Born January 20, 1952 in Kelma (Lithuania).
From 1970 to 1974 he studied at the Lithuanian Conservatory.
In 1978 he graduated from the directorial faculty of GITIS (course of I. Tumanov). His first performance was “January” by the Bulgarian playwright J. Radichkov (1978) at the Lithuanian SSR Drama Theatre, and the first Moscow production was “Melody for the Peacock” by O. Zagradnik (1979) at the Stanislavsky Theatre. Combining the hard to connect (including the concert performance with the ensemble of the production), the director gave criticism the reason to write about the “harmony of discomfort” in his early performances. According to the reviewer of the magazine "Theatre", the character of the director Tuminas "belongs to the Lithuanian school, leisurely, without screaming, without sharp tones, with her love for small things, with her softness or unexpected explosiveness in external restraint, with her ability to create the atmosphere of the play, real and mystical at the same time." The absence of acting failures in Tuminas productions, his ability to work with performers was also noted.
From 1979 to 1990, the director worked at the State Academic Drama Theatre of Lithuania, and since 1994 - its chief director (in 1998 the theater acquired the status of National Theatre). In 1999, Tuminas left the theater (the last performances were Sophocles' King Oedipus (1998), and Shakespeare's Richard III (1999).
Rimas Tuminas has staged more than 20 plays in various theaters in Lithuania and abroad. Among the foreign works are Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (1992) and The Seagull (1993) in Finland, Don Juan by Moliere in Iceland (1995). One of the productions on the Small Stage of the Lithuanian Drama Theatre is the play "There Will Be No Death Here" (1988) based on the life and work of the Lithuanian poet Paulus Shirvis. The play, which touched upon the problems of post-war development of Lithuania, was written by R. Tuminas himself in collaboration with the poet V. Kukulas. Here the poems of Shirvis, responses to the postwar spiritual situation, biographical allusions, quotations from the prose of J. London were mixed. What was important was not so much the words as the emotional mood, the instinctiveness of the movements: The spectacle... neither affirms nor refutes anything. He only testifies honestly (from the booklet to the play).
In 1990 Tuminas founded the Maly Theatre of Vilnius. Here they were staged: Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard (1990), B. Brecht’s Galileo (1991), G. Kanovičius’s Smile to Us, Lord (1994), Lermontov’s Masquerade (1997), touring abroad (Finland, Sweden, Poland, Iceland, etc.) Tuminas’ performances are successful participants of the festivals “International Baltic Theater Spring”, “Baltic House”, “Life”, “Contact”, “International Theativity Festival named after Chekhov”, etc.
After a successful show in Moscow in the framework of the III festival. Chekhov’s performance “Masquerade” (critics noted the “integrity of the aesthetic landscape” and a rare degree of freedom in the treatment of a Lithuanian director with someone else’s classics), who became a laureate of the Russian national theater award “Golden Mask” in the nomination “Best Foreign Performance of 1998”, Tuminas was invited to stage the theater “Contemporary”, where in 2000 he released the play “Play...Schiller!” based on the play by Fr. Schiller “Maria Stuart”. “Lithuanians love all sorts of hoaxes,” Tuminas says and creates a performance (the word “game” in the title is not accidental), in which he plays decisively with everything: props, acting opportunities, audience expectations. Most of all, with a familiar idea of what a tragedy should be today.
In 2002, on the stage of the Evg Vakhtangov Theatre, Rimas Tuminas staged a play based on the play by N.V. Gogol “The Inspector”, which critics called “the most scandalous and at the same time controversial performance of the season”.
Tuminas - director slowly, without fussing, gracefully, witty and simply built relationships textbook Gogol characters. And the effect was amazing when suddenly, instead of social masks, exaggerated caricatures, living and individual human faces appeared, with their own joys and troubles, dreams and losses. In this desire to “revise” Gogol, Tuminas may have – unconsciously – made an elegant curtsey to the Russian theater school: Meyerhold, Ephros’ attempt to “overshadow” Gogol’s “Marriage” – united in this performance (and is it not love for Russian culture?!). Each hero Tuminas gave the opportunity (and here he, of course, goes against the rigid, unforgiving Gogol’s view) to become another. Just for a minute, maybe just for a second, but for others: better, more honest, more beautiful. The director romantically elevated Gogol characters, sincerely believing that in each, even the most seemingly lost person, you can see the hero if you want. Of course, if you want to... And the actors, taking the relay baton of the director, perfectly coped with this task.
The visual side of the play is becoming more and more significant for Tuminas every year. If at first the director worked with different artists (A. Kapiazhinskas, I. Popov, V. Izelite, R. Daunoravichen), then in recent years he prefers the artist-co-author A. Yatsovskis. Fidelity is also maintained to composer F. Latenas.
Since 1979 he has been teaching at the Lithuanian Conservatory (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music).
In 2007, Rimas Tuminas headed the Evg Vakhtangov Theatre as Artistic Director.
Fulfilling the early promise given by G.B. Volcek, Rimas Tuminas staged the play “Woe from Wit”, which premiered on December 9, 2007 at the theater “Contemporary”.
At the Evg Vakhtangov Theatre, R. Tuminas is preparing to stage performances based on the plays Troilus and Cressida by V. Shakespeare, Silent Night by G. Muller and Last Moons by F. Bordon. The premieres of the performances will take place in the new season of the theater 2008 - 2009.