Timothy Francis Robbins was born October 16, 1958 in West Covina, California. His parents are Mary Robbins (a sometimes actress/singer) and Gil Robbins (member of the folk group The Highwaymen). Robbins has three siblings, two of which are actors—David Robbins and Adele Robbins.

Always ambitious and bright, Robbins attended UCLA and graduated with honors in 1981. Not surprisingly, he received his degree in Drama. After graduation, Robbins established his political voice by forming the Actor’s Gang, which was known for its radical political views expressed through the avant-garde form of theater.

Throughout the early to mid 80s, Robbins pursued his acting career, appearing in many and various television series. Among his roles were Andrew Reinhardt on St. Elsewhere (1982) and one-episode appearances on Hill Street Blues (1984) and Moonlighting (1985). Robbins also began landing small roles in feature films including Rob Reiner’s 1985 teen romance The Sure Thing (starring real life friend John Cusack), the 1986 flyboy classic Top Gun and 1987’s Five Corners with Jodie Foster and John Turturro.

However, it wasn’t until 1988 that Robbins would receive his break into stardom. In this year, Robbins starred in Bull Durham opposite Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. The film was a success, and Robbins became a recognizable face in the arena of film. From his newfound success, Robbins continued to make films throughout the 80s. He appeared again with friend Cusack in Tapeheads (1988), Miss Firecracker with Holly Hunter (1989), and the Monty Python-esque 1989 film Erik the Viking.

By 1992, Robbins was getting noticed by high profile directors. The king of the ensemble cast, Robert Altman, chose Robbins to star in his already star-studded film The Player. Featuring too many Hollywood names to list, Robbins played a slick film executive subsequently blackmailed by a slighted writer. Robbins was nominated for a BAFTA as Best Actor, won a Cannes Film Festival award in that category, and won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy. In 1993, the successful duo of Robbins and Altman teamed up again for Short Cuts. The film won a specially created category of Best Ensemble Cast (Golden Globe and Venice Film Festival), of which Robbins was of course included. 

In 1994, Robbins was then awarded the lead in up-and-coming director Joel Coen’s The Hudsucker Proxy. Starring opposite film great Paul Newman and Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robbins played a naïve businessman appointed president of a failing company in order for more nefarious men (Newman) to cash out on a stock scam. In the same year Robbins made the film for which he is most often associated. The Shawshank Redemption garnered Robbins a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Actor and his costar Morgan Freeman the Oscar for Best Actor. The film itself won the coveted Oscar for Best Film.

As celebrated as Tim Robbins is for his acting, he has also established himself as a talented director. Robbins directed, wrote, and starred in the 1992 film Bob Roberts, for which he even composed the score. Additionally, he wrote and directed Dead Man Walking (1995) and Cradle Will Rock (1999), for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm Award.

In 2003, Clint Eastwood directed the widely celebrated Mystic River. Robbins was asked to play one of the three leads, which he accepted. Alongside Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon, Robbins delivered a standout performance. Penn won the Oscar for Best Actor and Robbins won for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. All in all, the film and its members won 40 various awards and were nominated for another 50. Robbins is currently filming Noise, a comedy about a man who can’t take the racket of New York City any longer and decides to do something drastic about it.

Timothy Robbins and Susan Sarandon have been partners since 1988. They have two children together. Both Robbins and Sarandon are long-standing members of the Green Party, strongly leftist in their political views and generally outspoken concerning the current socio-political situation.