Tim Robbins life and biography

Tim Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon.

He is known for his roles as Nuke in Bull Durham, Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, and as Dave Boyle in Mystic River, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Born Timothy Francis Robbins on October 16, 1958, in West Covina, California. An Academy Award-winning actor, Tim Robbins is just as well known for his activism as he is for his dramatic talents. The son of folk singer Gil Robbins, he grew up in New York City’s famous bohemian neighborhood, Greenwich Village. He began acting as a teenager with the Theatre for the New City.

After graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1981, Robbins helped found the theater group known as The Actor’s Gang. After a number of small roles, he first caught the public’s attention as a likeable, oafish baseball player in Bull Durham (1988) with Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. Robbins and Sarandon became romantically involved and were one of Hollywood's enduring couples before their split in 2009 after 23 years together.

He went on to portray a diverse mix of lead characters, showing his great range as a performer. In Jacob’s Ladder (1990), he played a Vietnam War veteran having difficulty separating reality from delusion. Working with director Robert Altman, Robbins shined as the sharp, but shady movie executive in The Player (1992) and as an unfaithful, power-abusing cop in Short Cuts (1993). Around this time, Robbins also made the political mock documentary Bob Roberts (1992), which he wrote, directed, and starred in.

In 1995, Robbins stepped completely behind the camera for the critically acclaimed death penalty drama Dead Man Walking starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. He received an Academy Award nomination for his directorial efforts, and his then partner Sarandon won her Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Sister Helen Prejean, a nun who counsels a convicted killer waiting on death row.

Throughout his career, Robbins has been outspoken on many issues and has used his celebrity to bring attention to specific causes. Serving as presenters at 1993 Academy Awards, he and Sarandon took some of their time on camera to highlight the plight of HIV-positive Haitian refugees who were being detained by the U.S. government. While their efforts were successful in securing the refugees’ release, the couple received harsh criticism for their actions from the media and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. They were banned from the next year’s ceremonies.

Robbins received recognition from the academy for his artistic talents in 2003. He received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as an abuse victim haunted by the past and murder suspect named Dave Doyle in Mystic River (2003), directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon.

More recently, Robbins has appeared in the independent drama The Secret Life of Words (2005), the family friendly fantasy Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), and War of the Worlds (2005). He also lent his voice to the animated political satire about the Iraqi War, Embedded (2005). He also serves as the artistic director of The Actor’s Gang theater company in Los Angeles.

Robbins has two children with Sarandon together—sons Miles and Henry.

Actor
1986 Top Gun
1988 Bull Durham
1988 Tapeheads
1989 Twister
1990 Cadillac Man
1990 Jacob's Ladder
1991 Jungle Fever
1993 Short Cuts
1992 The Player
1994 The Hudsucker Proxy
1994 I.Q.
1994 The Shawshank Redemption
1994 Ready to Wear (Pret-a-Porter)
1997 Nothing to Lose
1998 The Moviegoer
1999 Arlington Road
2000 Mission to Mars
2000 High Fidelity
2002 The Truth About Charlie
2005 The Secret Life of Words
2005 War of the Worlds
2005 Zathura: A Space Adventure
2005 Embedded (voice)
2006 Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny

Director
1992 Bob Roberts
1995 Dead Man Walking
1999 The Cradle Will Rock

Television
1983 Quarterback Princess
1985 Malice In Wonderland
1986 Amazing Stories
1994 Luck, Trust & Ketchup

Radio
1992 Mayhem: The Invasion

Read more