The son of folk singer Gil Robbins, Tim Robbins was born in West Covina, Calif., on October 16, 1958. At UCLA, he founded the Actors' Gang theater company, with which he's still active.Small parts in 1980s youth comedies led to bigger ones in Top Gun (1986) and his breakthrough role in Bull Durham (1988) as a dim-witted rookie pitcher. His success in Robert Altman's The Player started Robbins toward more politically and socially conscious films, such as the "mockumentary" Bob Roberts (which he also wrote and directed).Two prison dramas have had lasting impact on Robbins's career -- the cult favorite The Shawshank Redemption and Dead Man Walking, the death penalty docudrama he adapted and directed (and for which he received a Best Director Oscar nomination).
His sensitive performance as a murder suspect and abuse survivor in Mystic River brought Robbins his first Oscar in 2004.