Tim Robbins

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Tim Robbins

Tim Robbins at Cannes, 2001
Born Timothy Francis Robbins
October 16, 1958 (1958-10-16) (age 49)
West Covina, California
Occupation actor, director, producer, screenwriter
Years active 1979 - present
Domestic partner(s) Susan Sarandon (1988-)
Official website

Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an Academy Award-winning American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist, and musician. He is the longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Robbins was born in West Covina, California, but raised in New York City, the son of Mary (née Bledsoe), an actress, and Gilbert Robbins, a musician, publishing executive, nightclub owner, and folk singer.[1][2] Robbins has two sisters, Adele and Gabrielle, and a brother, David. Robbins was raised a Catholic.[3] He moved to Greenwich Village with his family at a young age while his father pursued a career as a member of the folk music group The Highwaymen. Robbins started doing theater at age twelve and joined the drama club at Stuyvesant High School.[4] He spent two years at SUNY Plattsburgh and then returned to California to study at the UCLA Film School.

[edit] Career

Robbins's acting career began at Theater for the New City, where he spent his teenage years in their Annual Summer Street Theater and also played the title role in a musical adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. After graduation from college in 1981, Robbins founded the Actors' Gang, an experimental theater group, in Los Angeles with actor friends from his college softball team. He also took small parts in films, such as the role of frat animal "Mother" in Fraternity Vacation (1985). He played in The Love Boat, as a young version of one of the characters in retrospection about Second World War. His breakthrough role was as pitcher Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh in the 1988 baseball movie Bull Durham.

He received critical acclaim and won the Best Actor Award at Cannes for his starring role as an amoral movie executive in Robert Altman's 1992 film The Player. He made his directorial and screenwriting debut with 1992's Bob Roberts, a mockumentary about a right-wing senatorial candidate. Robbins then starred alongside Morgan Freeman in the critically acclaimed The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which was based on Stephen King's short story.

Robbins has written, produced, and directed several films with strong social content, such as the critically acclaimed capital punishment saga Dead Man Walking (1995), starring Sarandon and Sean Penn. The film earned him a Oscar nomination for Best Director. His next directorial effort was 1999's Depression-era musical Cradle Will Rock. Robbins has also appeared in mainstream Hollywood thrillers, such as 1999's Arlington Road (as a terrorist) and 2001's Antitrust (as a malicious computer tycoon). Robbins has also acted in and directed several Actors' Gang theater productions.

Robbins won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and the SAG Award for his work in Mystic River (2003), as a man traumatized from having been molested as a child. In 2005, he won the 39th annual Man of the Year Pudding Pot Award given by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals of Harvard. His most recent acting roles include a temporarily blind man who is nursed to health by a psychologically wounded young woman in The Secret Life of Words and an Apartheid torturer in Catch a Fire.

In early 2006, Robbins directed[5] an adaptation of George Orwell's novel 1984, written by Michael Gene Sullivan[6] of the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. The show opened at Actors' Gang, at their new location at The Ivy Substation in Culver City, California. In addition to venues around the United States, it has played in Athens, Greece, the Melbourne International Festival in Australia and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Robbins is considering adapting the play into a film version.[7]

In 2007, Robbins filmed The Return with co-star Rachel McAdams. Shooting took place in Illinois, including scenes filmed at Mojo's Music in Edwardsville, Illinois.

[edit] Personal life

Robbins lives in New York City. Since 1988, Robbins has been in a relationship with actress Susan Sarandon whom he met on the set of Bull Durham. They have two sons: Jack Henry (born 1989) and Miles Guthrie (born 1992). Robbins, like Sarandon, is a lapsed Catholic,[8] and they both share liberal political views. At 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), Robbins is one of the tallest actors in Hollywood.[9]

Robbins, cousin of Natural Law Party guru Timothy Robbins, is an avowed supporter of Ralph Nader and appeared on stage in character as Bob Roberts during the "Nader Rocks the Garden" rally at Madison Square Garden during Nader's campaign for the U.S. presidency in 2000. Robbins is a prominent spokesperson for anti-globalisation, a frequent critic of U.S. President George W. Bush, and a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq. In December 2007, he endorsed and campaigned for trial lawyer and senator John Edwards in the U.S. presidential election, 2008.[10]

In 2003, a 15th anniversary celebration of Bull Durham at the National Baseball Hall of Fame was cancelled by Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey. Petroskey, who was on the White House staff during the Reagan administration, said Robbins's public stance against President Bush and the war represented "a danger". Durham co-star Kevin Costner, a self-described Libertarian, defended Robbins and Sarandon, saying "I think Tim and Susan's courage is the type of courage that makes our democracy work. Pulling back this invite is against the whole principle about what we fight for and profess to be about."[11] Robbins later said that Costner, Clint Eastwood, and Jack Valenti were the only major Hollywood figures that stood up for his free speech rights in this case and noted that all three men are either Republicans or very conservative Democrats, adding that he felt there could be common ground between individuals with different political beliefs.

