Richard Armitage Biography

Richard Crispin Armitage was born on 22nd August 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. This is still a popular topic for interviewers.

Returning to the UK he took work as an assistant choreographer and appeared 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) from 1995-1998.

During his time at LAMDA, Richard gained a one line part in the new Star Wars film The Phantom Menace. His line unfortunately ended up on the cutting room floor and you’ll struggle to spot him in the movie.

Early TV Work

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 followed, including an 18 month tour with the Royal Shakespeare Company during which he played Angus in Greg Doran’s Macbeth. This production was eventually filmed in 2001. It was critcially acclaimed and starred Antony Sher and Harriet Walter.

Then Richard’s TV career began: 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 had 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 all 4 episodes of series 5 of ITV’s Cold Feet, then in series 2 of Ultimate Force playing Captain Ian Macalwain 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.

2004 North and South

Richard then landed the role which was to see his career take a giant leap forward, that of the northern cotton mill owner John Thornton in the BBC dramatisation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South, broadcast in November 2004.

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 posted on the BBC message board somewhat surprised by the furore he had created. This was the start of several years of messages sent to various fansites and the proliferation of a number of fan forums and websites dedicated to him.

Frozen

Richard’s next role was for the part of Steven in the British film Frozen, starring Shirley Henderson. It was filmed in 2004 and released in Europe in 2005 and in the UK in January 2006. The film won awards at various film festivals as listed on the official website.

2005 further TV roles

Following his role in the popular BBC drama The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and in the one-off ITV drama Malice Aforethought, Richard 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 Peter Macduff in the BBC’s Shakespeare Re-Told series followed, co-starring James MacAvoy as Macbeth and Keeley Hawes as Lady Macbeth.

2006 – Robin Hood

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 Sir 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 show’s 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. A children’s magazine and charracter toys were marketed for the series and are still available periodically on eBay.

Richard read four audiobooks re-telling the first four episodes of Robin Hood series 1, which were released in November 2006. His convincing imitation of the other characters is definitely worth a listen.

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.

The Vicar of Dibley

Richard’s popularity and familiarity on television in the UK increased significantly after 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. There are clips on the VoD clips page.

2007- one-off dramas & Robin Hood S2

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.

The Lords of the North audiobook was released in July 2007, and is still thought of by many as Richard’s best audiobook reading to date.

Richard narrated Empire’s Children for Channel 4, a documentary about the British Empire in July and August 2007.

In October, Radio 4 broadcasted a programme called The Ted Hughes Letters in which Richard read from a selection of previously unheard letters from the late Poet Laureate.

Richard read poetry for Radio 2 in November, to commemorate Armistice Day and to honour the non-combatants of war. The programme was called A War Less Ordinary.

2008 – the introduction of Lucas North

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 – the end of Gisborne, Moving On, audio narration and Spooks series 8

Richard attended one day of the BBC Showcase event in Brighton (22-25 February 2009) to promote Spooks and Robin Hood to overseas television buyers. Other actors attending included Julie Graham (Richard’s co-star in Between the Sheets) and Robert Glenister (co-star in Spooks). There is a gallery of pictures here and a download of Richard at the event with a short interview is here.

In March 2009, he reprised his role as Guy of Gisborne in the third and final series of Robin Hood, the final episode of which aired on 27 June 2009 on BBC1 and BBC HD. (Site admin still hasn’t got over his death!)

In April, Richard co-presented the award for Best Comedy Performance at the 2009 BAFTA television awards.

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

In 2009, Richard narrated the first of the three Georgette Heyer audiobooks that he has read so far, namely Sylvester produced by Naxos Audiobooks, which was released in July 2009.

He also narrated two original stories featuring characters from Robin Hood series 3, released in April and June. The first of these stories, The Witchfinders, would have taken place between the televised series 2 and series 3, whereas The Siege seems to be situated between episodes 11 and 12 of the third series. Click the link above for a synopsis of these stories.

In his interview with Vulpes Libris published on 8 July 2009, Richard listed a number of projects that he was looking forward to, saying “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.”

The identity of that particular stage play is still unknown.

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 on the Spooks Reviews page.

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

Voicework in 2010

Advertisements

In 2010, Richard provided voiceovers for four Santander TV adverts, five Sky Sports HD TV adverts including four separate adverts for radio, an Alfa Romeo Mito Multiair TV advert, the Hyundai ix20 TV advert, Jewellery adverts for local radio, and an ActionAid UK promotional campaign (TV and youtube). He also promoted the BBC Winter Olympics coverage, which included several different adverts broadcast on BBC television and radio.

