- In 1982, during a weeks filming of the long-running series Fantasy Island, he tried to get his SAG card. Unfortunately for Firth, because he was being featured as a cave man, and primarily speaking in grunts and grumbles, the union didn't recognize his role as significant, and no membership was permitted.
- As the president of his high school student body, he once had to present an award to then Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo. The presentation was shrouded in controversy, as the city official tried to use the ceremony to promote changes to the city's charter, that would allow for a third term. Using both humor and eventually shame, Firth managed to quiet the contentious crowd, gave his speech and presented the plaque. As he left the podium, police arrived and the entire auditorium descended into chaos. The whole fiasco was captured live by local reporters and then broadcast on the evenings news.
- In 1991, while auditioning for the role of Dean Martin in a biopic about the legendary crooner Frank Sinatra, he forgot the words to That's Amore. During the ill-fated meeting, Tina Sinatra took Firth's hand, and along with her casting associates and production team, joined in the singing and helped him finish the song.
- As a young actor, he would sneak onto movie sets during filming and ask the directors and actors for parts in their projects.
- Prior to the installation of state-of-the-art security systems to protect Los Angeles' world-famous Hollywood Sign, Firth had climbed all of the "O" letters, of the cultural landmark.
- In 2012, was rumored to have voiced the title role of Tony Stark in a previously unannounced Iron Man-licensed game that had entered production.
- At the beginning of his career, he appeared in a handful of soap operas. Often, whole sections of dialogue would be rewritten just prior to taping. Having been totally unaware that there were teleprompters on set, and not one to learn dialogue so swiftly, Firth would frantically offer portions of his reworded exposition to fellow actors with whom he shared his scenes. Fortunately, many of these players were quicker studies than he, and as a consequence, all of the performances would go off without a hitch - no one noticing the changes.
- He was cast in two comic book projects - Guardians Of The Galaxy and Batman: Arkham Knight. In the former, his opening scenes were cut in the final edit. In the latter, he performed motion capture and lends his voice.
- In an opening sequence of Guardians of the Galaxy, Firth is briefly spotted portraying Dr. Fitzgibbon, the attending physician. His character is named after a personal friend of director James Gunn - there's a Fitzgibbon in every one of his films. Unfortunately for Firth, his scenes are cut from the final edit.
- Firth played a caveman on Fantasy Island. It was one of his first roles. The exterior sequences were filmed at a local Hollywood park that was littered with broken glass and debris. Many of his fellow cavemen vocalized their safety concerns about the location - the scenes required them to perform barefoot. In an effort to avoid going over schedule, the actors worries were dismissed. Faced with this resistance, Firth quickly organized the performers and insisted that unless some sort of footwear could be provided, the filming should be postponed. In the end, suede sandals were trucked in from the wardrobe department at Warner Brothers Studios and the production proceeded without a hitch.
- In the early hours of January 11, 2017 catastrophe struck, and Firth's Hollywood Hills home succumbed to a series of disastrous mudslides. The surrounding cliffs and adjacent patios collapsed, sending large boulders and chunks of rubble onto the street below, resulting in the closure of Laurel Canyon Blvd. - one of the city's most heavily traveled thoroughfares - for a period of five weeks. The actual house, having been "red tagged" and deemed uninhabitable, was eventually sold as land. The sale of the property was further complicated by a series of record-breaking rainstorms combined with daily televised updates, printed newspaper articles and live video links of the crisis posted on social media outlets and online news sites worldwide.
- Used to compete in talent contests - performing as Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis - to earn extra money, between acting gigs.
- After a couple of failed try-outs as a "walk on" at Penn State University, famed football coach Joe Paterno finally acquiesced and offered Rob a spot on his iconic team. The achievement was short-lived, however, and facing a long and punishing season, Firth gradually came to embrace a painful realization: that he might actually prefer "playing" an athlete as opposed to "being" one. This epiphany would come to fruition years later when he portrayed the disgruntled star quarterback Davey Wells, sharing the screen with the legendary Angela Lansbury, on her long-running detective drama series Murder, She Wrote.
- His first professional gig was impersonating former president Ronald Reagan at a large banquet in Newport Beach, California. Many of the supporters gathered at the evenings event hadn't realized that the actual voice heard through the speaker-phone was that of the young actor, broadcasting from an adjacent hotel suite, and not the newly elected president.
- In 2013, was cast as the original voice of Del Rev in Austen Atkinson's animated series Prisoner Zero.
