Famous Like Me > Actor > R > Michael Richards
Profile of Michael Richards
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| Name: |
Michael Richards |
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| Date of Birth: |
24th July 1949 |
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| Place of Birth: |
Culver City, Los Angeles, California, USA |
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| Profession: |
Actor |
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From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Michael Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer, Vietnam veteran, producer and comedian from Los Angeles, California.
Richards received a bachelor's degree in Drama from the California Institute of the Arts in 1975 (he also had a short-lived Improv act with Ed Begley, Jr. during this period). He then spent two years in the Army (Vietnam) developing educational skits, and then he spent a couple more years "finding himself" at a commune in the Santa Clara Mountains. Before he made it big (or small, for that matter), he drove a bus and developed a stand-up act in 1979. He got his big break nine months later appearing in Billy Crystal's first cable TV special. He married a former casting director (married 19 years, divorced in 1990), has a 17-year-old daughter, Sophia, and now lives in the San Fernando Valley.
Richards began as one of the cast members on ABC's Fridays television show, but didn't start making a name for himself until he portrayed "Stanley Spadowski" in "Weird Al" Yankovic's movie UHF in 1989.
In the same year, he was cast as "Cosmo Kramer" (based on real-life counterpart Kenny Kramer) in the television series Seinfeld, which was created by fellow Friday's cast member Larry David and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The show quickly went on to become one of the most popular sitcoms in American history.
Very much unlike his onscreen counterpart, Richards is a soft spoken, classy individual in interviews. In 2000, Richards tried to break the mold of Kramer by starring in the vehicle The Michael Richards Show, but ratings were poor and the show was cancelled. Many attribute this to not seeing the actor continue his misadventures with the Seinfeld character. He was also slated to star in the USA series Monk but pulled out of the project, which later starred Tony Shalhoub.
Michael Richards also played a cameo role in So I Married an Axe Murderer where he was an "insensitive man," and was in the movie Problem Child, featuring John Ritter, where he was an escaped convict.
Enrolled in the Los Angeles Valley College, he continued to dominate student productions and says "I am grateful that the public schools introduced me to the performing arts." With the Vietnam war going on, Richards was drafted and stationed in Germany as one of the co-directors of the V Corps Training Road Show. He produced and directed shows dealing with race relations and drug abuse; "This was a successful, educational operation, boosting the morale of our men and incorporating the arts into the service."
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