Tim Robbins (b.1958,) fully Timothy Francis Robbins, is an American actor and director. Noted for his versatility and outspoken liberal political views, he is best known for portraying the lead character in The Shawshank Redemption (1994.)
Born in West Covina, California, the son of a folk-singer, Robbins was raised in a politically active household and joined the avant-garde acting group Theater for the New City when he was twelve. A drama major at University of California-Los Angeles, he was one of the founders of the experimental theatre company the Actors’ Gang in 1981.
Robbins made his film début in No Small Affair (1984) and worked broadly in mainstream film and television to subsidize the radical theatre work he often co-wrote. Among his plays are Slick Slack Griff Graff (1985) and Carnage: A Comedy (1987,) about religious fundamentalism.
Robbins’s film career advanced with roles in Bull Durham (1988,) Jacob’s Ladder (1990,) and The Player (1992.) He directed and acted in the political satire Bob Roberts (1992) and directed Dead Man Walking (1995,) which won a Best Actress Academy Award for his off-screen, long-term partner Susan Sarandon. He has also acted in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994,) The Shawshank Redemption (1994,) and Mystic River (2003,) for which he won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Tim Robbins
I grew up in New York, and I have that in me, that be-honest-at-all-costs, don’t b.s. me attitude. I say, “If you’ve got something to say about me, say it to my face. And then we’ll either talk about it or fight about it.”
—Tim Robbins
Topics: Honesty
Let us live for the beauty of our own reality.
—Tim Robbins
Topics: Beauty
I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
—Tim Robbins
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