Peter Rubenstein attended Harvard College, where he studied photography with Marie Cosindas, play writing with William Alfred, and film with Alan Pakula. After graduating, Rubenstein began his career in the entertainment industry by working in the mail room at ICM, where he quickly rose through the ranks to become the head of the motion picture story department.
Following a brief stint as an agent, representing notable clients such as John Norville and James Russo, Rubenstein went on to work for producer George Litto at 20th Century-Fox. During his time at Fox, he collaborated closely with renowned writers Waldo Salt and Alvin Sargent, and wrote his first script.
Rubenstein's career as a photographer was jump-started when Bono hired him to document the U2's "Joshua Tree" tour for the film "U2 Rattle and Hum." He went on to work as a photographer on over 100 productions, including films, commercials, and videos for notable artists such as Aerosmith, Dolly Parton, Massive Attack, ATT, 7UP, Bryan Adams, and Madonna.
In 1992, U2 engaged Rubenstein to photograph key segments of their "ZooTV" tour. He also spent four months in Malaysia shooting stills and co-producing the film "Beyond Rangoon." In 1994, he moved to a country south of Switzerland and north of Tunisia, where he worked on a number of high-profile miniseries for Italian television.
Rubenstein has also worked on an unfinished documentary about David Lean's right-hand man, Eddie Fowlie, featuring interviews with notable figures such as Richard Lester, Sir John Box, Sir Freddie Young, Peter O'Toole, Kevin Brownlow, Ken Annakin, and others. From 2001 to 2006, he was under contract to New Line Cinema.
As of 2011, Rubenstein resides in Los Angeles, where he teaches at Columbia College Hollywood, gives advice to a rapper, and is writing a spec script about Robert Kennedy, for which he has interviewed many of Kennedy's closest friends and advisers.
