- Born
- Birth nameWilliam Mills Irwin
- Height5′ 11½″ (1.82 m)
- Bill Irwin was born on April 11, 1950, in Santa Monica, California, to
Elizabeth (Mills), a teacher, and Horace G. Irwin, an aerospace
engineer. He is the oldest of three children, and is of English, Irish,
and German descent. Irwin spent a year in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as
an exchange student. He is a graduate in theatre arts from Oberlin
College, OH, a graduate of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's
Clown College, FL, and received a MacArthur Genius Grant in 1984.
Irwin began his film career in 1980 and earned film credits in more
than twenty movies. His best-known film role was "Lou Lou Who" in
Dr. Seuss'
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000).
He is also a producer, director, writer, and choreographer. In 2001,
Irwin collaborated with the renown Russian mime
Vyacheslav Polunin, who organized the
New Carnival within the framework of the World Theatre Olympics, in the
Hermitage Gardens in Moscow. There, Bill Irwin performed in the duo
with David Shiner, among some of the best
acting comedians of the 20th century, such as
Vyacheslav Polunin, Django Edwards,
Jérôme Deschamps, Franz-Joseph
Bogner, Leo Bassi,
Gennadiy Khazanov,
Leonid Yarmolnik and
Bolek Polívka and over a hundred of other
comedians and mimes from all over the world. He appeared on Broadway in
"Accidental Death of an Anarchist" and at La Jolla Playhouse in "The
Seagull" by Anton Chekhov, among his other
stage works. Bill Irwin won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Actor in a
Play, for his performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". He was
also nominated for four Tony Awards as an actor, author, director, and
choreographer.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Elizabeth Lear <eliz@indra.com> and Steve Shelokhonov
- SpousesMartha Roth(1990 - present) (1 child)Kimi Okada(April 19, 1977 - 1982) (divorced)
- ParentsElizabeth MillsHorace G. Irwin
- Selected for the International Clown Hall Of Fame, and was inducted
August 7, 1999. - Won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, for his performance
as George in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'. - Along with Robin Williams, appeared in the music video for Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy".
- Recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant in 1984.
- In 1989, was nominated for four Tony Awards for "Largely New York": as
author of a Best Play nominee, Best Actor (Play), Best Director (Play)
and, with collaborator Kimi Okada, Best Choreographer. In 1999, his show
"Fool Moon" won a Special Tony Award for Live Theatrical
Presentation.
- This play is truly a great invention, and we're having a great time doing it eight times a week.
- We constantly run lines together before every show too, and then there's a long, traditionally long, story to tell the audience every show. Today, we're doing it twice.
- Being nominated is a great thrill, and we like to say that all four of us were nominated, which means that our director, Anthony Page was nominated four times.
- It's an exhilarating play, and you come off tired, but thrilled.
- People keep telling us, that they didn't know when they were booking tickets for it, but afterwards they say that they've had no sense that they were watching an old fashioned play.
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