Robin Williams

An Academy Award-winning actor and multiple Grammy-winning performer unparalleled in the scope of his imagination, Robin Williams continues to add to his repertoire of indelible characters.

Williams, who began his career as a stand-up comedian, recently wrapped his critically acclaimed, sold-out, Weapons of Self Destruction comedy tour as one of the most successful stand-up comedy tours of the year. Over the course of the tour, Williams performed 90 shows in 65 cities in front of 300,000 fans across the country, as well as in London and Canada. Since its launch in September 2008, the tour grossed an astounding $40 million. Weapons was taped over two nights at Washington, DC's DAR Constitution Hall and premiered on December 6 on HBO as the network's highest rated stand-up comedy special of the year.

Well known for his free-associative monologues and for pointing out life's absurdities through his astute social and political observations, Williams' previous comedy tour was in 2002. After a 16-year absence from the stand-up scene, he hit the road and toured America with a critically acclaimed one-man show that became the highest-grossing comedy tour ever and culminated in a final performance filmed by HBO and broadcast live from New York on July 14, 2002. The special, entitled Robin Williams: Live On Broadway, was nominated for five Emmy Awards.

On the big screen, Williams was recently seen starring in the dark comedy, World's Greatest Dad. The film premiered to raves at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and Robin's performance has been touted as one of the best of his career. Bobcat Goldthwait directed the film, which was released by Magnolia Pictures at the end of August 2009.

In 1997, Williams received an Oscar and Screen Actors Guild award for his performance as 'Sean Maguire,' the therapist who counsels Matt Damon's math genius character in Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting. The Academy previously nominated Williams for best actor in The Fisher King, Dead Poets Society, and Good Morning Vietnam. Williams garnered a special honor from the National Board of Review for his performance opposite Robert DeNiro in Awakenings. In 2004, Williams received the prestigious Career Achievement Award from the Chicago International Film festival and, in 2005, the HFPA honored him with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.

Williams' filmography includes a number of blockbusters. In 1993, he starred in Chris Columbus' Mrs. Doubtfire. For Mike Nichols, Williams portrayed 'Armand Goldman' in The Birdcage, for which the cast won a SAG ensemble award. In 1996, both The Birdcage and Jumanji reached the $100 million mark in the USA in exactly the same week. Williams went on to assume the dual roles of Peter Pan/Peter Banning in Steven Spielberg's Hook, to play a medical student who treats patients with humor in Patch Adams and to star in Disney's Flubber. In 2006, Robin appeared opposite Ben Stiller in the hit comedy, Night at the Museum. To date, the film has earned over $250 million in the United States alone. In May 2009 he reprised his role as 'Teddy Roosevelt' in the sequel, Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, which so far has earned another $400 million for the franchise worldwide. In addition, Williams' award-winning vocal talents helped propel the Warner Bros. animated film, Happy Feet, to another $200 million box office, as well as the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Hide