- Mitzvah Communion, Firth's debut feature, included an initial cast of over a hundred fellow actors and friends and took over thirteen years to complete. The mockumentary was filmed throughout the US, and post production was eventually completed in the UK in 2011. While over ninety hours of footage was shot, in the end, the film was finally released as a short.
- Auditioned for the role of pilot Joe Hackett, in the long-running television series Wings. Between the initial meeting and the subsequent callbacks that followed, Firth decided to cram in a series of flying lessons, to better prepare for the character. After several terrifying classes he realized that, while he might be able to portray a pilot on TV, he wasn't cut out to actually be one. The network agreed. The part went to actor Tim Daly.
- Worked with director Stephen Frears on Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight. At the end of their session, the rather curious director asked the actor for his last name. He allegedly replied, "It's Firth, like Colin Firth, but without all the f**king awards".
- In the early 80's, during a particularly difficult period as a stand-up comedian, Firth encountered an up and coming writer/performer whose sage advice would become extremely influential on his future career path. It was just a brief conversation at a local gym in Encino, Ca., but the message that the comic conveyed and the conviction with which he expressed it, could not be any clearer: "Stand-up is not for people who'd "like" to do it, or "want" to do it, it's really for people who "have" to do it. If you don't "have" to do it, find something else..." Firth abandoned his comedy career shortly thereafter, and Garry Shandling went on to become a comedy legend.
- In 1980, he stumbled into his first professional theatrical audition for the movie Taps. The film was being shot locally, at the Valley Forge Military Academy & College - not far from where Firth was living at the time.
- Narrated a documentary that chronicled the evolution of the American Space Shuttle Program. A portion of the presentation, the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Transportation System, was broadcast live, requiring Firth to announce the telecast's final segment from a temporary studio at his home in Central London.
- Is a dual citizen and lives in London and Los Angeles.
- As an extremely eager and inexperienced skater he once rollerbladed 70 miles, from Brentwood to Newport Beach, without having mastered the ability to stop. Every time he descended a hill along the California coastal route, he would either fall into a sand dune, or crash into a thicket of small shrubs.
- In the serial thriller biopic The Head Hunter, Firth portrays real life character Lt. Charles Scherer. He was one of a few actors cast in the project who was both American born and had a real mustache.
- Worked briefly as a sketch-comedy player on the popular, cutting-edge, Playboy Video Magazine. Most of the parodies spoofed 1980's commercials and usually involved a clothed Firth interacting with nude Playboy Playmates. Earlier segments of the broadcasts were written by Michael Nesmith, and featured performances by iconic comedians like Andy Kaufman.
- Earlier in his career, Firth was the body double for actor Todd Curtis, who portrayed the character Jordy Clegg on the long-running soap opera Capitol. It was shortly after Clegg's tragic car accident the previous summer, that left him permanently scarred. In those appearances Firth was usually off-camera, with minimal dialogue. In the short scenes where the character needed to be seen, he was shot from behind.
- He voice matched Sylvester Stallone in the audio book version of Judge Dredd, and has been the voice match for Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Bacon and Danny Trejo, in other media related campaigns and projects.
- In 1984, Firth had the good fortune to work with Academy Award-winning actress Beatrice Straight. Unique Species, written by husband Peter Cookson, and directed by Straight, was one of the first plays to tackle the painful issues surrounding the ravages of Alzheimer's disease. In an unfortunate twist of fate, the actress would later succumb to the same illness as the character whom she had portrayed.
- In the early 80's, he pursued a short-lived career as a stand-up comedian, performing at local comedy clubs throughout Southern California.
- Worked briefly as a location scout for production companies in Los Angeles during the early 1990's.
- Worked for famed British lyricist and poet Bernie Taupin at his popular bistro Cicada, on LA's famous Restaurant Row. During one notable exchange, Firth allegedly challenged Taupin's playful badgering and quipped, "If you have a problem with me, why don't you write a song about it".
- His first television appearance was in 1978 as a panel guest on the local morning show Horizons - hosted by Philadelphia news anchor and journalist, Edie Huggins.
- During the filming of Sefton Hill's Batman: Arkham Knight, Firth spent most of his time torturing long-time friend Glenn Wrage in a series of extremely physical motion capture sequences.
- During rehearsals for The Rezort, Firth liked Steve Barker's eclectic style of clothing so much, the director actually let him wear it in the film.
- Firth had a brief stint as the maniacal antagonist Master Chen, in the Lego Ninjago series. He was allegedly slated to portray the arch-villain in additional video games, but declined due to financial discrepancies with the game producers, coupled with the constant strain that portraying such a demented character put on his vocal chords.