In April 2010 Richard helped to promote the Leaders’ Debates on Sky in the run up to the General Election, which were heard on many different local radio stations around the UK.

All broadcasts can be listened to and downloaded on the 2010 Advertisements page.

Documentaries

He also provided voiceovers for five documentaries in 2010: The Natural World’s Forest Elephants: Rumbles in the Jungle shown on BBC2 on Thursday 4th March, Too Poor for Posh School? shown on Channel 4 on Thursday 11th March, another series of Homes from Hell shown on ITV1 in July, Surgery School for 3 weeks on ITV1 from Monday 6th September and Lost Land of the Tiger which was shown on BBC1 and BBC HD on Tuesday 21st September for 3 consecutive evenings.

Richard read an abridged version of Georgette Heyer’s Venetia which was released week beginning 8 March 2010. Details and link to Amazon are here. You can download an audio extract of Venetia and listen to an interview with Richard on the Naxos Audiobooks website.

The last audiobook read by Richard to date, is the abridged Georgette Heyer audiobook The Convenient Marriage, released by Naxos Audiobooks at the beginning of August 2010. It can be ordered from Amazon UK, Amazon US, The Book Depository or direct from Naxos. Links are on the RA on DVD page.

On 12th September, Richard read poetry and prose for a Radio 3 Words and Music production entitled ‘Symphony for a city’. A download is available if you follow the link. He also starred in a Radio 4 play, playing Robert Lovelace in Radio 4’s four-part serialisation of Samuel Richardson’s epistolary novel Clarissa. It was broadcast on Sundays from 14 March to 4 April 2010. More details and reviews are on the Clarissa career page.

2010 – Strike Back

The UK based Sky corporation invested heavily in new drama in 2010 and one of the results of this was Strike Back, in which Richard had the leading role. Richard starred as John Porter in Chris Ryan’s Strike Back, in three two-part stories, the first of which was broadcast on Sky1 and Sky HD on 5th May 2010 at 9pm.

Full details of the production, including links to the Strike Back premiere, pictures, downloads, clips and lots of other information are on the Strike Back career page.

On 20th April, the Press Association released an interview with Richard, in which he contrasted Lucas with his role as John Porter in Strike Back: “what’s really interesting about Lucas this year is he’s much less physical than he has been in the past, it’s almost as if, and not through choice, John’s been out there doing all the fighting, and Lucas is back engaging the cerebrum”.

The region 1 and 2 versions of the Strike Back DVD were released on 7 June. The Spooks 8 DVD was released on 11 October 2010 and can be ordered from Play.com and Amazon UK and was released on 25 January 2011 from Amazon US. All ordering links are on the RA on DVD page.

On 4th May Richard was out and about in London promoting Strike Back. He first appeared on GMTV, interviewed by Lorraine Kelly and then visited three radio stations. Downloads of the broadcast interviews and pictures are on the Strike Back Videos page.

Richard’s next appearance was on roadside billboards around the UK, which were first spotted in the week beginning 19th April. Pictures of these, for the benefit of those not living in the UK, are on the Strike Back page.

In one of the most revealing interviews for a long time in the Sunday Mirror (30 May 2010), Richard described how involved he became in the role of John Porter, finding it difficult to keep in touch with home as a result. “I was so in the character, I’d dream about him at night. Even I thought, ‘This is crazy, I’m too involved.’ I found it hard to call or Skype friends – it was almost as though I couldn’t get out of the character.”

BAFTA 2010

On Sunday 6 June 2010, Richard presented the award for Best Supporting Actress at the BAFTA Television Awards. There were plenty of people to greet him on the red carpet and you can read a report from one of those on the carpet here and look at candid pictures here.

Go to the BAFTA 2010 videos page to watch clips of Richard presenting at the BAFTAs. Our screencap gallery can be found here.

A desire to return to the stage

In an interview in The Stage published on 22nd April 2010, Richard revealed that a production of Aphra Benn’s The Rover is in the “early stages of development” and added he was looking to take a theatre role when the ninth series of Spooks finishes recording in July.” And again during the GMTV interview on 4th May, he said he was hoping to appear on the stage “this year” (i.e. 2010) to do some comedy. In another interview with The Stage published on 6th May the interviewer was told that “plans are afoot for him to appear in a new production of Restoration comedy The Rover, by Aphra Benn”.

