Robin Wright's Real Name: Robin Wright

Quick answer: Robin Wright performs under her birth name. She was born on April 8, 1966, in Dallas, Texas. During her marriage to Sean Penn she was credited as Robin Wright Penn. After their 2010 divorce she went back to Robin Wright. She starred as Buttercup in The Princess Bride and as Jenny in Forrest Gump, and she won a Golden Globe as Claire Underwood on House of Cards (Biography.com; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Wright, Robin, 1966-," with the variant "Penn, Robin Wright, 1966-." It cites screen credits under "Robin Wright Penn," and one citation reads "b. April 8, 1966 in Dallas, Texas, USA." A middle name circulates in online databases but is not documented in the library and reference sources used here, so this page uses Robin Wright.

Biography.com says she grew up in San Diego. Her father was a pharmaceutical executive, and her mother was an independent executive sales director for Mary Kay cosmetics. She began modeling young, traveling to Paris and Japan while still in high school. She has said she was more interested in dance and dreamed of performing in A Chorus Line.

Career highlights

After high school her modeling agent encouraged her to act, and she landed a lead role on the soap opera Santa Barbara. That role brought her three Daytime Emmy nominations. Director Rob Reiner then cast her as Princess Buttercup in The Princess Bride (1987), which made her a film star at 21.

Biography.com says she turned down roles in Jurassic Park and Batman Forever in favor of darker parts. She chose the Irish gangster drama State of Grace (1990), where she met Sean Penn. She played Jenny in Forrest Gump (1994), and she and Penn married in 1996. They co-starred in She's So Lovely, and she appeared in Penn's film The Pledge.

Her best-known later role is Claire Underwood on Netflix's House of Cards. Biography.com says that in 2014 she became the first actress to win a Golden Globe for an online-only series. The Television Academy lists Emmy nominations for the role, including outstanding lead actress in a drama series in 2019.

Name change

According to Biography.com, Wright and Penn filed for divorce in 2007, reunited, and then divorced for good in the summer of 2010. At that point "she changed her name from Robin Wright-Penn to simply Robin Wright."

Name notes for searchers

Robin Wright is her birth name. "Robin Wright Penn," sometimes hyphenated as "Wright-Penn," is the married form used in credits during her marriage to Sean Penn. Library catalogs cross-reference both forms.