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Early life and education

Robins was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the daughter of Latvian American parents.² She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and attended the Yale School of Drama, earning a master of fine arts.³

Career

Film and television

Robins made her big screen debut starring opposite Steve Martin in the 1987 comedy film Planes, Trains and Automobiles.⁴ She then starred opposite Tom Selleck in the 1989 crime thriller An Innocent Man; Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990); the sex comedy Live Nude Girls (1995) with Dana Delany and Kim Cattrall;⁵ and True Crime (1999). On the small screen, Robins co-starred with James Earl Jones in the ABC crime drama series Gabriel's Fire, from 1990 to 1991, and guest-starred on Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Third Watch, Sex and the City, 30 Rock, and The Good Wife. She also played a younger version of Livia Soprano, the mother of mobster Tony Soprano, in two episodes of the HBO crime drama series The Sopranos.

In 2014, Robins starred as Martha Boyd, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, in the fourth season of Showtime drama series Homeland.⁶ The following year, she was a regular cast member in the TNT drama series Murder in the First, and in 2016–2017, she had a recurring role in Quantico. In 2018 she starred in the short-lived ABC drama series Deception. She had a recurring role as Katarina Rostova in season 7 of the NBC series The Blacklist from 2019 to 2021. She also had recurring roles in In Treatment, Bored to Death, Mr. Mercedes, Dr. Death and The Boys. In 2022, Robins joined the cast of AMC drama series The Walking Dead as Governor of the Commonwealth, Pamela Milton.⁷

Theatre

Robins appeared on Broadway as Lady Utterword in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House (2006). Robins's other Broadway appearances were Frozen by Bryony Lavery (2004), The Herbal Bed by Peter Whelan (1998), and The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard (1985), directed by Mike Nichols. (Robins succeeded actress Glenn Close in the role).

Robins has appeared off-Broadway in Sore Throats by Howard Brenton, The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, Mrs. Klein by Nicholas Wright (in which she also toured with Uta Hagen) (1995–1996), Burnt Piano by Justin Fleming, opposite Richard Thomas in Second Stage Theatre's Tiny Alice (2000). and The Film Society by Jon Robin Baitz, among others. She has also appeared in numerous regional theatre productions, such as the 1997 Fiftieth Anniversary production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Robins also appeared as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in 2002. Robins is also a frequent performer at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, where she has starred in Macbeth, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.

Charles Isherwood, critic for The New York Times, assessed her stage work as Ariadne in George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House (2006) opposite Swoosie Kurtz as follows: "...this expert comic actress [Kurtz] may not fit the textbook definition of siren, as Hesione is called, but she may just be the most seductive woman on a New York stage right now...unless that nod goes to Ms. Robins, who locates the essence of her character's shallow allure in a languid, liquid strut and a smile both entrancing and devouring".⁸

Robins has won or been nominated for several awards for her work including the Actors' Equity Foundation Joe A. Callaway Award (1995), for The Merchant of Venice,⁹ the 2012 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble for Sweet and Sad,¹⁰ the Lucille Lortel Award nominations for Outstanding Featured Actress (2004) for Frozen¹¹ and Outstanding Lead Actress (2007) for Sore Throats,¹² the 1997 Joseph Jefferson Award Best Actress for A Streetcar Named Desire at The Steppenwolf Theatre,¹³ the Helen Hayes Award nomination, 1997 Supporting Performer, Non-Resident Production for Mrs. Klein,¹⁴ and the Drama League Award.¹⁵

Robins is a guest instructor at HB Studio.¹⁶

Personal life

Robins has been in a relationship with the actor Robert Cuccioli since 2000. They co-starred in Macbeth at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth,¹⁷ among other plays.¹⁸

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

• The Real Thing (1985)...Annie (Replacement); Plymouth Theatre (Broadway)
• Summer and Smoke (1986)...Alma Winemiller; Williamstown Theatre Festival (Williamstown, MA)
• Bloody Poetry (1987)...Mary Shelley; Manhattan Theatre Club (Off-Broadway)
• The Film Society (1988)...Nan Sinclair; Second Stage Theatre/McGinn-Cazale Theatre (Off-Broadway)
• The Lady from the Sea (1988)...Cast; Baltimore Center Stage (Baltimore, MD)
• Maids of Honor (1990)...Monica Bowlin; WPA Theatre (Off-Broadway)
• The Extra Man (1992)...Laura; Manhattan Theatre Club (Off-Broadway)
• The Women (1993)...Cast; Hartford Stage Company (Hartford, CT)
• The Merchant of Venice (1995)... Portia; Joseph Papp Public Theater/Anspacher Theatre (Off-Broadway)
• Mrs. Klein (1996)...Melitta; National Tour
• Mrs. Klein (1995)... Melitta; Lucille Lortel Theatre (Off-Broadway)
• Skylight (1997)...Kyra Hollis; Mark Taper Forum (Los Angeles, CA)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1997)...Blanche du Bois; Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL)
• The Herbal Bed (1998)...Susanna Hall; Eugene O'Neill Theatre (Broadway)
• Fool for Love (1999)...May; McCarter Theatre (Princeton, NJ)
• Tiny Alice (2000)...Cast; Second Stage Theatre (Off-Broadway)
• Hedda Gabler (2000)... Hedda Gabler; Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
• Burnt Piano (2001) ...Karen; HB Playwrights Theatre (Off-Broadway)
• Three Sisters (2001)...Masha; New Jersey Shakespeare Theatre (Madison, NJ)
• Antony and Cleopatra (2002)...Cleopatra; Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
• Resurrection Blues (2002)...Emily; Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
• Fiction (2003)...Linda; McCarter Theatre (Princeton, NJ)
• King John (2003)... Constance; New Jersey Shakespeare Theater (Madison, NJ)
• Macbeth (2004)...Lady Macbeth; The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (Madison, NJ)
• Frozen (2004)...Agnetha; Circle in the Square Theatre (Broadway)
• Frozen (2004)... Agnetha; MCC Theater (Off-Broadway)
• Heartbreak House (2006)...Lady Utterwood; American Airlines Theatre (Broadway)¹⁹
• A Street Car Named Desire (2008) The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (Madison, NJ)
• Noises Off (2009) The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (Madison, NJ)
• The Dance of Death (2013) The Red Bull Theater (New York, NY)
• The Lion in Winter (2016) Guthrie Theatre (Minneapolis, MN)