Robbins is an avid baseball and hockey fan. He supports the New York Mets and the New York Rangers and frequently attends games. In 1995, Robbins did a series of promos for the MSG network advertising upcoming Rangers games.

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1985 Fraternity Vacation Larry "Mother" Tucker
The Sure Thing Gary Cooper
1986 Howard the Duck Phil Blumburtt Razzie nominee for Worst Supporting Actor
Top Gun Lt. Sam 'Merlin' Wells
1988 Tapeheads Josh Tager
Bull Durham Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh
Five Corners Harry
1989 Erik the Viking Erik
Miss Firecracker Delmount
1990 Jacob's Ladder Jacob Singer
Cadillac Man Larry
1992 Bob Roberts Bob Roberts also as writer, director
The Player Griffin Mill BAFTA Nominee for Best Actor
1993 Short Cuts Gene Shepard
1994 I.Q. Ed Walters
Prêt-à-Porter (Ready to Wear) Joe Flynne
The Shawshank Redemption Andy Dufresne Oscar nominee for Best Picture
The Hudsucker Proxy Norville Barnes
1995 Dead Man Walking as writer/director only
Academy Award nominee
1997 Nothing to Lose Nick Beam
1999 Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me The President
Cradle Will Rock as writer/director only
Arlington Road Oliver Lang
2000 Mission to Mars Woodrow 'Woody' Blake
High Fidelity Ian 'Ray' Raymond
2001 Antitrust Gary Winston
2002 Human Nature Dr. Nathan Bronfman
The Truth About Charlie Lewis Bartholomew
2003 Mystic River Dave Boyle Academy Award winner
SAG Award winner
Golden Globe winner
Code 46 William Geld
2004 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Public News Anchor (Cameo - uncredited)
2005 The Secret Life of Words Josef
Zathura Dad
War of the Worlds Harlan Oglivy
2006 Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny The Stranger
Catch a Fire Nic Vos
2007 Noise David Owen
2008 The Lucky Ones Cheever completed
City of Ember TBA post-production

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tim Robbins Biography. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
  2. ^ Ancestry of Tim Robbins. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
  3. ^ Wattenberg, Daniel (2001-03-19). No Nukes - how director Tim Robbins incorporates conspiracy into plots of his films. National Review. Archived from [unknown the original] on 2001-03-19.
  4. ^ Inside the Actors Studio - Guests - Tim Robbins. Bravo (1999-12-05). Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
  5. ^ 1984. Archived from the original on 2007-07-03. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
  6. ^ Velina Brown and Michael Gene Sullivan. Retrieved on 2007-11-01.
  7. ^ Morris, Clint. "Tim Robbins returns to 1984", 2006-01-15. Retrieved on 2007-11-01. 
  8. ^ Labor of Love: With Dead Man Walking, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins Go From Oscar Outlaws to Golden Couple by Rebecca Ascher-Walsh. Entertainment Weekly (1996-03-22). Archived from [unknown the original] on 1996-03-22.
  9. ^ Biography for Tim Robbins. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2008-01-27.
  10. ^ Political Punch
  11. ^ "Tim Robbins: Hall of Fame violates freedom", 2003-04-13. Retrieved on 2007-11-01. 

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
John Turturro
for Barton Fink		 Award for Best Actor - Cannes Film Festival
1992
for The Player		 Succeeded by
David Thewlis
for Naked
Preceded by
Chris Cooper
for Adaptation.		 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003
for Mystic River		 Succeeded by
Morgan Freeman
for Million Dollar Baby
Preceded by
Chris Cooper
for Adaptation.		 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
2004
for Mystic River		 Succeeded by
Clive Owen
for Closer
v • d • e
Tim Robbins
1990s
2000s
Embedded (Video)
Television
"Saturday Night Live" (1975 - ) • "Queens Supreme" (2003)
v • d • e
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Jim Broadbent (2001) · Chris Cooper (2002) · Tim Robbins (2003) · Morgan Freeman (2004) · George Clooney (2005) · Alan Arkin (2006) · Javier Bardem (2007)

Complete list · (1936–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)


Persondata
NAME Robbins, Tim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Robbins, Timothy Francis
SHORT DESCRIPTION actor, screenwriter, director, producer
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH West Covina, California, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH