What can you tell me about the guy who plays Artie Nielsen on “Warehouse 13”?
—Marty Hammer, Lincoln, Neb.
That is Saul Rubinek as Nielsen, a Secret Service agent in charge of a warehouse full of mystical artifacts. Remember Indiana Jones?
“It’s an extraordinary thing,” says the 64-year-old actor. “At a certain point it becomes the biggest character I’ve ever played, and it’s quickly become probably the best character with the most range because of all the episodes and all the different things the writers are asking of us.”
That is saying a lot, because Rubinek has quite a list of credits, including the movies “I Love Trouble,” “The Singing Detective,” “The Contender,” “The Family Man,” “Nixon,” “True Romance,” “Unforgiven,” “Man Trouble,” “Against All Odds,” “Bonfire of the Vanities” and “Wall Street.”
The Canadian actor, who was born in a refugee camp in Allied-occupied Germany after World War II, has more than 30 years of TV credits: two seasons as a semi-regular on “Frasier,” and guest starring roles on “Blind Justice,” “Nero Wolf,” “Eureka,” “Leverage,” “Psych,” “The Practice,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “The Outer Limits” and “Lost,” among others.
The married father of two has also written a non-fiction book, “So Many Miracles,” which tells the story of his parents’ survival in Poland in WWII. It was turned into an award-winning documentary for CBC and PBS, which chronicled his parents’ reunion with the people who saved their lives during the Holocaust.
As much as he enjoys his acting career, for Rubinek it all comes down to family. “The consistent factor [in my life] is trying to be a good partner to my wife and a reasonably wise and not idiotic dad, which I am occasionally—and to make sure that my kids [21 and 17] get into the school that they want to get into and to be able to afford it. That’s the struggle for most of America, isn’t it? And that’s what it’s about.”
