Richard Madden

[Alvedansen]

Richard Madden (born 1986) is a Scottish stage, film, and television actor, known for his work in theatre and for his roles in both film and television.

He is best-known for his appearance in the short-lived 2009 series Hope Springs and his role as real-life musician Kirk Brandon in Worried About the Boy, a dramatisation of the life of Boy George. More recently he has taken a leading role in the British comedy-drama series Sirens, playing gay paramedic Ashley Greenwick.

In HBO's Game of Thrones he plays Robb Stark. He was announced in the role on 20 August 2009.

wikipedia, gameofthrones.wikia


richard-madden

 

[Alvedansen]

On Game of Thrones

celebutopia.net, winter-is-coming, richard-madden

 

[Alvedansen]

emiliaclarke, harry-lloyd

Game Of Thrones is the stuff of fantasy for its young Scottish star

Published on 11 Apr 2011
Ali Howard
Fame awaits Richard Madden after landing a key role in HBO’s big-budget epic.
Challenges, challenges, challenges – that’s all 24-year-old Richard Madden talks about. Well, perhaps not all, but the word “challenge” certainly features heavily in our conversation – 10 times, to be exact. He also talks quickly, with the kind of endearing enthusiasm that comes from being a young actor whose star is very much on the rise, particularly now he has landed the biggest role of his life as Robb Stark in HBO fantasy drama Game Of Thrones.
The hype will fully hit when the new series – based on George RR Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire novels, and starring Lena Headey, Charles Dance, Sean Bean and fellow Scots Iain Glen and James Cosmo – begins on Sky Atlantic next week. It’s a landmark role for the young actor, and one that could make him a household name, given the runaway success of other HBO shows such as The Sopranos, Rome and The Wire. So, is he nervous about the possibility of fame?
“That’s a good question,” says Madden, who grew up in Elderslie, near Paisley. “I’m not really letting myself think about that side of things. I’ve thought about it in a productive, ambitious way – which is, hopefully, if the show is good and my performance is good in it, then it might open other doors for me to get more work and keep progressing as an actor. In terms of getting recognised …” He trails off.
Madden had an early taste of fame as a young teen in children’s TV series Barmy Aunt Boomerang. “It was on a completely different scale,” he continues. “But, among my peers, I went through ‘being known’ for a couple of years – and all the great and bad things that come with that. It was strange to be ‘that kid from television’.”
The experience, he says, taught him what might happen after Game Of Thrones. “It set me up to try to embrace everything that comes. I’ll take it in my stride, whatever happens.” For now, though, he just wants to keep things grounded: he hopes that future recognition from Game Of Thrones, if and when it comes, is down to an appreciation of his work and will help him “become a better actor, by getting more diverse jobs”.
Madden had a steep learning curve in the past. After joining the local youth acting school, PACE, to “get more confidence before going to high school”, his talent was spotted early. He was scouted for his first acting role at the age of 11, when he played alongside Jonny Lee Miller in the 2000 cinema adaptation of the Iain Banks novel Complicity. Madden played a young r*pe victim, an experience which “didn’t bode well for high school,” he says, and led to bullying. It was a complex part for a child.
“It was strange dealing with issues that, at 11, I didn’t understand. You know that r*pe is a bad thing but, sexually, you don’t understand the violation of it,” he remembers. “But the good thing was I got to meet interesting people. I started working in a profession and had responsibilities like an adult. People had to speak to me like an adult, and I didn’t want it any other way. I didn’t want to be treated like a child because I was performing and doing my job just like the next actor was.”
Madden says he instantly loved acting. Despite this, the pressure at one point got too much – although it certainly wasn’t from his parents (his father worked for the fire service and his mother was a teacher’s assistant). “I was about 15 and I felt I had to stop after … experiences,” he says, hesitating. He is clearly referring to the trouble he received at school which was, he says, “quite difficult to swallow … But at 17 going on 18, I had to make a decision about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and I knew that I needed to do acting as a job, and I wanted to do it more than anything else.”
He attended the Royal Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow and never stopped working throughout, taking time to appear in theatre roles both in Glasgow – at the Arches and the Citizens Theatre – and in London. Since then, he has worked with the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal Shakespeare Company and, in 2009, appeared in BBC Scotland drama Hope Springs. Today, he says, he can’t imagine himself doing anything else.
The fact that there was never any pressure on him to follow acting as a career is what makes his choice of profession interesting, he says. Acting requires “self-generating motivation. You need to have the ambition, the desire and the drive to push yourself as a person.”
As we’ve already established, Madden doesn’t seem to be driven by the possibility of stardom but by a genuinely earnest desire to hone his craft. For him, life experience equates to “more honest performances”; and the actor takes his role choice very seriously. “Doing jobs that are completely different to the last thing I did pushes me as an actor to change as much as I can. It would be easy for me to stay in a similar vein of characters or jobs, but I’m drawn to challenging myself.”
Game Of Thrones has, in dramatic terms, allowed Madden greater freedom with his acting and, as Robb Stark, a chance to experience a character who grows and changes – much like him. “My character is changing from a boy into a man, and I suppose I’m doing the same thing,” he muses. “Professionally, I’m getting a lot of big responsibilities put on me and I love the challenge of it, but I put a lot of weight on my career: where I want it to go, what I want to do and who I want to become as an actor.”
Any pressure on Madden, it seems, comes from the man himself. He eats, sleeps and breathes every role. “I end up in a zone and I love that. It puts me in a really productive, creative place where my focus is completely on the work. It is a challenge, but one I thrive on. I feel like I have a purpose when I’m working.”
But with such professional dedication, his personal life suffers. Madden hasn’t been in his flat in London or seen his friends for a month, he tells me. How does he get a balance? “I don’t know if I do, to be honest,” he says. “I have a fantastic family and great friends, so we try to keep in touch as best we can. If I get a day off, I come straight back to London to see my friends or up to Glasgow to see my family. I’m still learning that bit. My parents are proud; it’s good I’ve got them.”
The actor also has two “very supportive” sisters, although “it was hard for them being children when I was the kid on TV,” he concedes. “I would’ve hated me if I was them. I probably wasn’t the best brother.”
Now, it is usually his sisters who are first to tell him if he’s made it on to another list in the media. Madden was named as one of Esquire Magazine’s Hottest Stars for 2010 and won Most Stylish Male at the Scottish Style Awards in 2009. “It’s flattering, and I say thank you, but I don’t take it too seriously,” he laughs. “I like clothes and fashion. It’s a hobby for me and I really enjoy being part of it, so it’s nice when people say: ‘He can dress quite well.’”
Madden’s other hobbies include horse-riding (after the many hours he spent learning the skill for Game Of Thrones), film and theatre. “Everything in my life links into my profession, and that’s how I like to enjoy it,” he says.
He’s tight-lipped on upcoming projects, but they include, he says, a “dark comedy drama” and a “Shakespeare monologue” for Sky. “I’d like to get back on the stage soon,” he adds. “I’m reading some great work. I’m getting to experience everything about this industry and I feel independent – in control of embracing it. I’m taking every opportunity I can and riding this wave.”

