Robin Williams Biography

Robin McLaurin Williams best known as the manic comic who won a dramatic Oscar for Good Will Hunting was born on July 21, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois. He spent his childhood years in Chicago and was raised in Bloomfield, Michigan. After that they moved to Marin County, California, near San Francisco because of his father's early retirement who was an executive at Ford Motor Company.

Following his political science studies at Claremont Men's College in Claremont, California, Robin begin studying drama at the Juilliard School in New York City. Back in the San Francisco area, he began performing as both a mime and a stand-up comedian on the burgeoning West Coast comedy club circuit.

Robin Williams became a star in the 1970s TV series Mork and Mindy. Williams also brought his talents for improvisation and stand-up comedy to cable television, headlining two Home Box Office (HBO) comedy specials, An Evening with Robin Williams (1982) and Robin Williams: Live at the Met (1986).

He made his film debut in the title role of a disappointing live-action version of Popeye (1980), directed by Robert Altman. Though he earned acclaim for his performances in a film version of John Irving's The World According to Garp (1982) and the well-reviewed Moscow on the Hudson (1984), he also starred in less inspiring projects such as The Survivors (1983), Club Paradise (1986), and The Best of Times (1986).

In 1987, Williams made the leap to the Hollywood A-list with his Oscar-nominated performance in Good Morning, Vietnam, and earned his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1989, for his performance as John Keating, the inspirational prep-school teacher at the heart of Dead Poets Society.

In 1990, he starred as a doctor who treats a catatonic patient (Robert De Niro) in the acclaimed drama Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall. On a less serious (and less successful) note, he played Peter Pan in Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991), a notorious big-budget flop which costarred Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts.

Though he is highly regarded for his ability to perform numerous different voices, he only has lent his voice to four animated features: "Ferngully", "Aladdin", "Aladdin and the King of Thieves", and "Robots". He had his biggest (live-action) commercial success yet with the 1993 comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, in which he played a divorced father who dresses up as a female housekeeper in order to spend time with his children.

Robin Williams was married to Valerie Velardi in June 4, 1978 with whom he had one child, Zachary. They seperate out in 1988 and Robin married to Marsha Garces Williams whom he wed on April 30, 1989. They have two children, Zelda and Cody.

Robin and his wife Garces founded the Windfall Foundation, a philanthropic organization to raise money for many different charities. Robin Williams devotes much of his energy doing work for charities, including the Comic Relief fund-raising efforts.