Ron Rifkin

Ron Rifkin (born October 31, 1939) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Arvin Sloane on the spy drama Alias and as Saul Holden on the American family drama Brothers & Sisters.

Personal life

Rifkin was born Saul M. Rifkin in New York City, New York, to Miriam and Herman Rifkin, who was born in Russia. He is the oldest of three children. He was raised as an Orthodox Jew and remained Orthodox until age 32. Rifkin is married to Iva, who operates a fashion design business.

Career

In 2001, his association with Touchstone Television began when he played a ruthless intelligence agent Arvin Sloane in Alias, opposite Jennifer Garner. Until 2011, he played second-in-command businessman Saul Holden on Brothers & Sisters, opposite Sally Field. He also played Bonnie Franklin's second boyfriend on One Day at a Time.

Rifkin has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in film, on stage, and in television. His association with writer Jon Robin Baitz has been especially fruitful. In 1991, his performance in Baitz's play The Substance of Fire won him the Obie, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Drama-Logue awards for Best Actor. The following year he performed in Baitz's Three Hotels, for which he received a second Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nomination. In 1996, he starred in the film version of Substance; in 2002, he appeared in the Baitz play Ten Unknowns at Boston's Huntington Theatre; in 2004, he starred in his play, The Paris Letter at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, a role he reprised the following year at the Laura Pels Theatre in New York City; and appeared in the ABC drama series Brothers & Sisters, which Baitz created, as a character named Saul, Rifkin's real-life name.