Tucked away in a corner at Serafina on the Upper East Side, Lois Robbins sipped her iced coffee and chatted with me about our similar philosophies regarding punctuality and how beautiful a day it was outside. In a tailored seersucker blazer and an amazing wide-brimmed sunhat, she was the epitome of elegance. Robbins’s eyes were bright and I was pleased to sense that she is an extremely amiable, easygoing individual. Having done daytime television, theatre, films, and more theatre, Robbins’s career has taken her across the acting board.
Flexibility among different roles is anything but problematic for Robbins. She has evolved as an actress, broadening her skills, and can truly manipulate and mold her emotions to become a specific character. When I asked Robbins if she ever found it difficult to leave character and return completely to herself once a role is over, she chuckled “No, when I did Blowtorch my character loses her son: he’s murdered. I have children, so as a mother that was really profound, and it really affected me. But it makes you hang on tighter to your kids,” she commented. Throughout Robbins’s career, she has played many characters who have endured traumatic loss or distress, all simply “suits” she puts on for work and takes off once finished. This mindset is a part of her CEO attitude.
Robbins believes that in order to be a successful actor (or any other professional for that matter) a person cannot rely on anyone but himself or herself in order to further a career. This mindset is a seemingly scary way to think. However, because Robbins’s individual identity is secure and she knows where she wants to take her career, promoting herself as a business is empowering. When Robbins began preparing for Blowtorch, her character, Ann Willis, was a single mother of three, who waitressed in order to support her family. Robbins, who was born into an affluent family, never needed to work a waitressing job. However, Robbins was dedicated to Ann Willis and truly portrayed a woman of utmost force and battle onscreen.
Along with Blowtorch, Robbins has also been in the movie Motherhood and the TV shows Sex and the City, Guiding Light, Ryan’s Hope, One Life to Live, and Law & Order, just to name a few. Robbins has an upcoming role in Meg Ryan’s directorial début film, Ithaca, based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Saroyan’s 1943 novel, The Human Comedy, which she describes as being “a young boy’s coming of age story” that she truly is thrilled to start. In addition to Robbins’s extensive television and film work, she has made quite a name for herself in the theatre world. Her reviews from the romantic comedy Cactus Flower included the critique: “standout role.”
From her character’s breaking down at an AA meeting to getting over a fresh divorce and getting a breast augmentation, Robbins’s work is sensational on screen and on stage. For more information or to learn more about Lois Robbins, please visit her website at LoisRobbins.com
