Richard Armitage

Birthday: 22 August 1971, Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK

Birth Name: Richard Crispin Armitage

Height: 189 cm

Richard Crispin Armitage was born and raised in Leicester, England, to Margaret (Hendey), a secretary, and John Armitage, an engineer. He attended Pattison College in Binley Road, Coventry, and studied at LAMDA (the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art). His first appearance on the screen was in a small role in This Year's Love (1999), but it was Sparkhouse (2002) that gave him a break-through role as the charming but a bit odd character of John Standring opposite Sarah Smart. After two guest-roles in Cold Feet (1997) in 2003 and Between the Sheets (2003), he landed a role as Steven in Frozen (2005), which eventually led him to play the lead role in the big hit BBC drama North & South (2004). Other than appearing on screen, he has also appeared on stage--in, for example, Macbeth and Hamlet. Show less «

I don't think actors need to go on pedestals. I don't buy it. I think it's a weird thing. It's like ...Show more »

I don't think actors need to go on pedestals. I don't buy it. I think it's a weird thing. It's like you become someone else, like stepping into another universe. Show less «

Live acting is a kind of adventure sport. I don't go abseiling or snowboarding, but I sometimes thin...Show more »

Live acting is a kind of adventure sport. I don't go abseiling or snowboarding, but I sometimes think that stepping out on stage can have the same kind of adrenaline rush. Show less «

[on suffering an injury on the set of Spooks before his first audition for Thorin Oakenshield] I had...Show more »

[on suffering an injury on the set of Spooks before his first audition for Thorin Oakenshield] I had taken so many painkillers that I hobbled into the room, sat on my hands and the whole meeting passed in a bit of a blur. If nothing else, I think, with my audition I may have succeeded in showing my ability to convey pain! Show less «

I try to be quite a detailed actor. People were really picking up on that. Even if it was just a fli...Show more »

I try to be quite a detailed actor. People were really picking up on that. Even if it was just a flicker of the eye or something, they got it. Show less «

You can spend a bit of yourself when you give yourself to a character. At the end of a job, you have...Show more »

You can spend a bit of yourself when you give yourself to a character. At the end of a job, you have to remind yourself who and what you are. Show less «

[on his professional quandary, as a six-foot-two actor, in playing Thorin, the Dwarf King] I think t...Show more »

[on his professional quandary, as a six-foot-two actor, in playing Thorin, the Dwarf King] I think the biggest challenge for me is that when I walk into a room they think the wrong guy has come to the audition. It's a compliment, but on a business level it's difficult because it's hard to convince people it was really me playing the role. Show less «

Richard Armitage

Richard Armitage's FILMOGRAPHY

Richard Armitage'S roles

Feedback about this page?