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Sam Richardson (actor)

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Sam Richardson
Richardson in January 2019
Born (1984-01-12) January 12, 1984 (age 40)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • writer
  • producer
Years active2007–present

Sam Richardson (born January 12, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing Richard Splett in the HBO political comedy series Veep (2012–2019), co-creating and co-starring in the Comedy Central comedy series Detroiters (2017–2018) alongside Tim Robinson, and playing various characters in the Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2019–present), and co-starring in The Afterparty (2022).

Early life

Richardson was born in Detroit on January 12, 1984,[1][2] the son of a Ghanaian mother and an African-American father.[3][4] His aunt was Barbara-Rose Collins (née Richardson), who in 1990 became the first black woman from Michigan to be elected to United States Congress.[5][6] Once or twice a year, Richardson would travel with his parents to Ghana, where his grandfather was a chief and local political leader.[7] He graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy in 2002,[8] and studied theater at Wayne State University.[9][10]

Career

Early in his career, Richardson performed at the Second City in Detroit and then in Chicago.[11] At Second City, he was known for a wide range of characters, from sight gags to impressions of public figures.[12]

Following a move to Los Angeles, Richardson appeared in six episodes (including the series finale) of The Office and a season 4 episode of Arrested Development.[11] He has also appeared on episodes of Drunk History, New Girl, Teachers, and six episodes of Harder Than It Looks. He played Richard Splett on the HBO political comedy series Veep, first appearing in four episodes during season 3 as the handler for Selina Meyer during her Iowa book tour.[13] During season 4, Richardson was made a regular cast member of the show,[11][14][15] after his character received a job offer in President Meyer's administration as an assistant to the character Jonah.[16] He has also appeared in films including We're the Millers, Horrible Bosses 2, Spy,[13] Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, and Ghostbusters.[17]

In 2015, Comedy Central ordered a pilot for the series Detroiters, created by Richardson and Tim Robinson. The show stars Richardson and Robinson, who also co-wrote and co-executive produced the series with others.[18] Comedy Central then ordered ten episodes of the series, which began shooting in the Detroit area in 2016. According to Detroit Free Press, "In the series, Richardson and Robinson play struggling advertising men in Detroit who make local TV commercials. The plot was inspired partly by the classic Detroit ads they grew up watching, including the Mel Farr Superstar and Gordy from ABC Warehouse campaigns."[19] Detroiters ran for two seasons before its cancellation by Comedy Central in 2018.[20]

In 2016, Richardson was nominated for the Best Performance in a Variety or Sketch Comedy Program or Series (Individual or Ensemble) award at the Canadian Screen Awards for his work on The Second City Project. He was also nominated for the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series at the 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 Screen Actors Guild Awards for his work on Veep, winning the last one. In 2018, he began playing Alf in the YouTube Premium series Champaign ILL.[12][21] Since 2019, he has played various characters in the Netflix sketch show I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson.

In 2022, Richardson was in the main cast of the Apple TV+ mystery comedy series The Afterparty.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2007 The Planning Lady Police Officer Short film
2010 Superman vs. The Office Sam Short film
2013 We're the Millers TSA Agent
2013 The Rule of Threes Jeff Short film
2013 Crash Site Ben Short film
2014 Horrible Bosses 2 The Producer
2015 Spy John
2015 The Night Is Young Sam
2016 Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising Eric Baiers
2016 Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates Eric Huddle
2016 Ghostbusters Basement Cop
2016 Office Christmas Party Joel
2017 The House Marty
2018 Game Over, Man! Donald
2018 Ralph Breaks the Internet Lee the Office Nerd (voice)
2019 Good Boys Officer Sacks
2020 Promising Young Woman Paul
2020 Superintelligence Agent John Donahue
2020 Hooking Up Bailey Brighton
2021 Werewolves Within Finn Wheeler Also producer
2021 The Tomorrow War Charlie
2022 Family Squares Alex Also V Camera Operator
2022 Senior Year Seth
2022 Hocus Pocus 2 Filming

