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From a large Midwestern family, full of every kind of personality, Richard came screaming into the world ready to make a statement. Growing up in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton, Missouri, he was lucky enough to be part of various productions in grade school and high school before the demands of college pulled him away from theater and production. Over the years, he would often make appearances in various radio shows, or be asked to perform in short films and student productions - at one point being asked to fly to Vancouver to take part in a production at the Vancouver Film School. Often being credited for his ability to throw himself into the moment, and his energy, various others would frequently comment on their desire to work with Richard more in the future.
Impressed with the efforts of the students at VFS, Richard felt the urge to make sure he got more involved with his acting. He began to work with film writers and producers in both St. Louis and Los Angeles on various projects at different capacities. At this same time in life, he also continued to work in the corporate world and finish graduate school with an MBA emphasized in finance. After finishing graduate school, he was approached by a friend and producer who was ready to shoot a feature length film in St. Louis. Richard was involved in the pre-production extensively, but eventually other commitments kept limiting his ability to help as filming grew closer. However, he was also offered a small role in the film, and after that Richard made the decision to act full time.
Richard began to train at COCA under Ed Reggi who taught a solid class on the Meisner approach to acting and really opened his eyes to the basic theory of acting. From there he had the chance to study privately with famed St. Louis acting coach Carrie Houk, who mentored him in ways he never expected. He was given the chance not only to cover theory and core acting ideas, but learn how to read into the scripts of both classic and contemporary theater.
Since then, Richard has been involved in various theater, commercial, and film productions primarily in the Midwest. He was lucky enough to attend the Piven School in Evanston, IL, as well as both the Acting and Improv programs at the world famous Second City in Chicago. Through Second City he was given the chance to make various stage performances with an ensemble, which he credits as really bringing him to a new level of openness both on stage and on camera.
Each day is a new opportunity it seems, and as each new possibility appears, Richard is ready to maximize the performance needed. He hopes to continue to work in Chicago and with those he knows in Los Angeles and New York. While his family still lives in the St. Louis area and he keeps a home there to visit often, Richard currently divides his time between St. Louis and his primary outlet for work in Chicago.
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