But then in the run up to Spooks, Richard said that he planned to appear in The Rover this year (2011): Metro newspaper published 20th September and TV & Satellite Week published 14th September. And again a brief mention in the Leicester Mercury on 16th October: “I’m trying to find a gap next year to do a bit of restoration comedy, that would be great”.

On 26 November 2010 the English Touring Theatre posted a message on twitter saying: “Great read-through of The Rover with Richard Armitage yesterday! Positive feed back and things are looking good!” The ETT produces and performs plays around England – more information on the ETT website.

2010 – Spooks series 9

Richard reprised his role as Lucas North for the ninth series of Spooks, which was shown at 9pm on Monday evenings from the 20th September 2010. His character left the series after controversially revealing his true identity to be the unscrupulous John Bateman, not in fact Lucas North at all. Some of us are still reeling from that shocker!

Series 10 was broadcast in September 2011 without Lucas/John whose lifeless hand was shown at the bottom of a very tall building.

2010 – 24 Hour Plays at the Old Vic

Richard appeared on the stage at the Old Vic theatre in London performing in the 24 hour plays celebrity gala on Sunday 21st November 2010. All the information on this event, a clip from BBC2’s The Culture Show, and pictures from the after-show party are on the 24 hour plays page.

Voicework in 2011

Richard was busy filming The Hobbit in 2011 but he had already narrated six documentaries, which were broadcast throughout 2011 in the UK:

• Elsa the Lioness that changed the world shown on BBC2 on 1 February
• Eight episodes of HMS Ark Royal broadcast on the Discovery channel from 22 February to 12 April
• Trouble in Lemur Land broadcast on 9 June on the Eden channel
• 125 Years of Wimbledon shown on BBC2 on Sunday 19 June
• Fraud Squad a two part documentary, which started on 26 August at 9pm on ITV1
• Leopards of Dead Tree Island, a documentary for National Geographic, which aired in August in the US and in October in the UK.

He also voiced two advertisements for Santander during 2011, one for Pilsner Urquell, one for the LG Optimus 3D Smartphone and two for Sky television. You can watch all of these on the 2011 Advertisements page.

Audie Award Nomination

It was announced on 25 February 2011 that the abridged audiobook of Venetia by Georgette Heyer, read by Richard Armitage and produced by Naxos Audiobooks has been nominated for an Audie Award in the category of Audiobook Adaptation. The winner was announced on 24 May 2011 and unfortunately the audiobook did not win.

Interviews in 2011

Recognise magazine – interview and photoshoot

Richard was photographed for Recognise magazine on 14th June (the journalist posted on twitter), and the magazine then stated that the article will appear in the next issue (issue #9) in August (twitter account now defunct), but due to financial difficulties the issue was never released. The cover was released on Facebook on 4 September and it was announced on twitter that the photoshoot with Richard was videoed and will appear online at some point. Unfortunately that video was never made available.

On 24 June, Recognise magazine posted a behind the scenes picture on Facebook from their recent photoshoot of Richard. The photo caption stated there would be a full interview and photoshoot in the August issue. They posted a second picture on Facebook a few hours later.

Unfortunately the company is no longer in business.

Project magazine (iPad only) – interview and photoshoot

A new interview with Richard appeared in another relatively new magazine, Project magazine, which is only available on Apple iPad.

In the interview Richard talked about his role as Heinz Kruger in Captain America: The First Avenger, how he researched the role and his reaction on being cast as Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit.

To read the full interview and see pictures from the accompanying photoshoot, go to the Project Magazine gallery. Videos from the iPad magazine can be seen on Vimeo.

Press Interviews

Three in-depth interviews were published in Total Film (4 July), The Telegraph (22 July) and The Scotsman (23 July), in which Richard discussed Captain America, The Hobbit, and a look back at his career and details of how he researches his acting roles. Scans are on the Interviews page.

2011 – Strike Back series 2

Strike Back was commissioned for a second 10 part series, once again featuring Richard as John Porter, broadcast from August – October 2011 and titled Strike Back: Project Dawn.

