Robert Lyons was born in Michigan and grew up on the move from Kansas, to Wisconsin, to Minnesota. Invited to Wabash College in Indiana on an acting scholarship, he majored in Theater and German, the combination of the two and his increasing interest in directing led to him spending a year of his college as an exchange student in Berlin, Germany.
Upon graduation, he returned to Berlin to assistant direct at the world-renowned Berliner Ensemble, for B.K. Tragelehn’s production of “Brecht’s Galileo.” His notes on his time there were published in New Theater Quarterly, August 1999.
He stayed in Berlin, performing with the Ensemble and other major theaters, including The Brandenburger Theater, and directing his own projects in Berlin, including Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” and Schaeffer’s “Black Comedy.”
To German television audiences, however, he is most well-known for his three years in the main cast of the television show “Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten.” Shown in four countries, it is the most successful television serial in Europe.
After leaving GSZS in 2007, he directed 30 episodes of the TV show “Unter Uns” also produced by Grundy UFA for German television.
His film acting credits include “Lucky Fritz” with Corey Feldman, “The Boxer” with Stacey Keach, “The Countess” with Julie Delpy and his first lead in a feature – the grindhouse, post-apocalyptic spaghetti western “Snowblind.” Most recently he starred in the comedic short film “Possum.” Theater credits include “Fool for Love,” “In the Boom Boom Room” (Stella Adler), “Orpheus Descending” (English Theater Berlin), and “Familienbande” (Brandenburger Theater).
Lyons has also directed several plays including “The Visions of Simone Machard,” “Macbeth,” “Trout and The Man With the Flower In His Mouth,” as well as the German-language short film, which he also wrote and produced, “Der Morgen Danach.”
As a stand-up comedian, Lyons has performed across Europe in both English and German to packed houses, including the Kookaburra Comedy Club – Berlin & Das Wohnzimmer – Cologne.
Lyons also works extensively as a voice-over actor and dialogue coach for animation, video games, industrial films, ADR dubbing and documentaries. Most recently, he voiced a documentary on Jaguars in South America for National Geographic (voice-overs).
Lyons is a graduate of the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting Conservatory in New York, as well as training at the Royal National Theater in London.
