Please Rewind Talent Wall

Robert Englund

Robert Englund has spent much of his career exploring the distance between the person on screen and the menace an audience remembers. Born June 6, 1947, in Glendale, California, he began studying acting at twelve and later trained at UCLA, Oakland University and the Meadow Brook Theatre. Five years in regional theatre, including productions of Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw, gave him a foundation that reached well beyond horror. Early film work included a supporting role in Buster and Billie, followed by Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive and Roger Corman’s Galaxy of Terror. Englund first drew wider attention on television as Willie, a Visitor technician and resistance fighter in V, V: The Final Battle and V: The Series. The part played to the more approachable side of his screen presence. Freddy Krueger did not. Englund went against his earlier casting when he accepted the role in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. He went on to play Freddy in eight consecutive films, bringing a sustained physical and vocal identity to one of horror’s most enduring villains. His relationship with the character became especially interesting in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994), where he appears as both Robert Englund and Freddy Krueger. By placing the actor and the monster side by side, the film turns Englund’s own association with Freddy into part of the story. Horror remained a major strand of his career, with leading roles in The Phantom of the Opera, The Mangler and 2001 Maniacs. Englund also moved behind the camera, making his feature directorial debut with 976-EVIL and directing two episodes of Freddy’s Nightmares. His work has never been limited to prosthetic makeup. Englund’s television appearances range from Nightmare Cafe to Stranger Things, while his voice roles include Felix Faust, the Riddler, the Vulture and Dormammu. Across acting, voice work, writing and directing, he has built a career that understands horror from several angles—and understands exactly how much personality a great screen villain requires.