Elaine Pyke, head of drama on Sky1 confirmed in November 2010 that Strike Back will be back “bigger and better”. When asked specifically about Richard she said that Richard will be in it in some way, but then the series will have two new leads who will take the action to new heights. This was confirmed again by David Stephenson, TV Editor of the Sunday Express on 7th December 2010 via twitter: “For Richard Armitage fans, Sky says actor is in “some” episodes of Strike Back 2, but not all.”

On 19 January 2011, a new lead was announced: Australian actor Sullivan Stapleton, as reported on the Herald Sun’s site. The series would now be co-produced by the US production company HBO.

Confirmation that Richard would appear in series 2 was received on 10 February 2011 via Sky:  Second series for Sky1’s Strike Back.

Richard appeared in a UK Sky trailer and a US HBO trailer but his appearance was very brief. Due to his commitments on The Hobbit, Richard was not able to play a larger part in this series and regrettably John Porter did not survive past the first episode.

2011 – Captain America: The First Avenger

From September to November 2010, Richard filmed scenes for Captain America: The First Avenger in Manchester, Liverpool and Shepperton Studios. He played the part of Heinz Kruger, a Nazi agent and enemy of the eponymous hero. The film was released on 22 July 2011 in the US and 29 July 2011 in the UK.

A 30 second trailer for the movie was played during the Superbowl on Sunday 6 February 2011 and the full 2½ minute trailer was released on 24 March. The second full length trailer was released on 24 June 2011.

A short interview with Richard appeared in a behind the scenes video by Epix News on 6th July. Watch or download the trailers and the video interview from the Captain America career page.

Richard attended the Hollywood premiere on Tuesday 19 July, along with all the other stars of the film. He flew to New York the following day and attended a special screening there, with Hayley Atwell. Pictures of these events are in the Events and Appearances gallery.

2011-2012 Playing Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit

On 22 October 2010, the producers and director, Peter Jackson, of The Hobbit films announced that Richard has been cast as Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the dwarves, a major role in this new adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel. All the latest news about this production is on the Hobbit career page.

In January 2011, the cast of dwarves arrived in New Zealand to begin ‘dwarf training’. The start date for filming was unfortunately delayed after it was announced on 27 January that director Peter Jackson had been taken to hospital with a perforated stomach ulcer. Filming finally started on 21 March 2011. Filming will be divided into three blocks, with a break in the summer of 2011 and another at Christmas.

A press conference was held on Friday 11 February 2011 and there are links to a video of the event (or just Richard’s part in the event) on the Hobbit videos page. Pictures from the press conference are in the Hobbit Press Conference gallery.

After the devastating earthquake that hit Christchurch, NZ in February, a fund-raising cricket match was held at the Basin Reserve cricket ground in Wellington on Sunday 13 March. Richard and many of the other cast members attended and helped raise funds by walking around the grounds with collecting tins. The event raised over a half a million NZ dollars. A picture of Richard and British High Commissioner, Vicki Treadell is here on Flickr.

Peter Jackson posted a pre-production Hobbit video on Facebook on 14 April 2011. The ten minute video includes a walk around the sets, the wardrobe department, a cast meeting inside the Bag End set and the Powhiri ceremony on the first day of shooting. Richard Armitage spoke on behalf of the cast during the ceremony, including a few words in the Maori language. A clip of just the Powhiri ceremony and links to pictures from Peter Jackson’s video are on the Hobbit videos page.

On 21 May, Richard and a few other dwarves were seen in a funny video shown during the Rise Up Christchurch telethon, to raise funds for the rebuilding of Christchurch after the earthquake on 22 February. More details and pictures on the Hobbit videos page.

The first images from The Hobbit film were released on 23rd June 2011 by Entertainment Weekly and later by Empire magazine in their August issue. All promotional images are in the Hobbit Stills gallery.

Richard was interviewed about the role of Thorin Oakenshield in Total Film magazine, out 7 July 2011: “The Hobbit was one of those books that got me into reading. It really fired up my imagination. That’s why I became an actor.”

A second Hobbit production video was released on 8th July 2011 on Peter Jackson’s Facebook page, stating that the first stage of filming had now finished and showing a few of the actors (including Richard) and crew explaining what they would be doing on their break. The rest of the video showed Peter Jackson and his team location scouting around the South Island of New Zealand. Pictures of Richard are in the second video gallery.

On 17th July we were treated to the first clear picture of Richard as Thorin Oakenshield with a full length picture of Thorin and the other 12 dwarves on 22 July, released by the Hobbit Movie Facebook page.

