Julian Richings (born 30 August 1956)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at Ancestry.com is a British-Canadian

character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrie ...

, having appeared in over 225 films and television series. He is best known for his appearances in a variety of horror films, including ''

Cube A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...

, Wrong Turn, The Witch, Beau is Afraid,'' ''Ejecta'', and '' Anything for Jackson'', as well as for portraying

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

in the dark fantasy series ''

Supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

''.

Early life

Richings was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England on August 30, 1956. He trained in drama at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

Career

After touring the United States with a British stage production, Richings moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada in 1984. Within five years, he had become a regular on the second season of the ''War of the Worlds'' TV series. In the 1996 film ''

Hard Core Logo ''Hard Core Logo'' is a 1996 Canadian music mockumentary film directed by Bruce McDonald, adapted by Noel S. Baker from the novel of the same name by Michael Turner. The film illustrates the self-destruction of punk rock, documenting a once-pop ...

'', he played the bitter, aging, punk rock legend Bucky Haight. He appeared at the opening of the 1997 film ''

''. In 1999, he appeared in the science fiction film '' Thrill Seekers''. In 2000, he appeared as Bellanger in '' The Claim'', and earned a

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculptor ...

nomination for best supporting actor. He was a member of the repertory cast of the A&E TV original series '' A Nero Wolfe Mystery'' (2001–02). Richings performed in heavy makeup as

cannibal Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecology, ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well ...

-killer Three Finger in '' Wrong Turn'' (2003), and was a series regulars as the nearly-blind security guard Otto in

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

's 2004 miniseries '' Kingdom Hospital''. Dramatic roles include stagehand Mr. Turnbull in the 2004 film '' Being Julia''. He appeared as Orr, a cruel loan shark in the 2004 Canadian film '' The Last Casino''. In 2006, he appeared in a brief speaking role as the Mutant Theatre Organiser in '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and played a vampire killer alongside in the direct-to-DVD horror film ''The Last Sect''. In 2007, Richings played a driver in the film ''

Shoot 'Em Up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

'', a dissipated and aging punk rocker in ''The Third Eye'', transvestite psychologist Dr. Heker in '' The Tracey Fragments'', and a number of small roles in other films, including '' Skinwalkers'' and '' Saw IV''. He appeared in the 2008 film ''The Timekeeper''. That year, Richings was nominated for another

Dora Award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, Dance in Canada, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after ...

for his performance in ''The Palace of the End''. Richings made an appearance in the 2010 fantasy film adaption '' Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lighting Thief'' as

Charon In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon ( ; ) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and ...

, the ferryman of

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

. That year, he began a recurring villain role on the horror comedy series ''

Todd and the Book of Pure Evil ''Todd and the Book of Pure Evil'' is a Canadian dark comedy Comedy horror, horror television series that follows a group of high school students who confront the effects of a demonic book. The series premiered on Space (Canadian TV channel), Space ...

.'' From 2010 to 2015, he portrayed

in the hit dark fantasy series ''

''. He was also

in the short film ''Dave v. Death'' (2011). He appeared in Zach Snyder's 2013

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

film '' Man of Steel'' as Lor-Em, spokesman for the Kryptonian Council. The same year, Richings played the mysterious, stringy-haired Phil Prosser in '' Septic Man''. In 2014, he starred in the science fiction film ''Ejecta''. The role earned him a Best Actor win at the Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival. In 2015, he appeared in

Robert Eggers Robert Houston Eggers (born July 7, 1983) is an American filmmaker who has written and directed '' The Witch'' (2015), '' The Lighthouse'' (2019), '' The Northman'' (2022), and ''Nosferatu'' (2024). His films blend elements of horror, folklore, ...

' horror film '' The Witch'' and the drama film ''Reign''. In 2019, Richings played

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

scientist Heinrich Von Fuchs on

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the shared universe in which most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC Continuity (fiction), continuity. It contains v ...

's ''

Doom Patrol Doom Patrol is a superhero team from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963), and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol has appear ...

''. His portrayal of Henry Walsh in Justin G. Dyck's 2020 supernatural horror film '' Anything for Jackson'', earned him his second Best Actor win at the Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival. In 2022, Richings appeared in the television shows ''

The Umbrella Academy ''The Umbrella Academy'' is an Absurdist fiction, absurdist Superhero fiction, superhero comic book series created by writer Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Bá. It follows a dysfunctional family of adopted superhero siblings with bizarre powers a ...

, Reginald the Vampire,'' and ''

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People * Guillermo Amador (born 1974), American musician * Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Spani ...

.'' In 2023, he had a role in

Ari Aster Ari Aster (born July 15, 1986) is an American filmmaker. After garnering initial recognition for the short film '' The Strange Thing About the Johnsons'' (2011), he became best known for writing and directing the feature films '' Hereditary'' (2 ...

tragicomedy Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragedy, tragic and comedy, comic forms. Most often seen in drama, dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the ov ...

horror film '' Beau is Afraid''. In 2024, Richings appeared as Procrustes, the

half-giant Half-giants are fictional beings that have one parent that is a giant and another parent that is a different species. Description In most cases, a half-giant is the result of a union between a human and a giant. Often they are of normal size or sl ...

and half-brother of the titular character, in the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

fantasy show ''

Percy Jackson and the Olympians ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' is a fantasy novel series by American author Rick Riordan. The first book series in his ''Camp Half-Blood Chronicles'', the novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century. The series follo ...

''.

Personal life

Richings resides in Toronto with his wife and two children.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Audio dramas

On stage

Awards and nominations

Film and television

Theatre

References

External links

*
Interview with Richings from 2005Interview Julian Richings
with mycoven.com, March 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Richings, Julian Living people 1956 births 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the University of Exeter Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian people of English descent Canadian expatriates in England Dora Mavor Moore Award winners English expatriates in Canada English male film actors English male television actors Male actors from Oxford