Craig Robinson

Craig Phillip Robinson (born October 25, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. The accolades he has received include nominations for five Screen Actors Guild Awards, an Independent Spirit Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award.

Robinson is best known for portraying Darryl Philbin on The Office (2005–2013). He also portrayed Ray Heyworth on Mr. Robot (2016), LeVar "Freight Train" Brown on The Cleveland Show (2009–2013), and Doug "the Pontiac Bandit" Judy on Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021). He also frequently collaborates with Seth Rogen, including the films Pineapple Express (2008), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) and This Is the End (2013). Robinson has appeared in numerous other television shows and films, including Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), Get On Up (2014), An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (2018), and Dolemite Is My Name (2019), as well as voicing characters in films such as Cookie in Shrek Forever After (2010), Mr. Grits in Sausage Party (2016), Mr. Shark in The Bad Guys film franchise (2022–present), Baloney Tony in In Your Dreams (2025), and Atlas in Toy Story 5 (2026). He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film Morris from America.

From 2020 to 2021, Robinson hosted the reality dancing show The Masked Dancer. Robinson also starred in and executive produced the Peacock series Killing It (2022–2023), which had two seasons on the service.

Early life Robinson was born on October 25, 1971, in Chicago, Illinois, to a music teacher mother and an attorney father. He was raised on the South Side of Chicago, and was brought up Methodist. He attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Illinois State University in 1994, and his Master of Education from Saint Xavier University. He was a music teacher at Horace Mann Elementary School in Chicago, and H. W. Eggers Middle School in Hammond, Indiana and East Chicago Central High School in East Chicago, Indiana.

Career Acting and comedy Robinson began doing stand-up and taking classes in improv and acting at The Second City in Chicago while still in college. He was on Def Comedy Jam season 7, episode 2. After doing open-mic sessions in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere and winning regional comedy competitions, he began to get spots on late night TV shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live. He received rave reviews for the A24 drama Morris from America (2016), earning a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. He also played the role of Ray Hayworth in the second season of the drama series Mr. Robot. In 2018 he had a lead role playing the title character in the crime comedy film An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn.

In 2019 Robinson became the spokesman for the Philadelphia-area meat producer Dietz & Watson, appearing in several commercials for the company's line of deli meats. The first of these commercials aired in January 2019, featuring Robinson and his brother Chris promoting the snack Dietz Nuts with Robinson playing up the double entendre in the name of the product.

In June 2020, Robinson was reportedly confirmed to be starring in the COVID-19 pandemic-themed thriller Songbird produced by Michael Bay, alongside Demi Moore, Peter Stormare and Paul Walter Hauser.

Robinson was a guest judge in season four of The Masked Singer where he also performed Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" as a "Mystery Piano Man" during his introduction.

Robinson later became the host of The Masked Dancer which has the same format as The Masked Singer. In 2021, Robinson was featured as a spokesperson for Pizza Hut advertising the return of their Detroit Styled Pizza and Original Stuffed Crust Pizza. Robinson also voiced a singing bust in Muppets Haunted Mansion.

In 2021, he started doing commercials for Gain detergent, singing a parody of "Maniac" by Michael Sembello.

His next series, Killing It, premiered on Peacock in April 2022 and he voiced Mr. Shark, in the 2022 DreamWorks Animation film The Bad Guys. That year, he also hosted the docuseries Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward on CNBC, which received an Emmy nomination.

On July 1, 2025, he announced he was "retiring" from comedy permanently to work on other projects. However, it was later revealed by Variety that the "announcement" was simply part of a new AT&T marketing campaign, and Robinson would indeed continue doing comedy.

Music

For a number of years, Robinson and comedian Jerry Minor had a comedy act where they performed as musical duo L. Witherspoon & Chucky, with Minor as smooth singing L. Witherspoon and Robinson as Chucky, the keyboard player and back-up singer. They performed the act on HBO's Sketch Pad, several stand-up shows on Comedy Central, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!

He occasionally performs with his band, The Nasty Delicious, alongside his brother and musical director Chris Rob on keyboards, Ethan Farmer on bass, Asa Watkins on drums, David Sampson on guitar, Lakecia Benjamin and Reggie Hines on saxophones, Winston Byrd on trumpet, and Bendji Allonce on percussion. They were featured as his band in an episode of The Office, and on the season finale of the seventh season of Last Comic Standing. He has also performed in character in multiple episodes of The Office, and was featured on the Hot Tub Time Machine soundtrack, singing "Jessie's Girl" and "Let's Get It Started". He was in the film Miss March, playing the role of the hit rapper Phil, also known as Horsedick.MPEG. Robinson produced two songs from that same film. In the film Dolemite Is My Name, playing the role of musician Ben Taylor, he performed the title theme of the Rudy Ray Moore blaxploitation film Dolemite.

He has performed with his band in the 2018 stand-up comedy special Seth Rogen's Hilarity for Charity.

Filmography

Film +Key Denotes works that have not yet been released Year Title Role Notes

Television Year Title Role Notes 2002 Play'd: A Hip Hop Story Cole Television film 2003 Lucky Mutha Rhodes 13 episodes 2004 The Bernie Mac Show Wayne Episode "Hair Jordan" LAX Episode: "Abduction" Friends Clerk Episode: "The One with Princess Consuela" 2005 Arrested Development Studio Guard #1 Episode: "Switch Hitter" Curb Your Enthusiasm Attendant #1 Episode: "The End" 2005–2013 The Office Darryl Philbin Nominated—NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2011–2013)Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2009–2013) 2007 Halfway Home Mr. Brown Episode: "Halfway Working" 2009 James Gunn's PG Porn Havana Bob Episode: "Helpful Bus" Reno 911! Levon French Episode: "Deputy Dance" 2009, 2012 Eastbound & Down Reggie Mackworthy 4 episodes 2009–2013 The Cleveland Show LeVar "Freight Train" Brown Voice 2011 Love Bites Bowman 2 episodes 2013 Kroll Show Various Characters Episode: "The Greatest Hits of It" 2014 Comedy Bang! Bang! Himself Episode: "Craig Robinson Wears a Bordeaux Button Down & Dark Jeans" 2014–2021 Brooklyn Nine-Nine Doug Judy (The Pontiac Bandit) 9 episodes 2015 Key & Peele Wisdom Caldwell / Himself Episode: "Super Bowl Special" Mr. Robinson Craig Robinson 6 episodes; also producer 2016 Mr. Robot Ray Heyworth 7 episodes 2016–2019 American Dad! Security Officer / Dirk Turlington / DJ Avalanche / Himself Voice; 6 episodes 2017 Caraoke Showdown Himself (host) 10 episodes 2017–2018 Ghosted Leroy Wright 16 episodes; also executive producer Big Mouth Various Voice; 4 episodes 2018 Dream Corp, LLC Mr. Metzler Episode: "Guys and Dads" 2020 Medical Police Edgar Tooby Episode: "The Lasagna as a Whole" What We Do in the Shadows Claude 2 episodes Home Movie: The Princess Bride Fezzik Episode: "Chapter Eight: Ultimate Suffering" Ryan's Mystery Playdate Himself Episode: "Ryan's Jurassic Playdate" The Masked Singer Guest panelist Episode: "The Semi Finals – The Super Six" 2020–2021 The Masked Dancer Himself Host 2020–present Your Attention Please 2021 Nickelodeon's Unfiltered Episode: "This DJ is Bananas!" Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Episode: "Hair" Muppets Haunted Mansion Singing Bust TV special Santa Inc. Junior Voice; 8 episodes 2022 The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse Snowflake Boss Voice; Episode: "The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse" Storybots: Answer Time Lost Tourist Episode: "GPS" Oni: Thunder God's Tale Naridon Voice, main role 2022–2023 Killing It Craig Foster Main role; also executive producer 2022–present Harlem Globetrotters: Play It Forward Himself Host; also executive producerNominated—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Educational or Informational Program2023–2024Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Principal Nelson Voice, 3 episodes 2024 SpongeBob SquarePants Pa Cheeks Voice; Episode: "Sandy's Country Christmas" 2025 Krapopolis Stavros Voice; Episode: "Stavros Live and in Concert" Super Duper Bunny League Rubber Dougie Voice, Episode: "Bath Time for Bunnies" Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Spuds Voice, 3 episodes 2026 The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins Jerry Basmati 3 episodes The Boys Himself Episode: "One-Shots", uncredited

Video game Year Title Role Notes 2010 Shrek Forever After Cookie