When pundits say that just being nominated for an Academy Award® is tantamount to winning, they must have had actor Robert Forster in mind. His role as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown was a landmark performance and helped revive a career, which Forster has described as having “a five year upwards first act and a 25 year sliding second act.” His performance garnered universally great critical acclaim, but even more importantly, he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. It has turned around a career that started over 30 years ago and put him suddenly in great demand.

He has not stopped working since he co-starred with Samuel Jackson, Pam Grier and Robert DeNiro, as the innately decent bail bondsman in Jackie Brown, choosing a slate of in films and television which run the gamut of both high profile and independent projects. This year he again won accolades in David Mamet’s Lakeboat, directed by Joe Mantegna, and stars in the up coming Diamond Men, with Donnie Wahlberg, as the traveling salesman forced to mentor his young replacement. Also recently completed is Rat In The Can, with Rose McGowan. He was also featured in the recent CBS TV film, Like Mother, Like Son: The Strange Story of Sante and Kenny Kimes, with Mary Tyler Moore.

Forster recently starred in the independent film Outside Ozona, and the updated versions of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, and Rear Window, and a trio of independent films, Family Tree, The Magic of Marcianon, co-starring Nastassja Kinski and All The Rage, in with an all-star ansemble including Joan Allen, Gary Sinise and Andre Braugher. In 1999 Forster was featured in the MGM sci-fi film Supernova, co-starring Angela Basset and James Spader. He can also be heard reading the best-selling book, “The Hit Man,” for Dove Audio.

Forster blazed on the scene in his debut film, in 1966, in Reflections In A Golden Eye, co-starring with Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor, directed by John Huston. He followed this in 1968, with the seminal film, Medium Cool, by Haskell Wexler, as the TV newsman, whose carefully guarded objectivity is undercut by the events at the Democratic convention in Chicago. He continued to do good work in less high-profile films, and also starred in several television series, including the noir series, “Banyon,” which according to Forster, was filled with “fast cars and faster women.”

Forster always felt that if he persisted, someday a young hotshot filmmaker, familiar with his work, would create a role for him. What he didn’t realize was, there would be two young guys, anxious to cast him. One was Quentin Tarantino, who had wanted him for two earlier films, but then, insisted that Forster play the bailbondsman in Jackie Brown, with Pam Grier and Samuel L. Jackson. The second young director was Englishman Paul Chart, who wrote the role of Dr. Jake Nyman, in the thriller American Perfekt, with Forster in mind, after following his career. The film, also starring Amanda Plummer, David Thewlis and Paul Sorvino, was released in Canada and Europe.

A native of Rochester, N.Y., Forster began his acting career in local community theatre, moving to New York City in 1965, where he made his professional debut in the two-character Broadway production of “Mrs. Dally Has A L/over.” His other stage credits include “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “The Glass Menagerie,” and the off-Broadway productions of “Twelve Angry Men,” “The Sea Horse,” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest-.”

Over the years, he has done consistently good work in small films, including his stand-out performances in The Don is Dead, Stunts, Avalanche, Alligator, and Delta Force.

On television, Forster starred in three series: “Banyon,” “Nakia,” and “Once A Hero.” He appeared in several telefilms including. Death Squad, Standing Tall, The Clone, and an Emmy Award winning episode of “Police Story.”

In 1986, Forster produced and directed Hollywood Harry, a detective film spoof, in which he starred with his daughter, Kathrine, then Age 14. During the last few years, he created an actors workshop and been in demand as a motivational speaker.

"You can’t give up," Forster tells young actors. “If you have a good attitude, always do your best work, and hang in there, you can win in the late innings.” But it does help to have a Quentin Tarantino out there as one of your big fans.