Robinson was born in New York City. His middle name, Jordt, was given to him to honor his grandfather, though he did not begin using it in his professional credits until the 1996 Deep Space Nine episode, "Body Parts". His father was a soldier in World War II, and was killed when Robinson was three years old. After his father's death, he and his mother moved to Hartford, Connecticut to be raised with her family. In his later childhood, Robinson had become a juvenile delinquent, and was eventually sent to St. Andrew's School in Rhode Island, a boarding school for troubled children.

After graduating from high school, Robinson attended the University of New Hampshire. After picketing the school's ROTC program his degree was withheld by the university, so he transferred to the New School for Social Research in New York City and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He originally intended to become a journalist, but went into acting after gaining a Fulbright Scholarship on the suggestion of an art history professor. After graduating, he went to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on the scholarship.

Robinson began acting in high school and college theatre. While attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Robinson studied Shakespeare and voice training. His first professional roles were as a stage actor and playwright in New York. His first role in New York was in the play Macbird-Macbeth. He would go on to act in productions throughout North America and Europe, including Woyzeck, Futz, Werner Liepolt's "The Young Master Dante," and The Cannibals. In 1969, he had his first television role with a guest part on N.Y.P.D. at the age of 26. In 1971, he would begin acting in feature films.

Dirty Harry

Robinson's first feature film role was in 1971's Dirty Harry. Don Siegel, the film's director, and Clint Eastwood picked Robinson for the role after seeing him in a production of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot. Robinson was cast as the Scorpio Killer, the antagonist of the film. The Scorpio Killer was heavily based on the contemporary, real life Zodiac Killer, and Robinson integrated many known aspects of that serial killer's personality into his acting, such as a disturbed sense of humour and a sadistic inclination to taunt his pursuers. In the film, his character murders several young women and takes hostage a school bus full of young children. His portrayal was so convincing that he received death threats after the film's release. Director Don Siegel noted that he cast Robinson because he had the face of "a choir boy."

Critical reactions to Robinson's role were generally positive. Box Office Magazine wrote that, "Andy Robinson is the maniacal Scorpio ... a good blending of cunning and savagery." His role as Scorpio gave him widespread exposure, but Robinson also found himself typecast as "psycho" characters. He has also claimed that the role severely limited his casting options, as film producers were reluctant to cast him as any "good guy" roles. Some of Robinson's notable "psycho" roles include a demented, but ill-fated military barber in Child's Play 3 (1991), and the character Frank Cotton (in the skin of Larry Cotton, Robinson's actual character) in the horror film Hellraiser (1987), in which Robinson had his first lead role in a feature film.

Film and television, 1971—1992

Robinson starred in Charley Varrick, a 1973 film with Walter Matthau, and again directed by Don Siegel. He played the role of Frank Ryan on the soap opera Ryan's Hope from 1976 until 1978, for which he received a daytime Emmy nomination. His part was later recast with Daniel Hugh Kelly, reportedly because the producers of the show were concerned that having the actor who played the Scorpio killer as a lead on a soap opera was distracting their audience.

Robinson has had many one-time and recurring roles on a wide variety of television shows. His lengthy television filmography includes guest roles on Bonanza, Kung Fu, S.W.A.T., The Streets of San Francisco, Kojak, The Incredible Hulk, CHiPs, Mrs. Columbo, The Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team, Moonlighting, L.A. Law, Matlock, Law & Order, Walker, Texas Ranger, Murder, She Wrote, The X-Files, Without a Trace, and The Practice.

He met his wife Irene after wrapping a production of Springvoices, and the two married in 1970. He has two stepsons from his wife's previous marriage and one daughter named Rachel, who became an actress as well. In 1978 Robinson left acting professionally for five years, and concentrated on raising his family in the small mountain community of Idyllwild, California, located about from Los Angeles. During that time he taught community theatre for middle and high school students, and also worked as a carpenter to bring in a regular salary. He returned to acting professionally in the mid-1980s.

In 1986, he played President John F. Kennedy in an episode of the 1980s revival of The Twilight Zone, "Profile in Silver." In 1988 he portrayed Liberace in a television biopic. With one of Robinson's acting trademarks being his effeminate voice, he was well suited for the part. Robinson had described it as one of his favorite roles, and that, "The most fun was wearing his furs and jewelry and singing 'I'll be Seeing You.'" The New York Times review wrote that, "Robinson does rather well in the leading role." Robinson also returned to the stage in 1993 with a Broadway production of Frank Gilroy's Any Given Day, but the play closed after only six weeks.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

In 1993, Robinson was cast in his first regular television role since Ryan's Hope in 1978. He played Elim Garak on Deep Space Nine, a Cardassian tailor, with a past as a spy and an assassin. The character was intended to be a foil for the character of Julian Bashir (played by Siddig El Fadil, later known as Alexander Siddig), and the two were often paired together on-screen. The multidimensional character possessed sharp comic timing and an extensive knowledge of art and literature. Garak was also a practiced liar. Prior to being cast in the role, Robinson knew little of the Star Trek franchise and had never seen an episode of any of the television series.

Robinson was offered the role of Garak after he originally auditioned for the role of Odo, which eventually went to Rene Auberjonois. He almost did not accept the role, but was pressured into accepting for financial reasons. JavaScript must be disabled to avoid orphaned script/s on the archive.org snapshot redirecting to a missing file error page. Last retrieved in original form on February 8, 2006. Like the character, he is claustrophobic and at first had trouble performing in heavy makeup. His character was originally intended to appear in only one episode, but eventually became one of the most frequent recurring characters of the series, appearing in 37 of the 176 episodes as the writers of the show enjoyed working with the character. Originally meant to be an antagonist, the character became more sympathetic as the show progressed, and became one of the main protagonists by the end of the series. Robinson has described the role as being complex, he has said in a StarTrek.com interview that, "the subtext is far more powerful than the actual text. Garak for me was like an iceberg. The tip is easy to define, but it's the rest of the character that's the challenge."

After working on Deep Space Nine for several years, Robinson began a career in television directing, after directing the 1996 episode "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places." He went on to direct two episodes of Voyager and seven episodes of the courtroom drama Judging Amy, where his daughter Rachel Robinson played a recurring character. In 2000, he authored the novel A Stitch in Time, based on his character on Deep Space Nine. Robinson has stated that one of the reasons he wrote the novel was to get "total closure" of the character. He also starred along DS9 co-star Michael Dorn on an episode of Martial Law.

In 1993, Robinson founded the Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles, California. Currently he is heading a MFA program in acting at the University of Southern California, and also directs performances for the Matrix Company. Robinson and his Deep Space Nine co-star Alexander Siddig are also known to perform one act plays at Star Trek conventions.

Film

Television