she feels the most compelled to support. In August 2008 she traveled to South Africa with Pamela W. Barnes, President and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, to tour key sites operated by the group. Gloria has recently become the spokesperson for the foundation. During the trip, she participated in launching Kerry Kennedy’s human rights program “Speak Truth to Power.”
Some of the most memorable highlights of Gloria’s activism career include: the introduction of Kofi Annan at the UN’s AIDS Day ceremony at the renowned and beautiful Cathedral St. John the Divine, in Harlem in December 2004; during 2005, Gloria spoke at the Planned Parenthood introduction to their collaboration with the Rights Have No Borders project; and on World AIDS Day in 2005, Gloria was the keynote speaker at the first Black Women's Conference on HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles. Gloria is successful on the speaking circuit, touching on women’s issues, the arts, HIV/AIDS, and the environment.
She has also been an avid supporter for Planned Parenthood; ANSA (Artists for a New South Africa); and Waterkeeper Alliance, Bobby Kennedy Jr.’s water protection and preservation foundation. She serves on the Board for Waterkeeper Alliance as well as for SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.
A gifted actress, exciting vocalist and committed social activist, Gloria brings her irrepressible blend of energy and enthusiasm to every audience.
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