Rob Reiner

Reiner was born into a Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, on March 6, 1947. He is the son of Estelle Reiner (née Lebost; 1914–2008), an actress, and Carl Reiner (1922–2020), a renowned comedian, actor, writer, producer and director.

In the late 1960s, Reiner acted in bit roles in several television shows including Batman, The Andy Griffith Show, Room 222, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and The Beverly Hillbillies. He began his career writing for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1968 and 1969, with Steve Martin as his writing partner as the two youngest writers on the show.

Rob Reiner married actress/director Penny Marshall in 1971. Marshall's daughter, actress Tracy Reiner (A League of Their Own), was from a previous marriage to Michael Henry. Reiner and Marshall divorced in 1981.

In 1972, Reiner, Phil Mishkin, and Gerry Isenberg created the situation comedy The Super for ABC. Starring Richard S. Castellano, the show depicted the life of the harried Italian American superintendent of a New York City apartment building and ran for 10 episodes in the summer of 1972. Reiner and Mishkin co-wrote the premiere episode.

Reiner was introduced to his future wife, photographer Michele Singer, while directing When Harry Met Sally. The meeting not only resulted in his decision to change the ending of that film, but he also married Singer in 1989. They have three children, Jake (born 1991), Nick (born 1993), and Romy (born 1998). In 1997, Reiner and Singer founded the "I Am Your Child Foundation," and in 2004, they founded the "Parents' Action for Children," a non-profit organization with a dual purpose: a) to raise awareness of the importance of a child's early years by producing and distributing celebrity-hosted educational videos for parents, and b) to advance public policy through parental education and advocacy.

In 1998, Reiner chaired the campaign to pass Prop 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created First 5 California, a program of early childhood development services, funded by a tax on tobacco products. He served as the first chairman of First 5 California, from 1999 to 2006. Reiner came under criticism for campaigning for a ballot measure (Prop 82) to fund state-run preschools while still chair of the First Five Commission, causing him to resign from his position on March 29, 2006. An audit was conducted, and it concluded that the state commission did not violate state law and that it had clear legal authority to conduct its public advertising campaigns related to preschool. Prop 82 failed to win approval, garnering only 39.1% support.

Reiner was mentioned as a possible candidate to run against California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 but decided not to run for personal reasons. He campaigned extensively for Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election, and he campaigned in Iowa for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean just before the 2004 Iowa caucuses. He endorsed Hillary Clinton for president for the 2008 election. In 2015, he donated US$10,000 to Correct the Record, a political action committee that supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Since the 2016 election, he has continued to campaign against Donald Trump, calling him a racist, sexist, anti-gay, and anti-Semitic, and he compared him to the Nazi police at Auschwitz. Reiner said that Harvey Weinstein is a "bad guy" but Trump is "also an abuser".

Reiner is a member of the Social Responsibility Task Force, an organization advocating moderation where social issues (such as violence and tobacco use) and the entertainment industry meet. He is also active in environmental issues, and he successfully led the effort to establish California's Ahmanson Ranch as a state park and wildlife refuge rather than as a commercial real estate development. He introduced Spinal Tap at the London Live Earth concert in July 2007.

Reiner endorsed Joe Biden for president for the 2020 election. In March 2020, Reiner demanded that President Trump be removed from office due to what he considers Trump's poor handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.