Robert Anthony Shipman was born in an ice storm on a full moon, early in the morning of March 21, 1962 in Toronto, Canada. Originally he wanted to be an artist who showed promise and won attention for his art creations in public school but then he saw the stage and everything changed. At age 10 he was performing on the streets of Toronto in a mime troupe which lead to his first movie, Robert Shipman Mime, a story he wrote and starred in, and was professionally produced. He trained as an actor at George Brown Theatre School and then off to England to train at the prestigious London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. Throughout his acting career he appeared in over 25 stage productions, commercials, tv series and film, notably Dirty Work (1998). He eventually moved to the other side of the camera in production and worked his way through the ranks to become one of Canada's best props masters.