Craig Robinson | |
---|---|
Born | Craig Phillip Robinson October 25, 1971 |
Education | |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 2001–present |
Craig Phillip Robinson (born October 25, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. The accolades he has received include nominations for five Screen Actors Guild Awards, an Independent Spirit Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award.
Robinson is best known for portraying Darryl Philbin on The Office (2005–2013). He also portrayed Ray Heyworth on Mr. Robot (2016), LeVar "Freight Train" Brown on The Cleveland Show (2009–2013), and Doug "the Pontiac Bandit" Judy on Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021). He also frequently collaborates with Seth Rogen, including the films Pineapple Express (2008), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), This Is the End (2013), and Sausage Party (2016). Robinson has appeared in numerous other television shows and films, including Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), Get On Up (2014), An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018), and Dolemite Is My Name (2019), as well as voicing characters in films such as Shrek Forever After (2010) and The Bad Guys (2022). He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film Morris from America .
From 2020 to 2021, Robinson hosted the reality dancing show The Masked Dancer. He also has appeared in commercials for Pizza Hut, Dietz & Watson, Walmart, Dodge Motors, and Gain detergent. Since 2022, Robinson stars in and executive produces the Peacock series Killing It .
Robinson was born on October 25, 1971, [1] [2] in Chicago, Illinois, to a music teacher mother and an attorney father. [3] [4] He was raised on the South Side of Chicago, and was brought up Methodist. [5] He attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Illinois State University in 1994, and his Master of Education from Saint Xavier University. He was a music teacher at Horace Mann Elementary School in Chicago, and Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in Hammond, Indiana and East Chicago Central High School in East Chicago, Indiana. [6]
Robinson began doing stand-up and taking classes in improv and acting at The Second City in Chicago while still in college. [7] He was on Def Comedy Jam season 7, episode 2. After doing open-mic sessions in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere and winning regional comedy competitions, he began to get spots on late night TV shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live . [7] 2004 saw him cast in bit parts, including episodes of Friends , The Bernie Mac Show , LAX and Arrested Development . [7] Those led to small film roles in Knocked Up , Pineapple Express and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story .
Beginning in 2005, he portrayed Darryl Philbin on the American version of The Office , appearing first in "The Alliance", the fourth episode of the first season. Robinson was promoted to a starring role in the fourth season and continued until the show ended in 2013.
In 2010, he hosted season seven of Last Comic Standing with judges Greg Giraldo, Natasha Leggero, and Andy Kindler.
He has appeared on other television shows, including Brooklyn Nine-Nine , Lucky , Halfway Home , and Reno 911! . He appeared in the music video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Hump de Bump". He voiced Cookie in Shrek Forever After (2010) and played Reg Mackworthy on the HBO hit series Eastbound & Down (2009–2012).
Robinson is a frequent collaborator with Seth Rogen, starring alongside Rogen in the films Knocked Up (2007), Pineapple Express (2008), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), This Is the End (2013), Sausage Party (2016), as well as the miniseries Santa Inc. (2021).
Robinson performed at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in 2008. [6]
In addition to Shrek Forever After and Sausage Party, Robinson has also provided his voice for the films Escape from Planet Earth (2013), Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013), Henchmen (2018), and Dolittle (2020).
He also appeared in the Korean film D-War (Korean: 디워), released in North America as Dragon Wars: D-War in 2007.
Around 2014, Robinson portrayed a farmer in commercials for the mobile game Hay Day.
Making a departure from his comedy background, Robinson portrayed saxophonist Maceo Parker in the James Brown biopic Get On Up (2014). In December 2015, he appeared in several Wal-Mart commercials promoting their credit card while singing and playing the piano at the store. [8] He received rave reviews for the A24 drama Morris from America (2016), [9] earning a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He also played the role of Ray Hayworth in the second season of the drama series Mr. Robot . In 2018 he had a lead role playing the title character in the crime comedy film An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn .
In 2019 Robinson became the spokesman for the Philadelphia-area meat producer Dietz & Watson, appearing in several commercials for the company's line of deli meats. The first of these commercials aired in January 2019, featuring Robinson and his brother Chris promoting the snack Dietz Nuts with Robinson playing up the double entendre in the name of the product. [10]
In June 2020, Robinson was reportedly confirmed to be starring in the pandemic-themed thriller produced by Michael Bay Songbird alongside Demi Moore, Peter Stormare and Paul Walter Hauser. [11]
Robinson was a guest judge in season four of The Masked Singer where he also performed Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" as a "Mystery Piano Man" during his introduction.
Robinson later became the host of The Masked Dancer which has the same format as The Masked Singer. In 2021, Robinson was featured as a spokesperson for Pizza Hut advertising the return of their Detroit Styled Pizza and Original Stuffed Crust Pizza. Robinson also voiced a singing bust in Muppets Haunted Mansion .[ citation needed ]
In 2021, he started doing commercials for Gain detergent, singing a parody of "Maniac" by Michael Sembello.
His next series, Killing It , premiered on Peacock in April 2022 [12] and he voiced Mr. Shark, in the 2022 DreamWorks Animation film The Bad Guys . [13] That year, he also hosted Ri-Karlo Handy's docuseries Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward on CNBC, [14] which received an Emmy nomination. [15]
For a number of years, Robinson and comedian Jerry Minor had a comedy act where they performed as musical duo L. Witherspoon & Chucky, with Minor as smooth singing L. Witherspoon and Robinson as Chucky, the keyboard player and back-up singer. They performed the act on HBO's Sketch Pad, several stand-up shows on Comedy Central, Real Time with Bill Maher , and Jimmy Kimmel Live! [16]
He occasionally performs with his band, The Nasty Delicious, alongside his brother and musical director Chris Rob on keyboards, Ethan Farmer on bass, Asa Watkins on drums, David Sampson on guitar, Lakecia Benjamin and Reggie Hines on saxophones, Winston Byrd on trumpet, and Bendji Allonce on percussion. [17] They were featured as his band in an episode of The Office, and on the season finale of the seventh season of Last Comic Standing. He has also performed in character in multiple episodes of The Office, and was featured on the Hot Tub Time Machine soundtrack, singing "Jessie's Girl" and "Let's Get It Started". He was in the film Miss March , playing the role of the hit rapper Phil, also known as Horsedick.MPEG. Robinson produced two songs from that same film.
He has performed with his band in the 2018 stand-up comedy special Seth Rogen's Hilarity for Charity .
† | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | Play'd: A Hip Hop Story | Cole | Television film |
2003 | Lucky | Mutha Rhodes | 13 episodes |
2004 | The Bernie Mac Show | Wayne | Episode "Hair Jordan" |
LAX | Wayne | Episode: "Abduction" | |
Friends | Clerk | Episode: "The One with Princess Consuela" | |
2005 | Arrested Development | Studio Guard #1 | Episode: "Switch Hitter" |
Curb Your Enthusiasm | Attendant #1 | Episode: "The End" | |
2005–2013 | The Office | Darryl Philbin | Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2011–2013) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2009–2013) |
2007 | Halfway Home | Mr. Brown | Episode: "Halfway Working" |
2009 | James Gunn's PG Porn | Havana Bob | Episode: "Helpful Bus" |
Reno 911! | Levon French | Episode: "Deputy Dance" | |
2009, 2012 | Eastbound & Down | Reggie Mackworthy | 4 episodes |
2009–2013 | The Cleveland Show | LeVar "Freight Train" Brown | Voice |
2011 | Love Bites | Bowman | 2 episodes |
2013 | Kroll Show | Various Characters | Episode: "The Greatest Hits of It" |
2014 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Himself | Episode: "Craig Robinson Wears a Bordeaux Button Down & Dark Jeans" |
2014–2021 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Doug Judy (The Pontiac Bandit) | 9 episodes |
2015 | Key & Peele | Wisdom Caldwell / Himself | Episode: "Super Bowl Special" |
Mr. Robinson | Craig Robinson | 6 episodes; also producer | |
2016 | Mr. Robot | Ray Heyworth | 7 episodes |
2016–2019 | American Dad! | Security Officer / Dirk Turlington / DJ Avalanche / Himself | Voice 6 episodes |
2017 | Caraoke Showdown | Himself (host) | 10 episodes |
2017–2018 | Ghosted | Leroy Wright | 16 episodes; also executive producer |
Big Mouth | Various | Voice 4 episodes | |
2018 | Dream Corp, LLC | Mr. Metzler | Episode: "Guys and Dads" |
2020 | Medical Police | Edgar Tooby | Episode: "The Lasagna as a Whole" |
What We Do in the Shadows | Claude | 2 episodes | |
Home Movie: The Princess Bride | Fezzik | Episode: "Chapter Eight: Ultimate Suffering" | |
