Bio
Robin Williams was an American actor and comedian who rose to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the television sitcom Mork & Mindy, later becoming known for his stand-up comedy work and for performing in many feature films since 1980.
He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. Previously, he was nominated by the Academy for Best Actor in Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society and The Fisher King.
Williams began his career in stand-up comedy and first gained attention as Mork from Ork on the hit television series Mork & Mindy. He then made his feature film debut in Popeye and went on to star in Moscow on the Hudson, The World According to Garp, Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, Patch Adams, Awakenings, Flubber, World's Greatest Dad, Night at the Museum and Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian.
He worked with Hollywood directors such as Steven Spielberg in Hook, Christopher Nolan in Insomnia, Mark Romanek in One Hour Photo and Mike Nichols in Birdcage, for which the cast won a SAG ensemble award.
Additionally, Williamss lent his voice to the beloved animated movies Aladdin, Robots, Happy Feet and Happy Feet Two. His other feature films include Boulevard, The Butler, A Friggin' Christmas Miracle and The Angriest Man in Brooklyn.
He performed numerous comedy tours and taped successful HBO comedy specials, such as Weapons of Self Destruction and the five-time Emmy Award-nominated special, Robin Williams: Live on Broadway. He was honoured with the Stand-Up Icon Award at the 2012 Comedy Awards.
Williams' theatre credits include Broadway's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, as well as productions of Waiting for Godot and The Exonerated. He's received five Grammy Awards for his one-man shows and his children's album Pecos Bill.
Born in Chicago and raised in both Michigan and California, Williams trained at New York's Julliard School. Williams supported numerous philanthropic causes, including health care, human rights, education, environmental protection and the arts.
He headlined a number of USO tours, traveling to Iraq and Afghanistan five times, and helped raise more than $50-million to help America's homeless in affiliation with Comic Relief.
In 2013 he headlined his first television series since Mork & Mindy in the sitcom The Crazy Ones, playing Simon Roberts, an eccentric Chicago advertising executive.
In 2014 he committed suicide by hanging himself with a belt. He was suffering from depression, Parkinson's disease, paranoia and Lewy Body Dementia at the time.