Lives in Connecticut with husband and fellow playwright Robert Cary and two adopted children.
Like his idol Barbra Streisand , Tolins was born in Brooklyn. In the 1990s, Streisand came to one of Tolins plays and almost bought the movie rights to it. Perhaps not so coincidentally, his 2013 off-Brodaway comedy, Buyer & Cellar, is inspired by Streisands book My Passion for Design".