Ryan's Mystery Playdate | Himself | Episode: "Ryan's Jurassic Playdate" [20] | |
The Masked Singer | Guest panelist | Episode: "The Semi Finals – The Super Six" | |
2020–2021 | The Masked Dancer | Himself | Host |
2020–present | Your Attention Please | Himself | Host |
2021 | Nickelodeon's Unfiltered | Himself | Episode: "This DJ is Bananas!" |
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | Himself | Episode: "Hair" | |
Muppets Haunted Mansion | Singing Bust | TV special | |
Santa Inc. | Junior | Voice 8 episodes | |
2022 | The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse | Snowflake Boss | Voice Episode: "The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse" |
Storybots: Answer Time | Lost Tourist | Episode: "GPS" | |
2022–present | Killing It | Craig Foster | Main role; also executive producer |
Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward | Himself | Host; also executive producer Pending—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Educational or Informational Program |
Michael John Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His accolades include seven MTV Movie & TV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2017, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada for "his extensive and acclaimed body of comedic work as an actor, writer, and producer."
George Robert Wendt Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for playing Norm Peterson on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1982–1993), which earned him six consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. After Cheers ended in 1993, he starred in his own sitcom, The George Wendt Show (1995), but it was cancelled after only a few episodes. Wendt also appeared in the films Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), No Small Affair (1984), Fletch (1985), The Little Rascals (1994), Spice World (1997), Outside Providence (1999), Santa Buddies (2009), and Sandy Wexler (2017).
Wayne Alphonso Brady is an American television host, comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular cast member on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? He was the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show, the original host of Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics!, and he has hosted Let's Make a Deal since its 2009 revival.
Gary Michael Cole is an American actor. He began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. His breakout role was playing Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian in the NBC series Midnight Caller (1988–1991).
Michael Austin Cera is a Canadian actor. Over his career he has received nominations for a British Academy Film Award, three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award.
Kevin Prindiville Farley is an American actor, singer, comedian, writer, producer and director. He is the younger brother of American comedian and actor Chris Farley.
Seth Aaron Rogen is a Canadian actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series Freaks and Geeks in 1999, and got a part on Apatow's sitcom Undeclared in 2001, which also hired him as a writer. Rogen landed a job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show (2004), for which the writing team was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. Apatow subsequently guided him toward a film career.
Rumer Glenn Willis is an American actress. The eldest daughter of actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, she made her acting debut opposite her mother in the coming-of-age drama Now and Then (1995). She subsequently appeared in films such as Striptease (1996), Hostage (2005), The House Bunny (2008), Sorority Row (2009), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). She portrayed Gia Mannetti on The CW teen drama series 90210 (2009–2010) and Tory Ash on the FOX musical drama series Empire (2017–2018). Willis won season 20 of the ABC dance competition television series Dancing with the Stars, and made her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago on September 21, 2015.
John Witherspoon was an American actor and comedian who performed in various television shows and films. He played Willie Jones in the Friday series, and starred in films such as Hollywood Shuffle (1987), Boomerang (1992), The Five Heartbeats (1991), and Vampire in Brooklyn (1995). In addition, Witherspoon made appearances on television shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1994), The Wayans Bros. (1995–1999), The Tracy Morgan Show (2003), Barnaby Jones (1973), The Boondocks (2005–2014), and Black Jesus (2014–2019). He wrote a film, From the Old School, in which he played an elderly working man who tries to prevent a neighborhood convenience store from being developed into a strip club.
Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray is the main antagonist of the Child's Play horror franchise. Chucky is portrayed as a vicious serial killer who, as he bleeds out from a gunshot wound, transfers his soul into a "Good Guy" doll and continuously tries to transfer it to a human body. The character has become one of the most recognizable horror icons and has been referenced numerous times in popular culture. In 1999, the Chucky character was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for the film Bride of Chucky. He was created by writer Don Mancini and is portrayed by Brad Dourif in both live action and voice over. For the 2019 remake of the same name, Mark Hamill voiced an artificial intelligence (AI) version of Chucky as a tragic villain, having previously voiced the Charles Lee Ray version of the character in an episode of Robot Chicken.
Jerome Charles Minor Jr. is an American actor, comedian and writer known for his comedic roles in numerous television programs such as Mr. Show, Saturday Night Live, Trigger Happy TV, Delocated, Brickleberry, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Crossballs, The Hotwives of Orlando, Carpoolers, Community, Lucky Louie, and Dr. Ken.
Kate Flannery is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series The Office, which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. She went on to guest star on CBS shows Magnum P.I. and Young Sheldon. She competed on the 28th season of Dancing with the Stars and voiced Barb on the animated series Steven Universe.
Wayne Federman is an American comedian, actor, author, writer, comedy historian, producer, and musician. He is noted for numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs, theaters, and on television; his book on The History of Stand-Up; and supporting comedic acting roles in The X-Files, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crashing, Silicon Valley, Legally Blonde, 50 First Dates, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Step Brothers. He was the head monologue writer for NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in its first season. He won a 2022 Primetime Emmy Award for producing the HBO documentary George Carlin's American Dream.
Evan D. Goldberg is a Canadian filmmaker. He has collaborated with his childhood friend Seth Rogen on a variety of films, including Superbad, Pineapple Express, This Is the End, The Interview, Sausage Party, Good Boys and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Goldberg and Rogen launched the cannabis company Houseplant in Canada in 2019.
Pineapple Express is a 2008 American buddy stoner action comedy film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and starring Rogen and James Franco alongside Gary Cole, Rosie Perez and Danny McBride. The plot centers on a process server and his marijuana dealer as they are forced to flee from hitmen and a corrupt police officer after witnessing them commit a murder. Producer Judd Apatow, who previously worked with Rogen and Goldberg on Knocked Up and Superbad, assisted in developing the story.
Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse is an American actor. Primarily known for his work in comedy films, he has performed roles such as Fogell / McLovin in Superbad (2007), Augie Farcques in Role Models (2008), and Chris D'Amico in Kick-Ass (2010) and its sequel Kick-Ass 2 (2013). He also played the role of "Evil" Ed Lee in the 2011 remake of Fright Night.
Anders Holm is an American comedian and actor. He is one of the stars and creators of the Comedy Central show Workaholics and starred in the short-lived NBC series Champions. He, along with fellow Workaholics creators Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, and Kyle Newacheck, formed the sketch group Mail Order Comedy.
This Is the End is a 2013 American apocalyptic fantasy comedy film written, directed and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in their directorial debuts. It is a feature-length film adaptation of Rogen and Goldberg's short film Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse (2007), which was directed by Jason Stone, who serves as an executive producer on the film. Starring an ensemble cast including James Franco, Jonah Hill, Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera and Emma Watson, the film centers on fictionalized versions of its cast in the wake of a global biblical apocalypse in Los Angeles.
Sausage Party is a 2016 adult animated comedy film directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan, written by Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and based on a story by Rogen, Goldberg and Jonah Hill. The film stars the voices of Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, and Salma Hayek. A parody of Disney and Pixar films, the film follows an anthropomorphic sausage who lives in a supermarket and goes on a journey with his friends to escape their fate as groceries while also facing a malicious douche out for revenge on him.
Zackary Arthur Herrera is an American actor, known for portraying the lead role of Jake Wheeler in Chucky, a television continuation of the Child's Play film franchise, for which he was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor in a Network or Cable Television Series, also portraying Charles Lee Ray in the series' third season. He also played Sammy Sullivan in The 5th Wave, and had a recurring role as a young Jeff Piccirillo on the Showtime series Kidding.