Born in Czechoslovakia. After graduating in 1945 from the Conservatory of Music in Prague, Jan Rubes went on to join the Prague Opera House as their youngest basso singer. He also performed at the Pilsen Opera House in leading roles in his early years. By 1948, he was chosen to represent Czechoslovakia at the International Music Festival held in Geneva and won first prize in his category. He emigrated to Canada on New Year's Eve 1948 with hopes of creating a greater musical career. As a member of the Canadian Opera Company, he achieved recognition for his roles, as Boris in "Boris Godunov", Schigolch in "Lulu" and as Mephisto in "Faust". As well, he served as the company's director of touring and program development. Branching out into radio and, eventually, TV, he wrote and hosted from 1975-83 TVOntario's "Guess What?" and acted in many TV dramas, later receiving the Earle Grey Award for lifetime work in Canadian television. Most moviegoers would recognize Jan Rubes in Witness (1985) (a Harrison Ford film) where he portrayed an Amish patriarch. He lives in Toronto with his wife, actor/director Susan Douglas Rubes. They have three children.
Originally from Toronto, Canada; Award winning Los Angeles based Actor and Voice Actor Michael Beattie has worked for over 25 years in film, television, radio, theatre, audio-book narration, as well as television and feature animation. The voice of the 2nd (Skinny) Marketing Guy in Universal Pictures Dr Seuss's: The Lorax (Summer 2012). The voice of evil Scottish henchcat "Angus MacDoughall" in the Warner Brothers Feature Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. Mr. Beattie has voiced series regular roles in Animated Series' Conan the Adventurer (Needle ), T-Rex (Buck, Delaney ), King Arthur and the Knights of Justice(Trunk, Gallop, Zeke ) Beverly Hills Teens (Buck Huckster, Wilshire Brentwood ), Care Bears: The Nutcracker Suite (Nutcracker), Robocop (Wheels Wilson), As Told By Ginger (Principal Erickson) among others. His voice credits for video games include a critically acclaimed and award winning performance as Alien Professor Mordin Solus in EA/Bioware's Smash Hit Mass Effect 2*, Blade Wolf (IF Prototype LQ-84i) in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance; Russell in Dishonored, Bilbo Baggins in The Hobitt, Herman Schultz/Shocker in Spiderman: The Movie, and Spiderman 2, Company of Heroes, The Sopranos: Road to Respect, Titan Quest, Pitfall: The Lost Expedition, Neopets , Dragon Age: Origins, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mr. Beattie performed on-camera in leading roles in 2 Guy Ritchie directed films. "Swept Away" (2002) and "Star" - Part of the BMW Internet film series' The Driver' (2001). He is also the creator of tomsawyeraudio.com a web-based company offering audio-books of unabridged classic children's novels to schools, libraries and the general public.
