My Take
I genuinely think Robin Lord Taylor is one of the most underrated casting choices in superhero television history. His take on Oswald Cobblepot in Gotham was never the waddling joke-villain you might expect — he played the Penguin as a genuinely tragic, emotionally raw character, equal parts pathetic and terrifying, and he made it compelling for five full seasons. That's hard to pull off. A Northwestern-trained actor from small-town Iowa bringing this kind of unhinged vulnerability to a role that could easily have been campy? Yes, please. His pivot to Will Bettelheim in You showed he can do creep in a completely different register. He's the kind of actor who elevates whatever he's in, and I think he deserves a lot more mainstream recognition than he gets.
Overview
Robin Lord Taylor (born June 4, 1978) is an American actor and director. He is known for playing Oswald Cobblepot in the Fox series Gotham (2014–2019) and Will Bettelheim in the Netflix series You (2019). He also voices The Outsider in the video games Dishonored 2 (2016) and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (2017).
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Robin Lord Taylor
- Name (Japanese)
- ロビン・ロード・テイラー
- Reading
- ろびん・ろーど・ていらー
- Born
- June 4, 1978 (age 47)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Horse
- Origin
- Shueyville, Iowa, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / television actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Northwestern University
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.