A third production video was released on 21st July by Peter Jackson who introduced the video from the UK as he was there filming scenes with Sir Christopher Lee amongst others. This time we were treated to many sightings of dwarves behind the scenes, lots of discussion about how the dwarves look and behave, ‘dwarf training’ and speaking dwarvish. The cast and crew discussed high points of filming Block One of the filming schedule.

The first Hobbit trailer was released on 21st December 2011 on the Apple trailers site and posted two days later on youtube.

The fifth video blog was posted on 23rd December showing the cast and crew on location. Most of the video shows the incredible logistics involved in moving all of the facilities around New Zealand. There are only very brief glimpses of the dwarves and Richard can be seen on a couple of shots which are now in the gallery.

The sixth video blog, posted 1st March, covered the second installment of location shooting around New Zealand. The video showed a variety of different landscapes and described the challenges facing the cast and crew at each location, such as protecting rare species of flora; transporting equipment, cast and crew to remote locations via helicopter; and coping with disruptive weather conditions. Pictures of Richard from this video are in the gallery.

Peter Jackson’s seventh video blog, posted 6th June, gave us a tour of Stone Street Studios in Wellington. Screencaps of Richard are now in the 7th Production Video gallery.

The last video blog to cover shooting of the films appeared on 23rd July. Perhaps the best video yet, we were shown behind-the-scenes clips that were shown to the audience at Comic-Con as well as some additional material. There were lots of sightings of Richard as well as his description of two lasting memories.  Screencaps are in the 8th Production Video gallery. At the end of the video, Peter Jackson stated there will be more videos showing post-production.

Principal photography on The Hobbit finished on 6th July 2012.

Video blogs post-production

Peter Jackson posted his ninth video blog on his facebook page on 24th November concerning post-production of The Hobbit. Screencaps are in the gallery.

His tenth video blog was posted on 14th December 2012. It shows the build-up to the premiere and all the work that was involved in such a large scale event, and also the press event at Wellington airport, the press conference in Wellington on the day of the world premiere and scenes from the red carpet.

Sir Ian McKellen’s fund-raising performance

On Saturday 23rd June, Richard appeared on stage with most of the cast of The Hobbit at Sir Ian McKellen’s show at the State Opera House, Wellington, NZ. This was the penultimate performance by Sir Ian to raise funds for Christchurch’s earthquake-damaged Isaac Theatre Royal.

After the performance, cast members held collection buckets and sold autographs and pictures to raise funds. Lots of pictures were posted online by audience members and links to these can be found in the news. Peter Jackson was also in the audience.

Speculation that Richard will attend San Diego Comic-Con began with an article in Total Film’s Summer 2012 issue, in which he joked that Thorin’s sword would keep the fans at bay. His attendance, along with Martin Freeman, Sir Ian McKellen, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Andy Serkis was confirmed by TheOneRing.net on 29 June 2012.

Warner Bros presented The Hobbit panel on Saturday 14th July in Hall H, but prior to that the Hobbit attendees stood in front of press to answer questions individually. After the panel in Hall H they attended a press Q&A session as a group. Several hours of questions later, it is understood that they were straight back on a airplane to New Zealand for a further few days of shooting.

A round-up of all interviews and pictures are on the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con page on this site.

Weta announced the release of an exclusive statue of Thorin Oakenshield available to buy from their booth at San Diego Comic-Con. Other merchandise has since emerged – further details on the Hobbit career page.

Interviews in 2012

Until Hobbit promotion started in October, the only print and online interviews with Richard were published on the MTV online site and in Total Film’s summer 2012 issue. The MTV interview with Richard was posted online on 11 January 2012 – they named him One to Watch in 2012 – and Total Film’s Summer 2012 issue (mentioned in the Comic-Con section above) had brief quotes from Richard and other Hobbit cast members Martin Freeman, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly and Aidan Turner in an article called “The Future 100”.

There were several print/online interviews at the end of 2012, promoting his role as Thorin. Perhaps the best of these were Glamour magazine UK’s article in their Jan 2013 issue published in December (article and pictures here in the gallery), an article in GQ online and the Leicester Mercury’s detailed interview (scroll down to the publication date: 15 December 2012.

Richard gave numerous video interviews during San Diego Comic-Con, which are on the 2012 SDCC page.

Richard gave an interview to FAULT magazine in November 2012, which has been published in issue 13, released 15 January 2013.

