Based in Tasmania, Rankin works in and with isolated communities and diverse cultural settings, as well as in commercial performance.
His parents were businesspeople who owned an early learning specialist toyshop and lived on a Chinese junk in Lane Cove, moored in Sydney Harbour for 21 years.
[2][3] Rankin enrolled in an arts degree but did not complete it, instead working in a retirement village and offering music workshops to homeless youth.
[citation needed] As creative director of Big hART and as playwright and director,[4] Rankin has created or collaborated on many large-scale Australian stage productions: Namatjira for the Namatjira family;[5] Ngapartji Ngapartji for Trevor Jamieson,[6][7][8] Box the Pony for Leah Purcell;[9][10] RiverlanD for Wesley Enoch;[11] StickybrickS for the Northcott Public Housing community in Surry Hills, Sydney;[12] Junk Theory for the Sutherland Shire,[13] as well as internationally touring works such as Certified Male.
He has also toured to Sweden, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Germany[25] and the Netherlands.