Portrait of Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Birthday profile

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Ruben Santiago-Hudson, American actor, playwright, and director

Born
November 24, 1956
Age in 2026
70
Zodiac sign
Sagittarius
Birth year
1956

About Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Ruben Santiago-Hudson (born Ruben Santiago Jr., November 24, 1956) is an American actor, playwright, and director who has won national awards for his work in all three categories. He has received a Tony Award and three Drama Desk Awards as well as a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. He won the Humanitas Prize in 2005 and the Lucille Lortel Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2024. He made his Broadway debut in the musical Jelly's Last Jam (1992). He then acted in the August Wilson play Seven Guitars (1996) for which he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He was Tony-nominated for his roles in his solo show Lackawanna Blues (2022) and the revival Joe Turner's Come and Gone (2026). As a director he was Tony-nominated for his work on the August Wilson revival Jitney (2017). On television, he portrayed Captain Roy Montgomery in the ABC crime mystery romance series Castle from 2009 to 2011. He has taken recurring roles in Another World (1987–1993), Dear John (1990–1992), Spawn (1997–1999), and Billions (2016–2023). He has also acted in the HBO television films Lackawanna Blues (2005), Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005), and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017). He made his feature film debut with a small role in the comedy Coming to America (1988) and has since taken supporting roles in the supernatural film The Devil's Advocate (1997), the action thriller Shaft (2000), and the crime drama American Gangster (2007). He portrayed Bayard Rustin in the Ava DuVernay directed historical drama Selma (2013). He served as a writer for the Netflix film adaptation of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) for which he was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2013, he starred in the TV series Low Winter Sun, a police drama set in Detroit. In 2021, he was nominated for best adaptation by the Screen W.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson timeline

  1. In 2013, he starred in the TV series Low Winter Sun, a police drama set in Detroit.
  2. In 2021, he was nominated for best adaptation by the Screen W.

The world when Ruben Santiago-Hudson was born

Ruben Santiago-Hudson was born in 1956. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1956

  • #1 song"Heartbreak Hotel" – Elvis Presley
  • Top movieAround the World in 80 Days
  • Top TV showI Love Lucy
  • Best-selling bookPeyton Place – Grace Metalious

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentDon Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series
  • Top headlineElvis Presley takes America by storm
  • Technology milestoneFirst transatlantic telephone cable (TAT-1)
  • Defining fadElvis Presley mania
  • Notable inventionHard disk drive (IBM)
  • World population2.82 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonPhiladelphia Warriors (NBA)
  • U.S. population168.1M

1956 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Ruben Santiago-Hudson's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19562026
Gas$0.30$3.45/gal
Average home$11,700$435,000
Average income$6,500$67,500
Minimum wage$1.00$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.50$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population168.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.