9-1-1: Lone Star actor Ronen Rubinstein comes out as bisexual after playing a gay character

Actor Ronen Rubinstein has come out as bisexual after playing a gay main character on the procedural thriller 9-1-1: Lone Star for two seasons.

The 27-year-old opened up about his sexuality in an interview with Variety that was published Wednesday, telling the publication: ‘I fully identify as bisexual.’

‘I literally just got goosebumps saying that,’ Rubinstein said via a Zoom interview from his LA home. ‘It feels so good to talk about it, it feels so good to finally be comfortable with it.’

Rubinstein recounted his anxiety over how his character would be received by his friends and family on his native Staten Island in New York City.

Although he shared that he was playing TK Strand, the gay son of Rob Lowe’s lead character, he was afraid to spill that his character had a passionate kissing scene with officer Carlos Reyes, played by the openly gay actor Rafael L. Silva.

‘Carlos and I have a huge make-out scene where we, like, burst through the door, and we’re ripping our clothes off,’ Rubinstein said. ‘It’s super hot and it just goes on. It just doesn’t stop. We’re, like, crashing against the walls, and then we end up on the couch. I warned my parents and my friends for months. 

‘I said, “Listen, I understand if you guys don’t want to watch it, I understand you probably might say some really ignorant, close-minded stuff or you just might not want to watch it and I get that too,”‘ he recalled.

But regardless of their feelings, the on-screen romance was well-received by fans, who quickly gave them the couple name ‘Tarlos.’

Rubinstein wasn’t out at the time, but he said his character took him on a ‘journey’ that helped him come to terms with his attraction to both men and women, feelings that he had tried to keep below the surface for years.

‘The biggest thing for me is where I come from, it’s like people like me and people who have identified as bisexual or gay or as any part of the community, you’re just not welcomed. It’s as brutally honest as that,’ he said.

‘It’s either you faced insane amounts of profanity, like the F-word was thrown around all the time or you would get your a** kicked if you were gay. So there was definitely a fear of sort of embracing how I felt. I was definitely more aware of it in high school. I was aware of my feelings and how I started looking at men, but I couldn’t talk to anybody about it.’

But thanks to his role on 9-1-1: Lone Star, a spin-off of the Ryan Murphy–produced series 9-1-1, and the character’s positive reception, he felt ready to embrace his true self.

‘The fans, especially the Tarlos fans, it’s one of the biggest reasons that I finally felt safe and comfortable to talk about it and to finally embrace it and be happy about it,’ he explained.

Rubinstein got plenty of support from his scene partner Silva and from Murphy, along with his actress girlfriend Jessica Parker Kennedy, best known for starring on Black Sails and The Flash for The CW.

‘She’s actually one of the first people that sort of respectfully called me out on it,’ Rubinstein said. ‘She’s like, “Is there something we need to talk about?” And I said, “Maybe.” I didn’t know how that conversation would go,’ he said, though it ‘went probably as good as it can go.’

‘She definitely encouraged me to be vocal about it, just to live my truth. She’s like, “I love you for who you are, your full self and people will love you for who you are and your full self.”‘

Rubinstein clarified that his relationship with Kennedy was as great as ever after his coming out, though she was still able to have a laugh about it.

‘She just sometimes jokes, “Just don’t leave me for Harry Styles.”‘

In addition to starring on the 9-1-1 spin-off, the actor led last year’s slasher film The Smiley Face Killers, which was written by American Psycho novelist Bret Easton Ellis, and he previously appeared on season three of Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black. 

Rubinstein, who was born in Israel before moving to New York City as a child, concluded his interview by explaining that he hoped coming out as bisexual could help other LGBTQ youths who don’t feel accepted.

‘I want people to know that this is a hopeful and a happy story,’ he said. ‘I want people to know that they’re not alone and it’s definitely okay. Trust me, I know that it is not easy. My path has not been easy at all, but it’s just one more thing that I can share with people to help them and let them know that I’m here for them.’