Daphne Rubin-Vega

Daphne Rubin-Vega (born November 18 1969 in Panama City, Panama), also known simply as Daphne, is a dance music singer and actress. She began her musical career as the lead singer for the Latin freestyle group Pajama Party, placing three songs on the Hot 100 in 1989 and 1990. As a solo artist her biggest success is on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where in 1996 she hit #1 with the song "I Found It." She returned to the top of the dance/club play charts in 2003 with a dance version of Elton John's "Rocketman". In 2001 she recorded her debut full-length rock album of original songs ("Souvenirs") but it fell through the cracks when her record company Mercury merged. It is available on her website.

Rubin-Vega performed in the Broadway musical Rent with Wilson Jermaine Heredia, with whom she also starred in the 1999 film Flawless. In Rent she starred as Mimi Marquez, the HIV-positive, heroin-addicted nineteen-year-old who works at the Cat Scratch Club as a stripper. Rubin-Vega left the show on April 5th, 1997 and was replaced by Marcy Hariell. 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.

Rubin-Vega has two Tony Award nominations to her credit: one for her role in Rent and the other for her performance as Conchita in Anna in the Tropics. She won the Theatre World Award in 1996 for Rent. She was also awarded the Blockbuster Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Suspense Thriller for her role in the film Wild Things with Kevin Bacon and Denise Richards. She also appeared in the 2000 production of The Rocky Horror Show.

Rubin-Vega also released her second full-length album of original songs titled Redemption Songs released on October 2006 on Sh-K Boom Records. Her rock band DRV are currently performing live shows in New York. She is also starring with Phylicia Rashad in a musical version of Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba at the Lincoln Center in March of 2006. She is currently playing the role of Fantine in the 2006 revival Claude-Michel Schönberg popular musical Les Misérables, but is going to be replaced by Lea Salonga starting March 6, 2007. Lea was last seen in Les Misérables as Eponine during the Tenth Anniversary Concert. Starting February 27, 2007 Daphne can be seen alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman in the play Jack Goes Boating at The Public Theater.

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

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