A near-drowning in Lake Erie built the coldest villain in sci-fi history and a career that refuses to stop.
At a glance
- Known for
- The T-1000 in Terminator 2, Agent John Doggett in The X-Files
- Before fame
- Swam three hours across Lake Erie to rescue friends after a boating accident in 1984
- Off-screen
- Co-owns a Harley-Davidson dealership in Santa Clarita
Rise to Fame
A boat sank on Lake Erie in 1984, and he swam for three hours to reach a marina and get a rescue team. He's said that near-death experience convinced him to move to Los Angeles and chase acting. He lived in his car, worked in a bar, and started grinding through Roger Corman productions.
The T-1000 happened because James Cameron wanted a deliberate contrast to Schwarzenegger. Cameron described it as casting "a Porsche" against "a human Panzer tank." Billy Idol was the original pick until a motorcycle accident took him out. Patrick trained for three months straight, nothing but sleep, food, vitamins, and weapons training. Empire readers later ranked the T-1000 19th on the all-time greatest villains list. He considers that character being more famous than him a blessing.
In the Spotlight
The T-1000's anonymity turned out to be the best thing for his career. Directors keep casting him because audiences see the character, not the last role. He played a gambling addict who loses $45,000 in one poker night on The Sopranos. He played Johnny Cash's abusive father in Walk the Line and Elvis Presley's father in a CBS miniseries the same year, the same actor playing both fathers inside twelve months.
The last few years have been a streak. A white supremacist supervillain opposite John Cena in Peacemaker, a sheriff alongside Harrison Ford in 1923, a corrupt security director in Reacher, a reunion with Stallone on Tulsa King. At 67, he's working more than most actors half his age, and the roles keep getting meaner.
Side Notes
The guy who sold him his first motorcycle eventually became his business partner. He co-owns the Santa Clarita Harley-Davidson dealership with Oliver Shokouh, and rides a Low Rider S down Bouquet Canyon Road when he's not on set. He sits on the board of the Love Ride Foundation, a motorcycle charity.
His brother Richard Patrick founded the rock band Filter and used to tour with Nine Inch Nails. Robert once started a mosh pit at a Filter show at the Roxy, yelling "Come on motherfuckers!" They've since started a YouTube video series together, which is about as on-brand as two brothers from the same family producing a Terminator villain and a Nine Inch Nails guitarist can get.