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| Real Name: Robin Williams | ||||
| Birthday: July 21, 1952 | ||||
| Place of Birth: Chicago, IL | ||||
| Education: The Juilliard School, New York, New York. | ||||
| Family: Wife: Velardi, Valerie. Divorced. Current Wife: Garces Williams, Marsha. Married April 1989. Son: Zachary, Cody, Daughter: Zelda | ||||
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Robin Williams Biography And Filmography: A bouncing performer who made his name as part of the budding Los Angeles comedy scene in the late 1970s, Robin Williams first grabbed the nation's attention as the extra-terrestrial, Mork from Ork, on the popular sitcom "Happy Days," which quickly led to the spin off television show, "Mork and Mindy" (ABC, 1978-1982). Once known as a stand-up comedian and a small screen star, he moved on to feature work where he has been successful in both dramatic and comic roles. The only child of an automobile executive and a homemaker, Williams was raised in a well-off family and had no yearning to perform. He liked sports and studies until his family relocated to Marin County, CA around 1967. While attending Claremont Men's College, Williams discovered theater and dropped out to chase a career, ultimately landing as a student at Julliard. After three years in NYC, Williams returned to San Francisco and worked to find his spot in stand-up comedy. In 1976, he auditioned at the Improv and his career took off.
The small screen could barely contain Williams and his free thinking actions and it was only a matter of time before he would try his skill in feature films. Although his launch as a film lead, in "Popeye" (1980), was a disappointment, viewers were thrown by director Robert Altman's true vision. Box office receipts came two years after with George Roy Hill's "The World According to Garp" (1982) with Glenn Close. Except for for "Moscow on the Hudson" (1984), in which he played a Russian seeking sanctuary in America, his follow up movies were tame. Although some of Williams best moments in "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1987) were the product of on set improvisations, his impulsiveness was at one point seen as a blockade to a dramatic screen career, despite the Best Actor Oscar nomination he received. Williams defied early doubt and proved himself competent of serious film work. He made a unusual dramatic appearance on television in "Seize the Day" (1987) and Peter Weir's "Dead Poets Society" (1989) cast him as a prep school "cool" teacher. While he periodically showed some of his trademarked humor in the role, Williams proved a serious movie lead and gained a second Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Penny Marshall cast him as real life doctor Oliver Sacks in "Awakenings" (1990) and even with his great work, co-star Robert De Niro earned most of the credit. Robin Williams earned a third Best Actor Oscar nomination for his role as a homeless man in "The Fisher King" (1991). For much of the decade, Williams switched between drama and comedy. He made a great grown up Peter Pan in Steven Spielberg's "Hook" (1991) alongside Julia Roberts, but the actor had one of his finest and most successful movie experiences with the animated Disney feature "Aladdin" (1992). Providing the voice of the Genie, and freed from the physical world of live film acting, Williams took off on some dazzling improvisations, impersonating scores of pop culture icons from Arnold Schwarzenegger to William F. Buckley. He later played the role in the second direct to video sequel, 1996's "Aladdin and the King of Thieves".
Another box office smash hit resulted when he joined an influential group of actors (Dustin Hoffman, Jack Lemmon and the Monty Python comedy troupe, to name a very few), and donned a dress and wig to play an aged Scottish nanny in Chris Columbus' family comedy "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993) with Pierce Brosnan. He had side-splitting cameos as an obstetrician in Columbus' "Nine Months" and as a used car salesman in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" (both 1995) before gaining another box office smash hit with "Jumanji" in 1995. As the adult version of a child who had escaped from a problematic relationship with a remote father into the fantasy world of a board game, Williams drew on his own childhood. A more laid-back performance as Armand, the nightclub owner with a wired drag queen lover (Nathan Lane), in "The Birdcage" (1996), Mike Nichols' reworking of 1978's "La Cage aux folles,” followed. That same year, he tried to save the sentimental "Jack", about a 10 year old boy with a genetic disorder, playing well with newcomer Jennifer Lopez. Williams finished out the year, returning to his conventional beginnings to play the old Osric in Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet.” Since the mid-1980s, Williams, Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal have hosted "Comic Relief,” HBO specials designed to raise funds to aid the homeless. In 1997, Williams and Crystal teamed onscreen for "Father's Day", a weak remake of a French comedy. Williams rebounded, literally and figuratively, with Disney's "Flubber" (1997), a remake of the 1961 Fred MacMurray movie "The Absent Minded Professor", that permitted the comic to get into his more hyper side. Williams went on to give one of his best received performances ever, for which he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, as a subdued therapist trying to help a troubled whiz kid in "Good Will Hunting" (1997) costarring with Tobey Maguire, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck
