[3] His aunt was also a piano teacher and his friend an illustrator and Yorinks considers this artistic childhood as an important inspiration for his later career.
[3] When Yorinks was in high school, he discovered picture books and he particularly liked the works of Tomi Ungerer, William Steig, and especially Maurice Sendak.
[1] Later Yorinks said "Discovering Tomi Ungerer, William Steig, particularly Maurice Sendak, was a turning point.
[1] In 1971 Yorinks began working for The American Mime Theatre after studying ballet and dancing.
Yorinks continued to work with Egielski, collaborating on Louis the Fish (1980), which was inspired by Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis.
[3] Yorinks also worked with other illustrators aside from Richard Egielski, such as Maurice Sendak, William Stieg, Mort Drucker, David Small, and Martin Matje.
He has also adapted numerous works for radio, such as Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, and Garson Kanin's The Rat Race.
[6] In 2012 he made an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God to celebrate the 75th year anniversary of the book's publication.
He released the third book in the series One Mean Ant with Fly and Flea and Moth in October 2021.
[11][12] In October of 2024, Yorinks left AMT and founded and became artistic director of APT, American Physical Theater, a performing company comprising a unique blend of acting, movement, voice, silence, sound and theatrical visual elements.