It was dangerous to hit the wrong kid in my neighborhood, because a lot of the guys I played with had fathers in the Mafia.

Early life
Robbins was born in West Covina California and raised in New York City the son of Mary Robbins (née Bledsoe) an actress and Gilbert Lee Robbins (1931–2011) a musician folk singer actor and former manager of The Gaslight Cafe. He also took small parts in films such as the role of frat animal "Mother" in Fraternity Vacation (1985) and "Lt. In 2003 a 15th anniversary celebration of Bull Durham at the National Baseball Hall of Fame was canceled by Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey.

He is known for his roles as Nuke in Bull Durham Jacob Singer in Jacob's Ladder Griffin Mill in The Player Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption and as Dave Boyle in Mystic River for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.