Richard Crispin Armitage was born on August 22nd 1971 and raised in Leicestershire. Aged 14 he attended Pattison College, an independent school in Coventry specialising in the performing arts.

After leaving school he went to Budapest for 6 months to work in a circus in order to obtain his Equity card. Details of his time in the circus is still a favourite question for interviewers.

Returning to the UK he took work as an assistant choreographer and in musical theatre in shows such as Cats, 42nd Street and Annie Get your Gun.

These roles allowed him to save enough money to enrol in a three year course at LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art).

Whilst at LAMDA Richard gained a one line part in the new Star Wars film The Phantom Menace. His line eventually ended up on the cutting room floor and you'll struggle to spot him in the movie.

After graduating in 1998 and a short stint in theatre, he landed a small part in the film This Year's Love starring Douglas Henshall and Jennifer Ehle and then in the film Cleopatra starring Timothy Dalton and Billy Zane. Various theatre roles following including an 18 month tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company during which he played Angus in Macbeth. This production was eventually filmed in 2001, was critcially acclaimed and starred Antony Sher and Harriet Walter.

Then Richard's TV career started to take off. First, with a two episode appearance in Doctors as locum Dr Tom Steele and then as Craig in one episode of Casualty. But it was in 2002 that Richard took his first major TV role, playing John Standring in Sally Wainwright's Sparkhouse, a modern interpretation of Wuthering Heights.

In 2003 Richard appeared in three ITV dramas. First as flirty lifeguard Lee in series 5 of ITV's Cold Feet, then in series 2 of Ultimate Force playing Capt Ian MacAlwaine and finally, shown on ITV in Nov/Dec 2003, he played Paul Andrews in Kay Mellor's Between the Sheets also starring Julie Graham and Alun Armstrong.

Richard then landed the role which was to see his career take a giant leap forward, that of the northern mill owner John Thornton in the dramatisation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South.

His portrayal of Thornton was applauded by fans and critics alike. So popular was the role that the number of people accessing the BBC's North and South message board resulted in the board crashing under the weight.

Richard was known to have posted on the message board somewhat surprised by the furore he had created and this began several years of messages sent to various fansites and the proliferation of a number of fan forums and sites dedicated to him.

Following his role as Steven in the British film Frozen released in 2005, he also had guest roles in the popular BBC drama The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and in the one-off BBC drama Malice Aforethought in which he sported the first 'Moustache of Evil'.

2005 was a busy year for Richard as he gained the lead role of Dr Alec Track in ITV's hospital drama, The Golden Hour. Unfortunately the drama was not recommissioned for a second series after mixed reviews. A role as Macduff in the BBC's Shakespeare Re-Told followed.

It was 2006 that saw his career take yet another step up. He took the lead role as Claude Monet in BBC Two's three part story The Impressionists and then in October he appeared in yet another career milestone as the evil Guy of Gisborne in the new adaption of Robin Hood. Cast alongside Keith Allen as the Sheriff of Nottingham the baddies quickly became popular with the viewing public. Whilst the shows reviews have been mixed at best the ratings have consistently topped 5 million.

Richard may have wanted the public to hate Guy but the underlying vulnerability and his evident love for Marian, played with aplomb by newcomer Lucy Griffiths, had quite the opposite effect. Toys were marketed for the series and even now the Guy toy can be purchased at an inflated price, evidence if any was needed of his popularity. 

Richard also made an appearance on the children's BBC channel CBeebies in October 2006 reading five bedtime stories for children. These proved very popular with children and their mothers for some reason.

Richard's popularity and familiarity on television benefitted enormously from his appearance in the two-part Christmas special of The Vicar of Dibley in 2006. Playing Harry Kennedy, a new-comer to Dibley who romanced and married Dawn French's Geraldine it attracted more viewers than any other programme on Christmas Day gaining audience figures of 11.4 million. The role was reprised for a Comic Relief special in 2007.

In 2007, Richard was enormously busy filming the one-off dramas George Gently for BBC1, Marie Lloyd for BBC4 (in which the 'Moustache of Evil' made a second malevolent appearance) and Miss Marple: Ordeal By Innocence for ITV. He also went back to Budapest for six months in the summer to play Guy of Gisborne in series 2 of Robin Hood.

In early 2008 it was announced that Richard had landed a part in the successful BBC One drama series Spooks (known as MI-5 in the US).

Filming for the seventh series began in January 2008 in and around London and also in Moscow. In October 2008 we watched Lucas North re-join the team in the Grid, returning tattooed, exhausted and with questionable loyalty following his incarceration in a Russian prison. Richard lost weight to effectively portray the malnourished Lucas, however, in typical Spooks style, within minutes he was thrust back into the unrelentingly fast-paced action barely having time to finish his tea and doughnuts. The series was applauded by critics and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Drama in 2008.

2009

Richard reprised his role as Guy of Gisborne in the third and final series of Robin Hood, the final episode of which aired on 11 July 2009 on BBC1 and BBC HD. The DVD of the 3rd series is now available to buy.

Also available now is an audiobook of Georgette Heyer's Sylvester produced by Naxos, which Richard narrates.

In May 2009, Richard appeared in a daytime drama on BBC1 entitled Moving On, produced by Jimmy McGovern which was repeated in the evening in July 2009.

The first episode of Spooks 8 aired on Wednesday 4 November at 9pm on BBC1. The Spooks 7 DVD and is now available to buy for region 2 (UK) and 4 (Australia).

In his interview with Vulpes Libris published on 8 July 2009, Richard listed a number of projects that he is looking forward to: "A new 6-part TV series, a film, and a stage play based on a novel, which became a 60’s film classic. (Answers on a postcard please!) Hopefully, Spooks 9."  

He also mentioned the Richard III project, saying "I strongly suspect that this will be a long way off, probably outside of my ability to play the role, but I wouldn’t rule out playing another role".

During the run-up to Spooks series 8, interviews with Richard and articles about Spooks appeared in many magazines and online articles. A full list can be found here.

The last episode of Spooks 8 aired on Wednesday 23 December, 9pm on BBC1.

In 2010:

Since January this year, Richard has provided voiceovers for the Santander advert and the Alfa Romeo Mito Multiair advert. He has also promoted the BBC Winter Olympics coverage, which included several different adverts broadcast on BBC television and radio. All broadcasts can be heard and downloaded on our 2010 Advertisements page.

We now have more information about the film, although Richard's role is still subject to contract. It's entitled Charlie and lots more information including a website and forum links, can be found here.

Richard has read an abridged version of Georgette Heyer's Venetia which will be released on 1 April 2010. Details and link to Amazon are here. You can download an audio extract and listen to an interview with Richard on the Naxos Audiobooks website.

Strike Back is due to air on the Sky1 and Sky HD channels in April 2010.  Spooks 9 has begun filming and is expected to air in the Autumn of 2010. The DVDs of both Strike Back and Spooks can be preordered from Play.com and Amazon UK and are due to be released on 14 June and 11 October respectively. Details and link to Play.com and Amazon are here.

Richard will star as Robert Lovelace in Radio 4's four-part serialisation of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa which will be broadcast on Sundays starting 14 March. More details here.

updated 2 March 2010