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| Despite his lifelong interest in funny business, Robin Williams initially trained as a dramatic actor, first at Marin College in California and then at Juilliard under John Houseman. After leaving the prestigious New York school, he returned to California to perform standup on the club circuit. His first real break came after an appearance in L.A.'s Comedy Store, which in turn led to a regular gig on George Schlatter's short-lived late '70s reincarnation of Laugh-In. From there, Williams was cast as a crazy space alien on a fanciful episode of Happy Days. William's portrayal of Mork from Ork delighted audiences and generated so great a response that producer Garry Marshall gave Williams his own sitcom, Mork and Mindy, which ran from 1978 to 1982. The show was a hit and established Williams as one of the most popular comedians of the '70s and '80s. |
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| Williams made his starring big screen debut in the title role of Robert Altman's elaborate comic fantasy Popeye. He gave one of his most heartfelt performances in The World According to Garp, and turned in an unforgettable performance in Moscow on the Hudson. Robin did equally exemplary work on the small screen as Tommy Wilhelm in PBS's Saul Bellow adaptation Seize the Day. In 1987’s Good Morning, Vietnam, Robin portrayed real-life deejay Adrian Cronauer, stationed in Saigon during the late sixties. Williams received a much-deserved Oscar nomination for the role. |
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| Robin played an introverted scientist in Awakenings, and an inspirational English teacher in Dead Poets Society, a role that earned him his second Oscar nomination. His tragi-comic portrayal of a mad, homeless man in search of salvation and the Holy Grail in The Fisher King earned him a third nomination. In 1993, Williams lent his voice to two popular animated movies, Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest and Aladdin, in which he played a rollicking genie. 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire was one of the year's biggest hits, and he had another hit in 1995, playing a homosexual club owner in The Bird Cage. In 1997, Robin’s dramatic performance in Good Will Hunting earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. |
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After the success of Good Will Hunting, Williams appeared in a series of films with mixed critical and commercial results, including Patch Adams, What Dreams May Come, the documentary Get Bruce, Bicentennial Man and Jakob the Liar. In 2002 he portrayed three deeply disturbed and tortured souls with roles in Death to Smoochy, Insomnia and One Hour Photo. In 2004 he starred in the little-seen thriller The Final Cut and in the melodrama The House of D. He appeared in the comic documentary The Aristocrats and lent his voice to a character in the animated adventure Robots, and in 2006 starred in RV and Man of the Year. He also played the lead in the big screen adaptation of Armistead Maupin's controversial novel The Night Listener. Robin voiced a role in Happy Feet, and most recently had roles in Man of the Year, August Rush, License to Wed and Night at the Museum. |
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Williams has recorded three comedy albums, appeared in a multitude of television comedy specials, and since the 1980s has emceed Comic Relief, an annual televised benefit for the homeless. |
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