Ellen Dubin

Ellen Dubin was born in Toronto, Canada^[4] to Rose and Carl Dubin.^[5] She is Jewish.^[6] She originally wanted to be a ballet dancer, before a knee injury made her pivot to acting.^[7] She began her career in theatre, acting in a production of Fiddler on the Roof, and attended the University of Toronto.^[8]

Dubin moved to Los Angeles to advance her acting career, but continued to work both there and in her native Canada.^[9] After a series of guest roles in television series, Dubin portrayed the cannibal Giggerotta in the Canadian-German science fiction series Lexx, beginning in two of the four television films that began the series. She reprised her role in a recurring capacity in the three seasons that followed. From 2004 to 2006 she starred in the television series The Collector^[10] as Jeri Slate. She was nominated for a Gemini Award for this role.^[11] She also made a guest appearance in Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict^[3] as well as a number of other series. In 2004 Dubin appeared in Napoleon Dynamite.^[12] In 2006 she appeared in the TV movie The Wives He Forgot^[13] with Molly Ringwald and Mark Humphrey. In 2019 she had a role in Roland Emmerich's war film Midway.^[14]

Dubin is also an accomplished voice actress.^[15] She voiced Captain Phasma in Lego Star Wars: The Resistance Rises and Star Wars Resistance, Lori in the English dub of Sailor Moon, and the Bene Gesserit Ancestor in the film Dune. She has lent her voice to several video games, including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4.

Dubin is the spokesperson for the Make-a-Wish Foundation^[13] in Toronto and Central Ontario.^[16] She was married to Canadian media executive Jay Switzer from 1988^[17] until his death in 2018.^[18] She is a member of the Temple Sinai synagogue in Toronto.^[19]