Robert Englund
Birth name	Robert Barton Englund
Born	June 6, 1947 (1947-06-06) (age 60) Glendale, California, U.S.
Years active	1974 â€" present
Spouse(s)	Nancy Booth (1988 â€" present)
Official site	www.robertenglund.com

Robert Barton Englund (born June 6, 1947) is an American actor, perhaps best known for playing the fictional serial killer, Freddy Krueger, in the A Nightmare on Elm Street film series and the lovable alien character, Willie, from the miniseries V. He received the Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors in 1987 and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master in 1988.

Biography

Personal life

Englund was born in Glendale, California, the son of Janis (McDonald) and C. Kent Englund, an aeronautics engineer who helped develop the Lockheed U-2.[1][2] He has Swedish ancestry[3] and attended California State University and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Englund has been married twice, but he has not had any children. He currently resides in Laguna Beach, California.

Career

Since his first film, Buster and Billie, in 1974, Englund has appeared in nearly 70 movies and TV series. In his early career, he was usually typecast as a nerd or a redneck. He also guest starred in a 4th season episode of the TV series Knight Rider starring David Hasselhoff, (titled "Fright Knight") where he played a phantom haunting a film studio.

Before the Nightmare on Elm Street series, his most notable role was that of Willie, the lovably innocent alien in the 1983 miniseries V, the 1984 sequel V: The Final Battle, and V: The Series. He has said that he enjoys playing the part of Freddy Krueger as it give him a break from always playing the nice guy. Englund also made a cameo appearance on the science fiction series, Babylon 5. He also provided the voice of magician Felix Faust in Justice League, the Riddler on The Batman and guest starred on the show Charmed in the episode "Size Matters" where he played a demon who used the services of a lackey to lure people into a decrepit household (of which he lived in the walls) and shrank them down to action figure size.

After the huge success of Elm Street, Englund became the first new horror movie star since Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in the 1960s. His association with the genre led him to top-billed roles in The Phantom of the Opera (1989) and The Mangler (1995). While no longer a headliner, today he is regarded by fans as an elder statesman of the genre, much like Vincent Price in the 1970s.

Englund's biggest starring role since Freddy vs. Jason was that of Mayor Buckman in the direct to video release 2001 Maniacs (2005). Englund's directorial début was the 1989 horror film 976-EVIL. He is currently directing his second feature titled Killer Pad, a horror-comedy about three friends who use money from an insurance claim to move out of their parents' homes. They score a place in Hollywood Hills and refuse to believe that the house is actually a portal to hell.

Filmography

• Red (2007)
• Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
• Hatchet (2007)
• 2001 Maniacs (2005)
• Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
• Python(2000)
• Urban Legend (1998)
• Strangeland (1998)
• Wishmaster (1997)
• The Mangler (1995)
• Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
• Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
• The Phantom of the Opera (1989)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• Dead & Buried (1981)
• Eaten Alive (1977)
• Stay Hungry (1976)
• Buster and Billie (1974)

Education

• Granada Hills High School, Granada Hills, California[citation needed]
• University of California, Los Angeles, California
• Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan
• BA Theatre, California State University, Northridge
• Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, England

Quotes

• "I saw an entire magazine of Freddy Krueger tattoos. Hey, I'm a classically trained actor who was doing Chekhov, and now there are thousands of people walking around America with my [character's] tattoo on them. I just take it as pop culture."
• "When I was 9, I went to a birthday party. We were supposed to see a cowboy movie, but the programming got screwed up and we saw The Bad Seed instead. Horrifying. For years I was frightened of girls with pigtails."

Trivia

• He's one of only 2 actors to play a horror character 8 consecutive times, the other being Doug Bradley who's also portrayed the Pinhead character 8 times.

References

External links

• Robert Englund's official website
• Robert Englund at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Englund at the Notable Names Database
• Robert Englund interview by Ladyghost
• Robert Englund's official Killer Pad website