Julian Richings (born September 8, 1955 in Oxford, England) is a Canadian actor. He has become a familiar figure to Canadian cinema and television audiences, appearing in over 50 films and 20 separate television series.
After training in drama at the University of Exeter and touring North America with a British stage production, Richings moved to Toronto, Canada in 1984. Within five years, he had become a regular on the second season of the War of the Worlds TV series. Other roles followed, and he gained critical acclaim as the bitter, aging punk rock legend Bucky Haight in Bruce McDonald's 1996 release Hard Core Logo. He had a brief appearance in Vincenzo Natali's 1997 Cube. In 1999 he played a secondary character in the sci-fi movie Thrill Seekers, alongside Casper Van Dien and Catherine Bell. In 2000, Richings appeared as Bellanger in The Claim, and earned a Genie Award nomination for best supporting actor. Richings was also a member of the repertory cast of the A&E TV original series, A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001-2002).
More recently, Richings played the nearly-blind security guard Otto in the 2004 miniseries Kingdom Hospital, also providing the voice for Otto's dog, Blondie. As the stagehand Mr. Turnbull in the 2004 film Being Julia, he appeared for a second time with Annette Bening (much of his role was cut from the final release of Open Range in 2003). The picture in this entry is from his appearance as Orr, a casually cruel loan shark who provides most of the menace in the 2004 Canadian film The Last Casino.
In 2006, Richings appeared in a brief speaking role as the Mutant Theatre Organizer in X-Men: The Last Stand. In addition, he played a lethal vampire killer alongside David Carradine in the direct-to-DVD horror film The Last Sect. He has a wide range of activities, appearing in movies, television shows, commercials, and plays, as well as doing voiceover work and teaching classes in the acting craft.
He was presented with two Dora Awards in the late 1980s, and performs professionally in the Toronto area with a number of theatre groups.
Richings resides in the Toronto area with his wife and two children.