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2012 Harder Than It Looks Sam 6 episodes
2013 Arrested Development TSA Agent Episode: "Flight of the Phoenix"
2013 The Office Colin 6 episodes
2014–2019 Veep Richard Splett 40 episodes
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2018)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2015-2017)
2015 Drunk History Jim Brown Episode: "Cleveland"
2015 The Sixth Lead Security Guard Television miniseries
Episodes: "Trouble at the Security Gate" and "The Perfect Joke"
2015 The Second City Project Various 10 episodes
Also writer
Nominated – Best Performance in a Variety or Sketch Comedy Program or Series
2016 Teachers Mr. Jackson Episode: "The Last Day"
2016 Son of Zorn Businessman Episode: "Return to Orange County"
2016 Lip Sync Battle Himself Episode: "Sam Richardson vs. T.J. Miller"
2016, 2018 New Girl Dunston Episodes: "The Apartment" and "Where The Road Goes"
2017 Portlandia Amore Rep Episode: "Amore"
2017–2018 Detroiters Sam Duvet 20 episodes; also writer and executive producer
2017 The Comedy Jam Himself Episode: "Sam Richardson/Jesse Tyler Ferguson/Awkwafina"
2018 Champaign ILL Alf 10 episodes; also executive producer
2018–2019 Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Muninn (voice) Main role
2018 Dessert Island Sandor (voice) Unknown episodes
2018 Ghosted Sam Episode: "The Wire"
2019 Relics and Rarities Ionis Leatherfoot Episode: "The Trial of the Hidden Ones"
2019-2021 I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson Various[22] 3 episodes
2019 Archer Bort the Garj (voice)[22] 2 episodes
2019 Human Discoveries Bog (voice) 9 episodes
2019 Room 104 Greg Episode: "Drywall Guys"
2019–2020 BoJack Horseman Dr. Champ (voice) 5 episodes
2019 Conan Without Borders Himself Episode: "Ghana"[23]
2020 Curb Your Enthusiasm Will Cooper Episode: "The Spite Store"
2020 Star Trek: Lower Decks Vendome (voice) Episode: "Temporal Edict"
2020 Dream Corp, LLC Patient 44 Episode: "Tricky Ricky"
2020–2021 The Fungies! Cool James/Mr. Mayor (voices) Recurring roles
2020 Hoops Marcus (voice) Recurring role
2020 Woke Toast (voice) 3 episodes
2021–present M.O.D.O.K. Garfield "Gary" Garoldson (voice) Main role
2021 HouseBroken Chico (voice) Main role
2021 Q-Force Greg (voice) 3 episodes
2021 Ted Lasso Edwin Akufo Episodes: "Midnight Train to Royston" and "Inverting the Pyramid of Success"
2022 The Afterparty Aniq Main role

References

  1. ^ "Sam Richardson (@SamRichardson)". Sam Richardson verified Twitter account. Archived from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017. Born and raised in Detroit. ... Born January 12
  2. ^ Bazilian, Emma (June 21, 2016). "Veep Star Sam Richardson's New Comedy Central Show Is About Local Ad Guys in Detroit". Retrieved June 15, 2017. Age: 32
  3. ^ "Sam Richardson of 'Veep' is winning at comedy". Detroit Free Press. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Sam Richardson Talks 'Veep' Season 4 & Growing Up in Ghana on 'White Guy Talk Show' - Fuse". Fuse.
  5. ^ "Sam Richardson Once Did Improv for Marathon Runners", Late Night with Seth Meyers, 2 February 2022, retrieved 4 February 2022.
  6. ^ "COLLINS, Barbara-Rose | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  7. ^ "Veep's Sam Richardson on Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Getting Cut Out of Melissa McCarthy's 'Spy'". Playboy. 10 April 2015. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016.
  8. ^ "U of D Jesuit Highlights" (PDF). University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy. Fall 2015. Retrieved 2016-07-12.
  9. ^ Chicago Tribune (30 April 2015). "Sam Richardson: from Second City to Veep - Chicago Tribune". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  10. ^ "Former CFPCA Theatre Student Sam Richardson to Star in New Sitcom "Detroiters" Premiering Tonight on Comedy Central - CFPCA - Wayne State University". cfpca.wayne.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-16.
  11. ^ a b c "New 'Veep' co-star Sam Richardson is the chief of laughs". New York Post. 11 April 2015.
  12. ^ a b Chicago Tribune (30 April 2015). "Sam Richardson: from Second City to Veep - Chicago Tribune". chicagotribune.com.
  13. ^ a b Nellie Andreeva (2014-09-17). "Sam Richardson Promoted To Regular On 'Veep' - Deadline". Deadline.
  14. ^ Harry Fletcher (18 September 2014). "Veep's Sam Richardson becomes regular". Digital Spy.
  15. ^ "Sam Richardson made 'Veep' series regular". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com.
  16. ^ "Sam Richardson Talks 'Veep'". 9 April 2015.
  17. ^ "Sam Richardson Thinks The 2016 Election Is More Absurd Than 'Veep'". Huffington Post. 5 May 2016.
  18. ^ "Comedy Central Orders Detroiters Pilot". pastemagazine.com.
  19. ^ "'Detroiters' sitcom will film in Detroit". Detroit Free Press. 21 January 2016.
  20. ^ "Seth Meyers Pleads to Save Canceled Comedy Central Series 'Detroiters'". www.thewrap.com. 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  21. ^ "Sam Richardson Keeps His Streak Alive with Champaign ILL". pastemagazine.com. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  22. ^ a b "Sam Richardson". IMDb.
  23. ^ Wright, Megh (June 14, 2019). "Conan to film show in Haiti in response to Trump's 's---hole' comments". Vulture. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
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