Paula Parrish photographed Richard for the magazine and a behind the scenes video of the photoshoot was posted on youtube on 21 December. Screencaps from this video are here.

One of the first signs that Hobbit promotion was about to begin in earnest, was the release of five 3D lenticular covers in the December 2012 issue of Empire magazine, a British movie magazine. The issue contained a 63 page feature on the film, with many cast interviews and behind-the-scenes news.

Numerous video, online and print interviews were published during Hobbit promotion from the end of November 2012 to mid-December 2012. Go to the Interviews page to read the print/online interviews and the Hobbit videos page to watch the video interviews. The videos page also contains Peter Jackson’s production videos, trailers, TV spots and press conference clips.

As mentioned above, the first official Hobbit trailer was released on 21st December 2011, but we had to wait until 19th September 2012 for the second trailer. Then in October through to December, a multitude of international trailers and TV spots were released.

Hobbit Premieres 2012

Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood and Richard Armitage attended all four premieres of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, Tokyo, New York and London. Richard also attended the Toronto premiere on his own before travelling to the New York premiere. All the news about those events and other interviews that took place during that world tour are on the Hobbit Premieres 2012 page.

Lots of video and print interviews followed in April, which you can read and watch on the Interviews page and the Hobbit videos page.

A few weeks later and Richard was in Sydney, promoting the release of the DVD in Australia. Visit the same pages above for the interviews. He also

Richard took part in Popcorn Taxi’s Q&A held at the Hayden Orpheum in Sydney on 1st May. Many of the questions were submitted by fans who were treated to a special event to hear more from Richard about playing Thorin and also that dwarf calendar! Official pictures from the event are in this gallery, which also includes pictures from other Sydney interviews, and candid pictures from those attending the Q&A are in this gallery.

Popcorn Taxi have released a video of this event: watch on youtube.

Richard finished filming the final block of pick-ups for the second and third Hobbit movies at the end of July 2013. Pictures and blogs from the last day of filming were posted by Peter Jackson on his Facebook page during the last filming day, Friday 26th July 2013.

Hobbit Premieres 2013

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug premiered in Los Angeles on 2nd December 2013, which Richard attended before travelling to the European premiere in Berlin on 9th December, followed by a premiere in Madrid on 11th December 2013.  Candid photo gallery.

On 11 July 2012, EW.com reported that Richard Armitage had landed a major role in a found footage tornado thriller. Previously known as Category 6, the film was renamed Black Sky (announced on 20 August 2012) and then renamed again to Into the Storm (announced 25 September 2013). Director Steve Quale, who was second unit director on Avatar and Titanic, directed the film and it was produced by New Line Cinema. Shooting began on 23rd July 2012 in Detroit and finished on 27 September 2012 according to this report on the Oakland Press site.

Additional filming took place the week beginning 16 September 2013 in Los Angeles and finished on 19th September according to co-star Nathan Kress.

Producer Todd Garner tweeted this first official picture of Richard, who plays ‘Gary’, a school teacher who tries to rescus his son from the aftermath of a string of tornadoes (EW.com).

Fan sightings of Richard on set in Michigan can be found in the news 18 August 2012.

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the film would be released in the US on 8 August 2014. It was released in the UK on 20 August 2014. Worldwide release dates on IMDB.

BAFTA LA Tea Party – 21st September 2013

Richard was photographed at the BAFTA LA TV Tea Party on 21 September 2013 at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Pictures can be found here on the Getty Images site.

Richard’s last message to his ‘well wishers’ via RichardArmitageOnline was sent on 19th December 2013.

Richard appeared at the Kaufmann Concert Hall inside the 92nd Street Y building, New York City in a one night only reading of the play Pinter/PROUST on Thursday 16th January 2014.

Follow the link for more information, reviews and video clips.

A new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet co-written by authors A J Hartley and David Hewson as an audio novel has been read by Richard. It was released via Audible and Amazon worldwide on 20th May 2014. Further details and excerpts can be found on the Hamlet page.

Best Supporting Actor Nomination – Empire Awards 2014

Richard Armitage was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category in the 2014 Empire Awards, which was held in London on Sunday 30th March. Unfortunately he lost out to Michael Fassbender, however The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug won Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy film and Richard, Adam Brown, Aidan Turner and James Nesbitt went on stage to collect the award. Richard accepted the award with a short speech.

