Daphne Rubin-Vega

Daphne Rubin-Vega
Rubin-Vega attending the Broadway final performance of Rent
Born	(1969-11-18) November 18, 1969 (age 47) Panama City, Panama
Occupation	Dancer, actress, singer-songwriter
Years active	1979–present

Daphne Rubin-Vega (born November 18, 1969) is a Panamanian-American dancer, singer-songwriter, and actress. She is best known for originating the roles of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway musical Rent and Lucy in the Off-Broadway play Jack Goes Boating.

In 2012, Daphne also appeared as Bombshell publicist Agnes in the second season of the NBC TV series Smash.

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. Daphine moved from Panama to the United States with her children when Daphne was only two years old. She died when Daphne was ten. Rubin-Vega studied theater at the New Labyrinth Theater Company as well as with William Esper. 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. 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 was subsequently given to Rosario Dawson. One of her castmates was Wilson Jermaine Heredia, with whom she also starred in the 1999 film Flawless.