Name: Richard Madden
Born: June 18, 1986 in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK
Nationality: Scottish
Height: 5′ 9¾” (1.77 m)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Curly, Light Brown
Trade Mark: Grey Streak (it’s natural)
Occupation: Actor
Years Active: 1999–present

 



Richard Madden was born on June 18, 1986, in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, Scotland, just outside the town of Paisley and the city of Glasgow, where he was brought up.

His father, Richard (b. 1953), was in the fire service and his mother, Patricia (née Mulholland) Madden (b. 1954) , was a classroom assistant. He is the middle child and an only son, as he has two sisters, Cara (b. 1983) and Lauren (b. 1988).

At age 11, Richard joined PACE Youth Theatre to help conquer his shyness. He was soon cast as young Andy in the film adaptation of Iain Banks’s Complicity. He was then cast in the lead role of Sebastian in the children’s television series Barmy Aunt Boomerang, which aired from 1999 until 2000.

After taking a brief break where he focused on school, he applied to drama school. His high school made him apply for a second degree because they didn’t consider acting a real profession. His backup was Computer Science.

He attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow, from where he graduated in 2007. While he was quite overweight for much of his adolescence and during his time in Drama School, this changed when he got a part in a play which required him to be naked, at which point he realized that he didn’t want to be fat and naked on stage.

While at RSAMD, he worked with The Arches and Glasgow Repertory Company, followed by Franz Xaver Kroetz’s play Tom Fool at the Citizens’ Theatre, which was so well received that it transferred to London, where Madden was spotted by a team from Shakespeare’s Globe.

In his final year with RSAMD, he was cast as Romeo in a production of Romeo and Juliet at the modern Globe Theatre which, after an initial run in London, made a tour of open-air stages during the summer of 2007, this being the Globe’s first tour. Susan Elkin of The Stage wrote that Richard played a “gravelly Glaswegian, almost childlike Romeo”.

He played Callum McGregor in the stage production of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses in 2007-2008, and Mark McNulty in the stage production of Be Near Me in 2009.

Richard received positive reviews for his performance as Mark McNulty in the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Be Near Me. Warwick Thompson of Bloomberg noted his performance to be “especially good”. Susan Mansfield of The Scotsman reported that Richard caught the eye of critics for his work and reported additional positive reviews of his work by The Daily Telegraph and The Observer.

He later gained the lead role of Dean McKenzie in the 2009 BBC comedy-drama series Hope Springs, followed by his roles as Ripley in the 2010 film Chatroom, and as Theatre of Hate singer Kirk Brandon in the 2010 film Worried About The Boy.

Richard won Most Stylish Male at the Scottish Style Awards in October 2009 and was also named in Esquire’s Hottest Stars for 2010. In 2010, The Scotsman touted Richard as “one of the hottest young acting talents in the business”. They also noted that he is “tipped for mainstream glory this year” due to his upcoming roles in the film Chatroom and TV series Game of Thrones.

Richard’s breakthrough role came in 2011, as Robb Stark in HBO’s fantasy drama Game of Thrones, for which he received the Screen International Award for Star of Tomorrow. He starred in Game of Thrones – which is based upon the series of novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin – from 2011 to 2013. During this period, Richard also starred in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series Sirens, and in the BBC drama mini-series Birdsong.

In May 2013, Richard was chosen to portray the prince in the live action Disney film Cinderella. The film was released in March 2015. Richard first obtained his Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card for the 2014 mini-series Klondike, in which he plays Bill Haskell.

In May 2016, Richard reprised the role of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet on stage in London’s West End, where he was reunited with his Cinderella co-star Lily James, who played Juliet, and director Kenneth Branagh. Richard was replaced as Romeo in July 2016, after suffering an ankle injury.

In 2016, he played the leading role of Cosimo de’ Medici, the son of the founder of the Medici Bank during the Italian Renaissance, in the Italian-British television drama series, Medici: Masters of Florence. In the same year he played American pickpocket Michael Mason in the 2016 action movie Bastille Day, starring alongside Idris Elba.

In 2018, Madden garnered widespread critical acclaim and wider recognition for his role as PS David Budd, a troubled war veteran, in the BBC thriller series Bodyguard. After achieving high levels of popularity in the UK – it became UK’s most-watched television drama since current records began – Bodyguard was released to a worldwide audience on Netflix in October 2018. Richard’s performance earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama.

In addition to the Golden Globe Award, Richard won another two awards for his performance as David Budd in Bodyguard, a Golden Nymph Award in the category “Outstanding Actor – Drama Series” at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, and a National Television Award in category “Drama Performance”.

Richard was also nominated for a Critics Choice Award in the category “Best Actor in a Drama Series”, and a BAFTA Scotland Award in the “The Actor Television” category for his performance in Bodyguard.

Bodyguard went on to be nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. Critics and viewers alike expressed disappointment over Richard’s failure to receive an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, deeming it a snub.

Richard has been compared to Sean Connery and following his performance in Bodyguard is rumoured to have been offered the role of James Bond to succeed Daniel Craig. He has said that he is “flattered and thankful” to be considered for the role, but it’s all “just rumours”.

In 2019, Richard portrayed John Reid, a music manager and Elton John’s first boyfriend in the Elton John biopic Rocketman.

TIME magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world in 2019.

On July 4, 2019, Richard received an Honorary Doctorate of Drama from his alma mater, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. He is now a Doctor of Drama.

On July 20, 2019, at the Marvel Studios Panel during the San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Richard will star as Ikaris in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Eternals, which will be directed by Chloé Zhao and is scheduled to be released on November 6, 2020.

On September 3, 2019 Richard won the Hugo Boss Most Stylish Man Award at the British GQ Men of the Year Awards 2019.

On September 29, 2019 rumors surfaced that Richard Madden is the new face of Calvin Klein’s fragrances. Something that was later confirmed when photos of Richard filming a Calvin Klein Commercial were released.

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