9-1-1 Lonestar Actor, Ronen Rubinstein Comes out as Bisexual

David T. Valentin

Actor Ronen Rubinstein, known for his roles as Nathan in Orange is the New Black and as TK Strand in 9-1-1: Lone Star, has come out as bisexual during an interview with Variety.

In 9-1-1 Lone Star Rubinstein plays character heartthrob T.K. Strand, a canonically queer character that has captured the hearts of fans of the TV series.

For Rubinstein, his character has served as a way of getting to know himself and exploring his own sexuality. Growing up on Staten Island, New York, he reflects on his hometown not being a safe space for him to explore his sexuality as a teenager and how it has lead to a bit of fear to come out.

“It’s either you faced insane amounts of profanity, like the F-word was thrown around all the time or you would get your ass 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 after the positive reception of his character, T.K. Strand and a recent ship between T.K. and another character named Carlos, Rubinstein felt finally safe to come out to himself and the public.

“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.”