The Los Angeles native traveled throughout Europe and in Israel before settling in NYC to pursue an acting career. Yulin has amassed a number of strong credits on stage, appearing in classics like Shakespeare's "King John" (1967) and Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" (1981) and contemporary plays like Athol Fugard's "A Lesson from Aloes" (1979-80). He co-starred with Pamela Reed and Uta Hagen in Shaw's "Mrs. Warren Profession" (1985) was a strong Claudius to Kevin Kline's "Hamlet" in 1986.
Yulin made his film debut in "End of the Road" (1970) and his resume includes notable parts in Arthur Penn's "Night Moves" (1975), Brian De Palma's "Scarface" (1983) and Tom Holland's "Fatal Beauty" (1987). Woody Allen used the actor to good effect as the tweedy Paul in "Another Woman" (1988) while Philip Noyce cast him as a government advisor in "Clear and Present Danger" (1994).
On the small screen, Yulin has excelled at portraying historical characters, beginning with J Edgar Hoover in "The FBI Story: FBI Versus Alvin Karpas, Public Enemy Number One" (CBS, 1974). He was on the other side of the law as 'Machine Gun' Kelly in "Melvin Purvis: G-Man" (ABC, 1974). Among the other figures he has delineated are the Russian Fomin in "The Missiles of October" (ABC, 1974), Israeli General Foman in "Victory at Entebbe" (ABC, 1976), Jesse James in "The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang" (NBC, 1979), Senator Joseph McCarthy in "Robert Kennedy and His Times" (CBS, 1985) and George Marshall in "Truman" (HBO, 1995). Yulin co-starred as the egomaniacal, womanizing newscaster in the short-lived CBS drama series "WIOU" (1990-91). In 1996, he made a memorable Emmy-nominated guest appearance as a gangster in an episode of the NBC sitcom "Frasier".