Richard Speight Jr.

Richard Speight Jr. is a popular TV and film actor and director. Among his acting credits are a starring role in dystopian post-apocalyptic CBS drama Jericho (which he co-created) and Emmy Award-winning HBO series Band of Brothers. He has directed numerous episodes of long-running fantasy drama Supernatural (in which he also plays a recurring role) and three episodes of Fox’s fantasy series Lucifer. His experiences at Supernatural fan conventions led him to co-create the web comedy series Kings of Con with actor Rob Benedict.

Speight Jr. hails from Nashville, Tennessee. He studied acting at the University of Southern California, and it was here that he met Stephen Chbosky (who would go on to achieve world fame as the author of best-selling novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower). Their relationship would come to fruition with the creation of Jericho. After numerous one-off roles in TV movies and films such as Ernest Goes to Camp during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Speight landed his first regular role in Running the Halls, a 1993 high-school sitcom in which he played Mark ‘The Shark’ Stark. During the rest of the decade, he appeared in ever-bigger films and shows, including Independence Day and Speed 2. It was in 2001, however, that he established himself with Band of Brothers, a drama based on the true story of a World War 2 parachute regiment. The show as an incredible success, drawing millions of viewers and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries.

More recently Speight Jr. has appeared in a host of thriller films, including The Repentless Killogy, a short film by death metal legends Slayer.