Bill Irwin is an American actor and comedian, best known for his vaudeville-style stage performances as well as numerous appearances on film and television. He won a Tony Award for his role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s.
On screen he received critical acclaim for his role as Paul, father to Anne Hathaway's character Kym, in the 2008 drama Rachel Getting Married. Irwin voiced the robot TARS in the film Interstellar, and puppeteered the robot in most scenes. Other film credits include: Robert Altman's Popeye, Stepping Out with Liza Minnelli, My Blue Heaven, Eight Men Out, Hot Shots!, Silent Tongue, Scenes from a Mall, Across the Universe, adaptations of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Laramie Project, A Midsummer Night's Dream. On television Irwin regularly appears on the NBC crime series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” as therapist, Dr. Peter Lindstrom. Currently he appears in the FX superhero series “Legion”. He is also known as Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street's “Elmo's World” and as serial killer Nate Haskell on “CSI”.
Irwin has created several highly regarded stage shows that incorporate elements of clowning, often in collaboration with composer Doug Skinner. These works include The Regard of Flight Largely New York (Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award), Fool Moon (Drama Desk Award, Tony Award), The Harlequin Studies, and Mr. Fox: A Rumination. In 2013, he teamed with David Shiner to create and perform in the Off-Broadway "clowning revue-with-music" Old Hats along with actress and musician Nellie McKay. Old Hats won the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue. Old Hats was revived in New York City in 2016 with Shiner and Irwin returning and a new third performer, musician Shaina Taub.
Irwin has a long performance history with the works of Samuel Beckett, including Waiting for Godot on Broadway and at Lincoln Center, Endgame at American Conservatory Theater, and adapting Beckett's Texts for Nothing (Obie Award) for the stage. As an interpreter of Beckett’s work, Irwin created On Beckett which mixes passages from the playwright’s writing with personal reflections on performing it on stage.