Zelda May Rubinstein[1] (May 28, 1933[2] – January 27, 2010) was an American actress and human rights activist, known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the Poltergeist film series.

[3] Playing "Ginny", she was a regular on David E. Kelley's Emmy Award-winning television series Picket Fences for two seasons.

She also made guest appearances in the TV show Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996), as seer Christina, and was the voice of Skittles candies in their long-running "Taste the Rainbow" ad campaign.

"[7] In adulthood at her tallest, she stood 4 ft 3 in (1.30 m) tall[8] Commenting in 2002 on the challenges of being a very short-statured person, Rubinstein said, "Midgets are societally handicapped.

Film critic Pauline Kael, who essentially dismissed Poltergeist as an "entertaining hash", held special praise for Rubinstein's portrayal of the psychic Tangina, saying she "gives the movie new life and makes a large chunk of it work.

[7] Rubinstein's other film roles included Sixteen Candles, Under the Rainbow, Cages, Teen Witch, The Wildcard, Southland Tales and National Lampoon's Last Resort.

Beginning in 1999, she performed voiceovers for television, starting with the Fox Family reality TV show Scariest Places on Earth over its multiple seasons.

[3] She also appeared in a cameo as herself at the Revenge of the Mummy ride in Universal Studios Florida on the screens which shows various actors from the films warning the people to leave, telling them about the curse of Imhotep.

She appeared in a series of advertisements, directed towards gay men specifically, promoting safer sex and AIDS awareness.

Eric Stevens, Rubinstein's agent for four years, said the actress never recovered from a mild heart attack several months earlier, which he said had left her a patient at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles.