Robin Wright was born on April 8, 1966 in Dallas, Texas, but she grew up in San Diego, California. She started her professional career as a model, both in Paris and Japan. Although she appeared in commercials, her largest role prior to Santa Barbara was a guest-starring role on the television series The Yellow Rose. Her work on SB landed her three outstanding ingenue Emmy nominations for daytime.

Robin's big break came when Rob Reiner cast her as Buttercup in the 1987 film The Princess Bride. Her next big film was playing Jenny opposite Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. For her performance in this movie, she got a nomination for a Golden Globe Award.

Robin has appeared in numerous other movies, including Denial, State of Grace, The Playboys, Toys, The Crossing Guard, Moll Flanders, She's So Lovely, Message in a Bottle, The Pledge, Nine Lives, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and The Conspirator. Over the years, she appeared alongside such movie stars as Robin Williams, Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn.

Robin was briefly married to actor Dane Witherspoon. In 1996, she married Sean Penn and changed her name to Robin Wright Penn. They have two children together, daughter Dylan Frances (b. 1991) and son Hopper Jack (b. 1993). The couple divorced in 2010.