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Tim Robbins
Actor, Director
National Press Club Luncheon Speaker -- April 15, 2003
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Born Oct. 16, 1958, in West Covina, Calif., actor and director Tim Robbins was exposed to politics and theater at an early age. His parents encouraged their children to become politically and artistically active, and throughout his career, Robbins has used his celebrity status to speak out on issues ranging from AIDS to, most recently, the war in Iraq.
He was raised in New York City's Greenwich Village, where he first performed onstage with his father, folksinger Gil Robbins. At the age of 12, Robbins joined the Theater for the New City. He spent the next seven years as part of the acting troupe. At Stuyvesant High School, he joined the drama club, appearing on stage and also directing.
Robbins spent two years at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, but transferred to UCLA to pursue a degree in theater. After graduating in 1980, Robbins reunited with a few of his college peers to form a politically radical avant-garde theater troupe, the Actor's Gang. Robbins began taking movie roles to raise money for the group; his film debut came in 1984's Toy Soldiers, in which he had a small role. His first starring role came in 1985's Fraternity Vacation. Robbins played minor parts in Top Gun and The Sure Thing, before securing the key role of oddball minor-league pitcher Nuke LaLoosh in 1988's Bull Durham, opposite Kevin Costner.
In 1992, Robbins won Best Actor honors at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in The Player. That same year, he wrote, directed, starred and performed the music in Bob Roberts, a "mockumentary" parodying right-wing politics through the vehicle of a cynical, folk-singing candidate.
Robbins is well known for his liberal views. A longtime Green Party member, Robbins voted for Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election. And his outspokenness fueled a small controversy in 1993 when he and his longtime partner, actress Susan Sarandon, gave a short speech during the Oscars presentation about Haitian political refugees with AIDS. Recently, he has joined other Hollywood stars to speak out against the Bush administration's policies, attending antiwar rallies
In 1994, he had four major Hollywood releases: The Hudsucker Proxy, I.Q., Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter), and the Oscar-nominated The Shawshank Redemption. He was nominated for the Oscar for Best Director the following year, for his work on Dead Man Walking. Sarandon won Best Actress for her role as a nun helping death row inmate Sean Penn come to terms with his pending execution. Penn was nominated for Best Actor. After a three-year hiatus from acting, Robbins returned to the screen in 1997 with the comedy Nothing to Lose. In 1999, Robbins starred in Arlington Road alongside Jeff Bridges. Since then, he has taken roles in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), AntiTrust (2001) and The Truth About Charlie (2002).
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