You may know him as Pee Wee Herman, but he was born Paul Rubenfeld, (who would later change his name to Paul Reubens) on August 27, 1952, in Peekskill, New York. Shortly after he was born, his parents migrated south, to Sarasota, Florida, home of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey’s circuses. Enthralled by the big top atmosphere, the carnival music and extravagance of the circus would greatly influence Rubenfeld’s style for years to come.

Inspired by the performance arts, Rubenfeld began acting around eleven years of age, entering into local theater, where he appeared in a variety of onstage productions.

His greatest love, however, was making people laugh, and this passion for comedy would set the tone for his career.

One of his earliest television appearances was in 1976, when he made four appearances on The Gong Show. During this time, he also joined a troupe of comedy actors called “The Groundlings,” which featured the talents of comedians like Conan O’Brian, Lisa Kudrow and Phil Hartman, to name a few. It was during his time with “The Groundlings,” that Rubenfeld created the character that would become his alter-ego: Pee Wee Herman.

The original caricature and persona was meant to portray a struggling, overactive comedian whose jokes were so bland and obvious that no one thought them funny, but as Pee Wee Herman began to evolve, so did Rubenfeld’s acting career. After being turned down by Saturday Night Live, Rubenfeld decided to get to work on his own show, and in 1981, The Pee Wee Herman Show was born. With help from his acting troupe, Rubenfeld made the show a nightly success in Los Angeles, which eventually caught the eye of HBO series On Location.

With the success of the character, Pee Wee Herman, growing in popularity, Rubenfeld took on the persona literally in the public eye, and eventually brought on Tim Burton to help him turn the Pee Wee Herman screenplay he was working on with Phil Hartman, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, into a multi-million dollar success about a young man traveling cross-country in search of his stolen bicycle. The success of the film spawned an CBS morning series for kids called Pee Wee’s Playhouse. The series aired for four years and won 22 Emmy’s in the creative arts category.

Despite scandal in the media over the years, Rubenfeld managed to keep his career on track. Between the big and small screens, he’s starred or appeared in nearly seventy major productions. He’s made cameo appearances in a variety television series, including Reno 911!, Murphy Brown, Pushing Daisies and 30 Rock, to name a few. His unique voiceover talents have also sounded in a number of cartoons, like Nickelodeon’s Chowder and Rugrats.

No matter what you think of him, Paul Rubenfeld has established a longlasting persona in Pee Wee Herman that will long outlive his creator. You can guarantee that we haven’t heard the last from Pee Wee Herman. In fact, a 2011 film titled Pee Wee’s Playhouse: The Movie, written and starring everyone’s favorite weirdo is presently in the works.