Robert Forster was born Robert Wallace Foster, Jr. in Rochester, New York. After earning a BA in Psychology in 1963, Forster took an apprenticeship at an East Rochester theater where he performed in such plays as “West Side Story”.
His movie debut came in the drama Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), which starred Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando. Forster went on to appear in small and minor roles alongside some top Hollywood actors in films like The Stalking Moon (1968) and Medium Cool (1969), and Justine (1969). In 1971, he also took the part of a hardboiled detective in the TV detective series Banyon (1971)
Forster later starred in The Black Hole (1979), Avalanche (1978) the cult horror flick Alligator (1980), and starred as the factory worker-turned-vigilante in the thriller Vigilante (1982). Forster also took the lead as a taxi driver in Walking the Edge (1985) and co-starred in ‘The Delta Force’ (1986), opposite Chuck Norris.
In the mid-’90s, Forster’s career was given a huge boost of respect and attention when writer-director Quentin Tarantino cast Forster in the role of the tough but sympathetic bail bondsman Max Cherry in Jackie Brown (1997), a role which netted Forster an Academy Award nomination and international recognition. Since then, Forster has been a staple of our Silver Screen, acting in many big-budget Hollywood productions such as All the Rage (1999), Gus Van Sant’s Psycho (1998), and Supernova (2000).
Recent work includes ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Automata’, ‘The Descendants’, and the resurrection of David Lynch’s beloved TV series ‘Twin Peaks’.