- Firth co-starred with Robbie Benson and Robert Pastorelli in the television movie California Girls and the first incarnation of the CBS television pilot, Tough Cookies. Pastorelli would go on to work with Firth on yet another CBS pilot - Sons of Gunz.
- Portrayed literary iconoclast Jack Kerouac in the touching tribute - Angels Still Falling, at London's Shaw Theater. During the shows run, Firth was fortunate enough to have encountered, first hand, some of the actual folks on which the play had been based. He was particularly grateful for having met Carolyn Cassady, the American writer and artist who had been closely associated with the Beat Generation through her marriage to Neal Cassady and her friendships with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other prominent Beat figures. The play was directed by Firth's close friend William Marsh, and written by playwright and Beat Generation enthusiast Richard Deakin.
- In 1996, Firth starred as Andrew in the London premiere of award-winning writer Theresa Rebeck's Spike Heels. The sold-out Notting Hill production was directed by William Marsh, and produced by Eamonn Walker.
- In 2018 Robert decided to chronicle the songwriting process of fellow artist and friend Michael Harrington, in the "mini laptop doc" In America (2019). The filming took place at locations in Beverly Hills, California, US. Post-production was completed in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, UK.
- In 2019 Firth decided to chronicle the over six-decade career of fellow actor and artist Michael Greene, in the feature "laptop doc" In Greene (2019). On Greene (2019), produced later that same year, was a follow-up to the initial project. The filming took place at locations in Haiku, Hawaii, US and Hollywood, California, US. Post-production was completed in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, UK.
- Over the years, Firth has collaborated as both an actor and writer on dozens of student film projects throughout the Greater London area. They include: London Film School, Ravensbourne University, Central Film School, The Met Film School, Goldsmiths University and Bournemouth Film School.
- Firth's short film In Mirka (2020) marked the first collaboration between Melendy Britt and Robert. Much of the production took place in two locations, over 5000 miles apart. Archival footage from both the UK and the US was combined to create the project.
- During the Corona pandemic of 2020, Firth decided to document the lockdown. His short film, In, captured the thoughts and feelings of fellow colleagues and family during that stressful time.
- In 2021, Firth wrote and directed, In Sheppard, a short film based on the life of Ben-David Sheppard. To give the mockumentary a deeper feeling of authenticity, Rob made a point of casting former classmates in some of the key roles.
- In the summer of 2021, Robert became the signature voice for the long-running non-fiction crime drama, American Monster, after the sudden passing of journalist and voice actor, Tom Streithorst, who had narrated the series for the prior six seasons.
- Firth's second collaboration with Fortune Cookies director Brenda Lee and actor Siu Hunli occurred in 2021 where he portrayed Lonnie LaFontaine - a cameo performance that was a tip of the hat to the legendary voice artist Don LaFontaine.
- In the early 1980's, Firth was first represented by personal manager, casting director, and executive producer, Beverlee Dean. At the time, Dean was a controversial figure in Hollywood. She found fame as a graphologist and psychic whose readings were taken quite seriously by desperate studio execs, producers and stars around town. She was known to have helped ABC television pick its winners and losers through several pilot seasons in previous years.
- In the summer of 2020, Firth memorialized the passing of his stepmother Selma Firth, with the short film Zoomeral. Two years later, and almost to the day, he commemorated the passing of his 101-year-old father Sidney Firth, with the short film Another Zoomeral. Both projects contained actual footage from the online funerals, combined with comedic moments that occurred just prior to the ceremonies, as older relatives and friends attempted to negotiate their way through the cloud-based communications platform.
- In the late spring of 1981, just prior to making the move to Los Angeles, Firth worked as a catering assistant on the film Rocky III, in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served many members of the cast and crew, including the iconic Mr. T, whom he would later serve at a restaurant in Beverly Hills, California.
- In the summer of 2023, Firth shot The Original Night (2024) - a mockumentary about the red-necked wallabies on the remote island of Inchconnachan, just off the shores of Loch Lomond, Scotland. These exotic marsupials were brought to the area in the 1940's as part of a private collection. During the filming, the cast and crew encountered rocky shorelines, and difficult terrain, as most of the land was carpeted in knee-deep sphagnum mosses. What's more, a full-blown infestation of the Scottish biting midge made the production even more unbearable. So much so, that Robert decided to incorporate the facial netting, safari hat, and long-sleeved rain gear into the actual performance, as the character's choice of wardrobe.
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