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Paul Reubens (born Paul Rubenfeld on August 27, 1952, in Peekskill, New York), is an American actor, writer, and comedian, best known professionally for his character “Pee-wee Herman”.

He’s 54!

Paul Rubenfeld grew up in Sarasota, Florida, where his parents owned a lamp store. During winters, The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus called Sarasota home, and young Paul counted such big-top families as the Wallendas and the Zacchinis among his neighbors. The circus sparked his interest in entertainment. When he was 11 years old, he joined the local Asolo Theater, and during the next six years, he appeared in a variety of plays. After graduating from Sarasota High School in 1970, he attended Boston University for one year before deciding to seek his fortune as Paul Reubens in Hollywood, where he enrolled as an acting major at the California Institute of the Arts and accepted a string of pay-the-rent jobs ranging from pizza chef to Fuller Brush salesman.

In the 1970s, Reubens performed at local comedy clubs and made four guest appearances on The Gong Show. He soon joined the Los Angeles-based improvisational comedy team The Groundlings and remained a member for six years, working with Bob McClurg, John Paragon, Susan Barnes, and Phil Hartman. Hartman and Reubens became friends, often writing and working on material together. Reubens wrote sketches and developed his improvisational skills. He also forged a significant friendship and working relationship with Hartman, with whom he developed the “Pee-wee Herman” character. Pee-wee was an eccentric man-child in a gray houndstooth suit which is a size too small for him, a short sleeved white shirt, and a small red clip on bow tie, with a buzz cut and a perpetually giddy disposition. His distinctive “Ha Ha” laugh became the character’s catch phrase, as has his insult comeback “I know you are, but what am I?”

Reubens auditioned for Saturday Night Live for the 1980-1981 season (along with future stars Jim Carrey, John Goodman, Dom Irrera, and Robert Townsend), but wasn’t accepted into the cast. Instead, he started a stage show with the Herman character. Originally, Reubens imbued “Pee-wee” with a sexuality that was later toned down as the character made the transition from raucous night club to children’s television (though sexual innuendo was still readily apparent, especially with the “Cowboy Curtis” and “Miss Yvonne” segments; Curtis was played by actor Laurence Fishburne and Miss Yvonne was played by Lynne Marie Stewart). The stage show was immortalized by HBO when The Pee-wee Herman Show was aired in 1981.

The show featured the writing and acting of Groundlings alums Phil Hartman and John Paragon, who would both reprise their characters on Pee-wee’s Playhouse. The Pee-wee Herman Show played for five sellout months at The Roxy Theatre in L.A., whereupon HBO filmed it and aired it as a special on September 11, 1981.

In 1980, Reubens landed a small role in the film The Blues Brothers. He also appeared in Cheech and Chong’s Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie in 1980 and Nice Dreams in 1981, and Meatballs Part II in 1984 with Misty Rowe.

While on a Warner Bros. set, Reubens noticed that most of the people rode around on bicycles, and asked when he would get his. Warner Bros. presented him with a refurbished 1940s Schwinn; Reubens then abandoned the Pee-wee Herman script he was writing in favor of one about Herman’s love for his bike and his efforts to locate it once it was stolen. Hartman, Reubens and Michael Varhol co-wrote the script for Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, and in 1985 the film, directed by Tim Burton, was released. Reubens was the originator of the “Pee-wee dance” in the movie, and he had performed it publicly many times previous to the making of the film.

On July 31, 2006 Reubens was shown on Entertainment Tonight in an “exclusive interview”. In the interview he talked about the future Pee-wee movies and Pee-wee’s Playhouse being shown on Adult Swim.

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