Daphne Rubin-Vega

In 2021, Rubin-Vega starred as salon owner Daniela in the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights. Starting in 2024, she has voiced Carmilla Carmine in the adult animated musical animated series Hazbin Hotel.

• Name — Daphne Rubin-Vega • Born — 18 November 1969 • Birthplace — Panama City, Panama • Occupation — * Actress • singer • Years Active — 1979–present • Children — 1 • Relatives — Leonard Rubin (stepfather)

Rubin-Vega was born in Panama City, Panama, the daughter of Daphine Corina, a nurse, and José Mercedes Vega, a carpenter. Her stepfather Leonard Rubin was a writer. She also has Afro-Barbadian ancestry on her mother's side. Her mother moved from Panama to the United States with her children when Daphne was only two years old, and died eight years later. Rubin-Vega attended New York University, in the undergraduate film and television department under Haig Manoogian, but did not graduate. In the late 1980s, she was an original member of the female vocal group Pajama Party. She studied theater at the New LAByrinth Theater Company as well as with the William Esper Studio. She also performed with the comedy group El Barrio USA.

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. Rubin-Vega performed in the original workshop before the play went to Broadway. At the time, the script was vastly different from the current version. She developed the role all the way to its Broadway premiere on April 29, 1996. 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. On March 2, 2007, she was replaced by Lea Salonga.

In February 2007, Daphne Rubin-Vega performed alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman in the play Jack Goes Boating off-Broadway at The Public Theater. 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. On October 25, 2016, Rubin-Vega starred as Beatriz in the world premiere of Miss You Like Hell, a new musical by Quiara Alegría Hudes and Erin McKeown, commissioned byand staged atthe La Jolla Playhouse. 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.

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.

Rubin-Vega has been married to businessman Thomas Costanzo since 2002. Their son, Luca Ariel, was born in 2004.

• Year — Title — Role(s) — Notes • 1996 — New York Undercover — Lydia — Episode: "Brown Like Me" • 1997 — Spin City — Herself — Episode: "An Affair to Remember" • 2000 — Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child — Little Juanita — Voice role; episode: "Robinita Hood" • 2003 — Hey Joel — Michelle Ipanima — Voice role; 4 episodes • 2007 — Law & Order: Criminal Intent — Carmen Mendoza — Episode: "Senseless" • 2013 — Smash — Agnes — 8 episodes • 2019 — Rent: Live — Extra — Special; member of the original Broadway cast • Tales of the City — Mrs. Rodriguez — 3 episodes • 2020 — Katy Keene — Luisa Lopez — 9 episodes • Social Distance — Reina Villareal — Episode: "A Celebration of the Human Life Cycle" • 2021 — The Blacklist — Delores Knapp — Episode: "Balthazar 'Bino' Baker (No. 129)" • 2022 — New Amsterdam — Christy Cummings — Episode: "No Ifs, Ands or Buts" • 2023 — Accused — Rose — Episode: "Ava's Story" • The Horror of Dolores Roach — None — Executive producer only • The Changeling — Mrs. Ortiz — 2 episodes • 2024–present — Hazbin Hotel — Carmilla Carmine — Voice role; recurring role • 2024 — Only Murders in the Building — Inez — 4 episodes

• Year — Title — Role(s) — Notes • 1996 — Rent — Mimi Marquez — Nederlander Theater, Broadway • 2000 — Two Sisters and a Piano — Sofia — Public Theater, Off-Broadway • 2000 — The Rocky Horror Show — Magenta — Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway • 2003 — Anna in the Tropics — Conchita — Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, Broadway • 2006 — Bernarda Alba — Martirio — Lincoln Center, Off-Brodway • 2006 — Everything's Turning Into Beautiful — Brenda — The New Group, Off-Broadway • 2006 — Les Miserables — Fantine — Broadhurst Theater, Broadway • 2007 — Jack Goes Boating — Lucy — Public Theater, Off-Broadway • 2011 — Blood From a Stone — Yvette — The New Group, Off-Broadway • 2012 — A Streetcar Named Desire — Stella Kowalski — Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway • 2013 — Romeo and Juliet — Nurse — Classic Stage Company, Off-Broadway • 2016 — Daphne's Dive — Inez — Pershing Square, Off-Broadway • 2018 — Miss You Like Hell — Beatriz — Public Theatre, Off-Broadway • 2022 — My Broken Language — Qui Qui — Pershing Square, Off-Broadway • 2023 — The Night of the Iguana — Maxine — Pershing Square, Off-Broadway • 2025 — Twelfth Night — Maria — Shakespeare in the Park, Off-Broadway • 2026 — The Adding Machine — Mr. Zero — The New Group, Off-Broadway

• 1989 – Up All Night • 1991 – Can't Live Without It

• 1994 – When You Love Someone (Single) • 1995 – Change (Single) • 1995 – I Found It (Single) Produced and co-written by David Anthony • 2001 – Souvenirs • 2003 – Rocket Man (EP) • 2006 – Redemption Songs