External links

• Laila Robins at IMDb
• Laila Robins at the Internet Broadway Database
• Laila Robins at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• List of stage credits and other information
• Family Background and Obituary of Laila Robin's father

References

1. "Laila Robins", TCM. Retrieved November 16, 2023 https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/163111%7C0/Laila-Robins/#overview ↩

2. `Summer' star Robins has deep state roots, highbeam.com; accessed March 27, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20110517011817/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-62472900.html ↩

3. `Summer' star Robins has deep state roots, highbeam.com; accessed March 27, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20110517011817/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-62472900.html ↩

4. Idasetima, Courtney (November 25, 2017). "The Cast of 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles,' Then and Now". The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/cast-planes-trains-automobiles-1060349/ ↩

5. "Live Nude Girls". Rotten Tomatoes. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/live_nude_girls ↩

6. Andreeva, Nellie (June 3, 2014). "Laila Robins & Corey Stoll Join 'Homeland'". https://deadline.com/2014/06/laila-robins-corey-stoll-join-homeland-739569/ ↩

7. "The Walking Dead Season 11 Casts The Boys' Laila Robins as Commonwealth Leader". ScreenRant. July 25, 2021. https://screenrant.com/walking-dead-season-11-governor-milton-laila-robins-cast/ ↩

8. "THEATER REVIEW; British Gentry, Fiddling While the Abyss Looms" October 12, 2006, The New York Times https://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9B07E1DD1030F931A25753C1A9609C8B63&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FPeople%2FS%2FShaw%2C%20George%20Bernard ↩

9. The Merchant of Venice lortel.org, accessed September 23, 2016 http://www.lortel.org/Archives/Production/717 ↩

10. Sweet and Sad lortel.org, accessed September 23, 2016 http://www.lortel.org/Archives/Production/5301 ↩

11. Frozen lortel.org, accessed September 23, 2016 http://www.lortel.org/Archives/Production/3080 ↩

12. Sore Throats lortel.org, accessed September 23, 2016 http://www.lortel.org/Archives/Production/4284 ↩

13. "Laila Robins Details" lortel.org, accessed September 23, 2016 http://www.lortel.org/Archives/CreditableEntity/1423 ↩

14. Rose, Lloyd. "Arena Stage Tops Hayes Nominations" The Washington Post, March 20, 1997 https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/03/20/arena-stage-tops-hayes-nominations/35e608b9-fa79-48f6-9809-1fda1fbbc90b/# ↩

15. "Drama League". dramaleague.org. Retrieved 2018-04-30. http://dramaleague.org/events/awards ↩

16. "Laila Robins, HB Studio, Chekhov Scene Study Classes in NYC". https://hbstudio.org/instructors/robins-laila/ ↩

17. Simonson, Robert. "Robins and Cuccioli Play Marrieds in Dietz Premiere, Fiction in NJ March 28" Archived 2012-10-21 at the Wayback Machine. Playbill.com, March 28, 2003, accessed April 29, 2011 Saltzman, Simon (2004). "Macbeth". CurtainUp. Retrieved April 29, 2011. Nash, Margo (March 30, 2003). "Jersey Footlights". The New York Times. Retrieved April 29, 2011. /wiki/Simonson,_Robert ↩

18. Bowling, Suzanna. "Theatre News: Robert Cuccioli and Lalia Robins, New Federal Theatre Celebrates Black History Month, Broadway Profiles with Tamsen Fadal and 59E59 Theaters COVID Relief Grant recipient", Times Square Chronicles, February 19, 2021 https://t2conline.com/theatre-news-robert-cuccioli-and-lalia-robins-new-federal-theatre-celebrates-black-history-month-broadway-profiles-with-tamsen-fadal-and-59e59-theaters-covid-relief-grant-recipient ↩

19. Laila Robins, Star File: Broadway.com Buzz http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Star_File.aspx?ci=37316 ↩