Richard also announced the Best Female Newcomer award. Pictures and videos from the event are in the Empire Awards gallery.

Richard’s starring role in this adaptation of Bernard Hare’s novel, was announced on this site on 14 March 2014. Richard was cast as ‘Chop’, an ex-social worker who befriends the eponymous character ‘Urban’. Filming took place between 10th March and 2nd May 2014 in Leeds, UK.

Visit the Urban and the Shed Crew page for more info. Pictures from the production are in the gallery.

No release date or distribution information has been announced yet.

The premiere of the film took place in Leeds at the 29th Leeds International Film Festival on Saturday 7 November and Richard tweeted that he will be there. Here is a video clip of Richard’s speech prior to the first screening. Pictures are in the Urban Candids gallery.

CinemaCon – Thursday 27th March 2014

Richard interrupted his filming on Urban and the Shed Crew with a brief appearance at CinemaCon on 27 March 2014, a film industry event to promote upcoming film releases. He was there to publicise Into the Storm, together with co-star Sarah Wayne Callies, director Steve Quale and producer Todd Garner. For news of this event, links to pictures and more information about this film, go to the Into the Storm career page.

WonderCon – Saturday 19th April 2014

The Into the Storm Facebook page announced Richard’s appearance at WonderCon in Anaheim, California with co-stars Max Deacon, Jeremy Sumpter, Arlen Escarpeta and director Steven Quale from 11.00am to 12.30pm on Saturday 19th April 2014. Photos from the event are here and high quality pictures from HeatherVideos are in the Candids gallery.

On Tuesday 15th April 2014, The Old Vic theatre officially announced that Richard will play John Proctor in a new adaptation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible from 24 June – 13 September 2014.

After press night on 3rd July, a flood of outstanding reviews appeared online. Most UK newspapers gave the play 5 stars!

A compiliaton of all the news for this production, links to pictures, reviews, interviews and a summary of the whole event is on The Crucible career page.

All photos relating to this production are in the Crucible gallery.

Digital Theatre filmed the production which will be shown in many countries starting 4th December 2014 (not unfortunatley the US or Canada due to rights issues). The production will also be available as a download available anywhere in the world in 2015.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

After his performance on The Crucible on his birthday on 22 August, Richard took part in the Ice Bucket challenge with the help of cast outside the stage door for ALSA.org and also for AnthonyNolan.org and YoungMinds.org.uk. Here is the official video from The Anglophile Channel who nominated him. Two other videos from different angles are here and here.

Richard joins Twitter!

Richard created a twitter account and posted his first tweet on his birthday, 22 August 2014. You do not need a twitter account to read his tweets – just click this link to read his twitter feed or have a look at our home page for a twitter window.

New projects in 2014…

During Richard’s twitter Q&A on 12 September, he revealed two new projects: a cameo in a movie based on a well known novel by Lewis Carroll (Through the Looking Glass started filming in the UK in August 2014), and a role in an independent psychological drama called “Sleepwalker” with Ahna O’Reilly, directed by Elliott Lester in October and filmed in Los Angeles. He also said that before Christmas, there is the small matter of the Hobbit BOTFA press tour. The world premiere of BOTFA will take place in London on Monday 1st December.

The Battle of the Five Armies press tour

Richard appeared at the World Premiere in London, then Paris, São Paulo, Los Angeles and then New York to promote the final installment of The Hobbit. Further info, pictures and clips can be found on the BOTFA Video Clips and Interviews page.

Richard has a leading role in this film playing a character called Dr Scott White. Dr White runs a sleep clinic that the leading female character Sarah is referred to after the apparent suicide of her novelist husband.

Filming started in Los Angeles at the beginning of October 2014 and continued until 30 October. A synopsis was posted by The Anglophile Channel on 7 October 2014. Photos posted on twitter from the set are in the Sleepwalker gallery.

Announcing 2015 projects…

During a twitter Q&A via Warner Bros France which was conducted in French on 4 December 2014, Richard first mentioned Pilgrimage, which began shooting in April in Ireland and Belgium.

On 7th December at the CCXP event in São Paulo, Brazil, Richard mentioned Pilgrimage again, but also a new project that he will be producing. The full interview is now on YouTube, but here is the quote about the new projects:

“I’m producing something of my own, which is based on a true story. It’s going to be set and filmed in Ireland in the late 1800s, it’s a true story and I’m also going to be doing a thing called Pilgrimage, which is an 11th century story of a crusade to return a holy relic to Rome, and I’ll be speaking ancient French. Which I have never spoken before so that’ll be fun.”

