Meet Gloria Reuben: Get to Know the Woman Behind ‘Boston Blue’ Character Mae Silver
Find out which iconic series Reuben starred in and what legendary singer she toured with!
Gloria Reuben is instantly recognized from her role as District Attorney Mae Silver on Boston Blue, but you may remember the actress from one of her several previous roles. Before she joined the world of Blue Bloods, Reuben was starring in ER, modeling and even touring as a backup singer for a major musician.
Learn more about Gloria Reuben’s early career before she joined Boston Blue and what she’s said about the role!
From model to actress
Prior to her days as a physician’s assistant on ER or a district attorney on Boston Blue, Reuben was working as a model. In the late 1980s, the future star won a beauty pageant and began modeling in Canada. Commercial work soon followed, but Reuben quickly realized her ambitions lay elsewhere—she wanted to make the transition into acting.
In her early career, the actress had a few minor roles in shows such as 21 Jump Street (1988), The Flash (1990-1991), The New Lassie (1991) and The New WKRP in Cincinnati (1992). But soon, she would book her Emmy-nominated role in ER.
Reuben makes history on ER
It was still early on in her career when Reuben scored the role of physician assistant Jeanie Boulet, but it wasn’t long before the part was earning her Emmy nominations. Although she was only meant to appear in three episodes, the actress ended up staying on for six seasons.
“It was crazy, wild, exciting and terrifying because the show was jettisoning into the stratosphere,” Reuben said her time on the show.
The role of Jeanie Boulet marked one of the first times television explored the story of an HIV-positive, heterosexual woman of color. Over the course of six seasons, the character navigated her personal life and demanding career while confronting — and helping break down — the stigma surrounding the disease.
“She was really brave and was navigating a terrain that no one else had before on television and certainly in that hospital,” Reuben shared. “Being HIV positive, being a married professional woman of color who contracted HIV from her husband in the mid-’90s, that on its own was groundbreaking.”
Reuben remained on the series from 1995 until 1999, but she did return for a brief appearance in 2008. The actress has continued to share her appreciation for the role and what it meant to her.
“I have to say that one of the things that I’m most proud of, if not the most proud of, is that Jeanie Boulet walked out of that ER,” the actress explained. “She did not die from AIDS. She walked out of that ER after having remarried and adopted a baby. Because you know what? At that time, late ‘90s medicine was helping people. It was literally giving people with HIV their lives back, many of them. So we—and I specifically—were like, she’s going to walk out of there alive.”
Reuben hits the stage
Not only did Reuben star on a legendary show—she later had the chance to work with a legend as well. Although best known as an actress, Reuben is also a singer, and after departing ER she began to pursue that passion more seriously.
In 2000, a chance backstage encounter with Tina Turner changed everything. After complimenting Reuben, Turner asked if she could sing and dance. An audition followed, and before long Reuben found herself on the road as a backup singer on Turner’s “24/7” tour.
“We just kind of hit it off out the gate, as she does with everybody, because she was such (a) bright light,” Reuben said of Turner. “She was plugged into a whole ‘nother different energy source. She was the most generous person of spirit, and of talent and of intelligence and of support… One of the things that she taught me is this: You can reach for anything, you can do anything.”
Reuben toured with Turner for about a year and soon returned to her successful acting career, with roles in Raising the Bar (2008-2009), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2002-2011) and the Jesse Stone film series. She even snagged a role in two episodes of Blue Bloods ahead of her role in Boston Blue, portraying a different character.
“I love playing Mae Silver,” Reuben shared of her character in the latter. “Fiercely intelligent, does not suffer fools, morally righteous, powerful–but also a loving mother uniting an interfaith, multigenerational family.”
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