Richard Hanson-Smith's major strength was his ability to play youngsters convincingly, being very youthful-looking and also rather short! Richard grew up in Pagham, near Bognor Regis, in the UK, and appeared in numerous Youth Theatre productions at the Chichester Festival Theatre. He was spotted in 1985 by a talent scout at age 11, and appeared in a Rice Krispies advert on British TV. One of his first major roles at age 14 was in "The Castle Of Adventure", a children's TV series based on an Enid Blyton novel. He became a regular in the British youth drama "Children's Ward", and left after 2 years in the show. Since then, work has been more sporadic, because his looks now reflect his true age of 25. He has also appeared in The Bill and Casualty (alongside Kate Winslet), in the 1993 "Family Matters" episode). Show less «