On returning to the stage, Richard was quoted in an interview in The Guardian on 2nd December:

“I’m definitely going to work with Yaël again – I don’t know how soon that’s going to be. But we are planning another production. We want to really expand and explore something we touched on in The Crucible. But I can’t say anything just yet…”

Richard was voted ‘People’s Choice’ for villain of the year with his portrayal of Francis Dolarhyde by readers of IGN. The entertainment site voted David Tennant as their winner, but Richard got the people’s vote. Click here for more information.

Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage started filming on 13 April according to this tweet from screenwriter Jamie Hannigan, but Richard was not able to join the cast and crew straight away due to his work on Hannibal. He finally joined the production on the west coast of Ireland for his first day of filming on 25 April and then filming moved to the Ardennes region of Belgium from 18-30 May according to this article. Richard tweeted on 23 May that he had finished filming his role.

Pilgrimage was directed by Brendan Muldowney with an original screenplay by Jamie Hannigan. It is co-produced by XYZ Films, Wrong Men Films and the Irish Film Board. More details are here on the production website.

Clearance

On 13th May Screen Daily announced that Richard is to star in Clearance, a film by Finnish director Aku Louhimies, which will film in South Africa in November 2015. Richard will play a mine clearance expert kidnapped in South Sudan with his pregnant wife, played by Naomie Harris. Their journey will involve navigating across a vast minefield to escape their captors. On 14 September 2015, Aku Louhimies tweeted that the schedule was unclear and as yet, filming has not begun.

Brain on Fire

Richard tweeted on 13 July to confirm his next project was Brain on Fire which was filmed in Vancouver, Canada. Produced by Charlize Theron, the film stars Chloë Grace Moretz and Carrie-Anne Moss. The news was officially announced on 16 July: Variety, Screendaily and Deadline.

The film is based on the bestselling memoir by Susannah Cahalan, “Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness” and the release is expected in 2016. The film is directed by Gerard Barrett. Here is a local Vancouver press site with more information. Richard finished filming this role in early August 2015. So far there is no information on dates for the film’s release.

Audio Narration 2015-2016

David Copperfield

Richard recorded narration of this unabridged audiobook for Audible in September 2015, finishing on 25 September, as announced by Richard in this tweet. The audiobook was released on 9 February 2016.

Richard talked about recording the David Copperfield audiobook for Audible in a podcast from the New York Times, He also discussed recording his first audiobooks for the BBC Robin Hood series and reading some of Georgette Heyers’ work. Click here for the link (or here for a direct link to the podcast). Richard appears at 35mins 25seconds.

The Chimes

On 11 December 2015, Audible released a free audiobook for Audible members for a limited time, or free for new members. The Chimes by Charles Dickens, narrated by Richard Armitage, is available here on Audible UK (this link should open the US or Australian version depending on your location). Richard recorded this audiobook in Berlin – click here for Richard’s tweet on 26 November 2015.

The Turn of the Screw

On 15 March 2016, Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw was released as an audiobook by Audible. It is narrated by Emma Thompson, with a prologue read by Richard Armitage. You can order it from Audible US, Audible UK or via Amazon.

Berlin Station

The announcement that Richard would play the lead in this 10 part drama for EPIX was made on 11 September 2015. We were told that Richard will play Daniel Meyer, but the character’s name changed to Daniel Miller soon after filming began, which was confirmed in a tweet by the writer Olen Steinhauer.

Miller is a CIA case officer who becomes an undercover agent in Berlin, tasked with uncovering the source of a leak who has supplied information to a whistleblower. The 10 part series is due to be released in autumn 2016 and also stars Michelle Forbes, Rhys Ifans and Richard Jenkins. Filming began on 16 November 2015 and is due to finish around the end of April 2016.

While filming in Berlin, Richard attended the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg reception at Berlin’s Ritz-Carlton hotel on 13 February 2016, to celebrate European talent in the film industry as part of the Berlinale film festival. Photos are in the gallery.

On Saturday 5 March 2016, Richard visited the Berliner Stadtmission to spend some time with refugee families. He wrote about the experience and posted the pages on twitter that evening. Here is the original tweet and below are the 3 pages as thumbnails – click to enlarge.