Williams then undertook the wild fantasy "What Dreams May Come" and audience pleasing "Patch Adams" (both in 1998), before returning to heavy dramatic lead productions with "Jakob the Liar" (1999), about a man who protects a child from the Nazis during World War II.. 2002 was a return to comedy for Williams, providing many laughs in the Danny Devito directed, "Death To Smoochy," featuring Edward Norton and Williams as a vengeance seeking children’s' television show host who is fired and replaced by a purple rhino named Smoochy. It was a disaster. Williams next appeared in two heavy dramas, as a assassin in "Insomnia" and a stalker in "One Hour Photo" (both 2002). Robins earned respect for his brave roles that were a change from his comedic personality, and enjoyed the success of performing in a different genre. He followed up with the challenging science fiction adventure thriller "Final Cut" (2004), playing an authority at editing people's memories to give them more desirable personal histories, and who discovers a dark and disturbing memory from his own childhood. Not one of Williams better movies, “Final Cut” slipped softly into box office collapse. Williams then stole the show in “Robots” (2005) with Halle Berry, as the voice of Fender, a robot whose body parts like to fall off at inopportune moments. In his next project, “House of D” (2005), David Duchovny’s first feature as a director, Williams played a mentally challenged delivery man in his 30s who finds himself losing his best friend, a 13-year-old boy (Anton Yelchin) discovering the opposite sex for the first time. Williams then returned to the studio world with the comedy, “RV” (2006), playing an over worked executive who at the last minute changes his family’s Hawaiian vacation into a road trip from hell to Colorado in an RV he scarcely knows how to drive. Along the way, they come across a group of devoted RV lovers, forcing them to join together and become a family again, if they can avoid driving each other insane. Despite poor reviews, “RV” took its opening weekend with a $20 million take at the box office. Next, Williams starred in “The Night Listener” (2006), a psychological thriller about Gabriel Noone, a popular late night radio host who develops an intense on-air relationship with Pete (Rory Culkin), a 14 year old boy living with AIDS. But he soon questions Pete’s identity and his past, thanks to the bizarre behavior of the boy’s strict and overprotective mother (Toni Collette), leading Noone down a distressing path to find the truth.
Williams then starred in “Man of the Year” (2006), playing a admired talk show host whose phony run for president shocks the nation, and himself, when he actually wins. Returning to animation, he once again graced us with his vocal talents along with Nicole Kidman in “Happy Feet” (2006), a family comedy about Mumble, an Emperor Penguin whose inability to sing is overcome by his talent as a dancer. In “Night at the Museum” (2006), Williams portrays former president Theodore Roosevelt, a wax exhibit who gives advice to the new security guard (Ben Stiller) at the Museum of Natural History where everything come to life in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, Williams signed on to appear in several more 2007 features, including “License to Wed” teaming with Mandy Moore, a romantic comedy about a young couple’s wedding plans being interrupted when a priest orders them to complete a two week prenuptial course and “August Rush”, a comedy about an orphaned prodigy (Freddie Highmore) who seeks to find his parents through their shared musical gifts. Next, Williams appeared in the comedy "Old Dogs" (2009) with John Travolta and Seth Green, about two friends and business partners who find their lives turned upside down when strange circumstances lead to them being placed in the care of 7-year-old twins. And finally, the actor graced the family comedy "The Krazees" (2009) about a psychologist (Robert Williams) who is unable to deal with his daughter reaching puberty and has to get a handle on his emotions, which have come to life as different characters.
Family
Significant Others
Education
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Williams made
his television debut as a member of the cast of a revival of
"Laugh-In" (NBC, 1977-78). In February 1978, he was introduced as Mork, a
hyper, fast talking space alien, on an episode of the ABC sitcom "Happy
Days.” Producer Garry Marshall was so overwhelmed, he executive produced the
spin off series "Mork and Mindy,” which teamed Williams with Pam
Dawber and quickly became a smash hit with Mork's catch phrase of "Nanu, Nanu"
entering into our vocabulary. 
After a small
role as an actor whose life is so out of control he literally becomes out of
focus in Woody Allen's "Deconstructing Harry" in 1997 starring
with 