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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, where he discovered his love for acting. He took part in many theatre productions all over the UK, from musical theatre (Cats) to classical theatre (Death of a Salesman). He enrolled at LAMDA in 1995 and starred in The Cherry Orchard and The Normal Heart among others.

He started working in cinema in 1999 with some small roles in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Cleopatra and This Year's Love (1999). In 2000 he took part in the RSC Macbeth tour of the USA and Japan with Antony Sher as the lead actor. In 2002, he had a breakthrough with his role as the charming but a bit odd character John Standring in Sparkhouse (2002), a BBC Miniseries in three parts, 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). In 2004, he became famous throughout the whole UK with his role of mill-owner John Thornton in North & South (2004) (BBC). He landed a key role in BBC Robin Hood from 2006 to 2009 as the dark and evil Guy of Gisborne, then from 2008 to 2010 he played Lucas North in the successful British series Spooks (MI-5 in the USA). He kept working on British TV (Strike Back: Origins in 2010) and had a small but pivotal role in Captain America: the first Avenger, till he became known worldwide with his role of Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson's trilogy of The Hobbit (2012/2014), for which he received a Saturn Award. In 2014 he was the protagonist of Yael Farber's acclaimed version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible at the Old Vic in London, for which role he was nominated for an Olivier Award. He starred in the third season of Hannibal (2015) in the role of serial killer Francis Dolarhyde, which got him another Saturn Award. In 2016 he starred in the Epix original series Berlin Station in the lead role of Daniel Miller, and in the same year he received many positive reviews for his role of Kenneth in Mike Bartlett's Love, love, love for Roundabout Theatre in NYC. In 2017 He worked on Ocean's Eight, and on the second season of Berlin Station. In July 2017 the film Pilgrimage came out with many positive reviews. He has narrated several audio books with Audible, for which he has received two nominations for an Audie Award. He has recently given the voice to Trevor Belmont in the series Castlevania on Netflix.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

(2007) Audiobook: The Lords of the North, written by Bernard Cornwell

(2006) Audiobook: Robin Hood, Episode Two: Sheriff Got Your Tongue?, produced by BBC Audiobooks

(2009) Audiobook: Sylvester, written by Georgette Heyer

(2010) Audiobook: The Convenient Marriage, written by Georgette Heyer

(2006) Audiobook: Robin Hood, Episode One: Will You Tolerate This?, produced by BBC Audiobooks

(2006) Audiobook: Robin Hood, Episode Three: Who Shot the Sheriff?, produced by BBC Audiobooks

(2006) Audiobook: Robin Hood, Episode Four: Parent Hood, produced by BBC Audiobooks

(2014) Audiobook: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel, written by A. J. Hartley and David Hewson

(2009) Audiobook: Robin Hood, The Witchfinders, written by Rebecca Levene

(2010) Audiobook: Venetia, written by Georgette Heyer

(2009) Audiobook: Robin Hood, The Siege, written by Simon Guerrier

(2016) Audiobook: David Copperfield, written by Charles Dickens.

(2015) Audiobook: Classic Love Poems, written by Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and others.

(2015) Audiobook: The Chimes, written by Charles Dickens.

(2016) Audiobook: &quot;The Turn of the screw&quot; (introduction) by Henry James

(2017) Audiobook: &quot;The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde&quot; by R.L. Stevenson

(2018) Audio Drama: &quot;The Martian invasion of Earth&quot; (from &quot;War of the Worlds&quot; by H.G. Wells)

(2017) Voicing - &quot;Castlevania&quot; (as Trevor Belmont) by Adi Shankar for Netflix

(2018) Audiobook: &quot;The Bloody Chamber&quot; (with Emilia Fox) by Angela Carter

(2018) Audiobook: &quot;The Tattooist of Auschwitz&quot; by Heather Morris

(2018) Audiobook: &quot;The man from St Petersburg&quot; by Ken Follett

(2018) Audiobook: &quot;Their Lost Daughters&quot; by Joy Ellis

(2018) Podcast: &quot;Wolverine: The Long Night&quot; (as Wolverine) by Benjamin Percy for Marvel Studios

(2016) Audiobook: &quot;Romeo &amp; Juliet: a Novel&quot; by David Hewson

(January 14, 2020 - May 2, 2020) Stage play: &quot;Uncle Vanya&quot; - playing Astrov opposite <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0429363/?ref_=nmwrk">Toby Jones</a> (Vanya), <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm10228854/?ref_=nmwrk">Aimee Lou Wood</a> (Sonya), <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm7424185/?ref_=nmwrk">Rosalind Eleazar</a> (Yelena), <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0001354/?ref_=nmwrk">Ciarán Hinds</a> (Professor Serebryakov), <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0129492/?ref_=nmwrk">Anna Calder-Marshall</a> (Nana), <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0597047/?ref_=nmwrk">Dearbhla Molloy</a> (Grandmaman), <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0927835/?ref_=nmwrk">Peter Wight</a> (Telegin), etc. Director: <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0725586/?ref_=nmwrk">Ian Rickson</a>. Adaptation: <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0574217/?ref_=nmwrk">Conor McPherson</a> (Harold Pinter Theatre, London)

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Richard Armitage

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