Roberts was born in Biloxi, Mississippi. His Minneapolis, Minnesota-born mother, Betty Lou Motes (née Bredemus), was a one-time church secretary and real estate agent, and his father, Walter Grady Roberts, was a vacuum cleaner salesman. Roberts's parents, one-time actors and playwrights, met while performing theatrical productions for the armed forces and later co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Read more...

Roberts was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985 for his role as the escaped convict Buck in the film Runaway Train. In 1987, he won the Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut performance in Burn This.

Roberts's starring roles include King of the Gypsies (1978), Raggedy Man (1981), Star 80 (1983), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), The Coca-Cola Kid (1985), Read more...

Roberts had his daughter Emma Roberts on February 10, 1991 with his then-girlfriend Kelly Cunningham. The relationship ended. Then, he married Eliza Garrett in 1992. His daughter Emma has joined her father and aunts in the acting business. She has a starring role on the Nickelodeon series Unfabulous and has appeared in the films Blow (2001), Aquamarine (2006) and starred in Nancy Drew (2007) as Read more...