heraldscotland

 

[Penny Lane]

Ooooh finally a thread for him, thank you so much for starting one, Alvedansen!

I'm completely obsessed with him right now

 

[Alvedansen]

Interview: Richard Madden - AKA Ashley Greenwick

Richard Madden is Ashley. Young, handsome, and a bit of a lad - he thinks he has it sussed, knows how to play the game, and always keeps his cards close to his chest. His only problem, as a gay bloke who doesn't actually like other gay blokes, is that he's never in the biggest game of them all. We caught up with Richard to chat about Ashley, and what it was like filming the series...
It's not often that actors encounter dead bodies when researching a television role, but that is exactly what Richard experienced on a night out with the Ambulance Service. 'I spent a Friday night observing an ambulance crew to find out what they go through during a shift, how they feel, what they talk about,' explains Richard. 'The whole experience was exciting, moving and strange.'
'For me it was a real life experience. Exhilarating. We arrived at a call; a woman in her 30s, an alcoholic. She was dead in her flat. I had seen a dead body before, my gran, but this was the first dead person I'd seen whom I was detached from and it was an odd situation. It was also weird watching how the police and ambulance men acted around this body because they see it every day. It was really useful for me in terms of the job and where the comedy actually comes from in extreme situations.'
Richard admits, 'There is a level of shutting down because you have to get on with the job and keep your head clear. I realised for the people the EMTs are arriving to help it is a huge deal but for them it's another job and then they are on to the next call out. These things filter into your brain though. I still see that dead woman's face sometimes, and think that she had kids. It can be scary.'
'His sexuality - that's what interested me in the part,' says Richard. 'He is gay and it is not an issue for him at all. He is gay with no problems or hang-ups about it at all. But he's as straight as the other two in every other aspect, and these two push him on it just as straight men who don't know much about the gay life.'
Richard adds: 'In reality these characters would probably never spend time together but they are forced to in this job and they have settled into a dynamic that does work. So they do rub each other up the wrong way but there is also a great deal of affection which comes out in that masculine way of piss taking but through that you get to know them and to realise who cares about who.'
'The other two are very funny comedians and have very different backgrounds to me but as an actor I try to push myself to try new things, and this was definitely a big challenge for me,' admits Richard. 'It has helped me learn about who I am and where my strengths and talents lie. I am certainy more confident with the comedy element now and you do have to be on your guard all the time around Kayvan and Rhys. I've found another beat and have learnt a lot from working with them.'

channel4

tv.com

 

[Penny Lane]

"Strays" stills

Brothers Nick (Andrew Hawley) and Elliot (Richard Madden) are small-time thieves on the run, living a life of excess. However, as Nick’s manic behavior becomes increasingly frenzied, Elliot struggles to reign him in.
Strays is a thrilling drama about two brothers who belong together, but for their own good need to be apart.
Strays is a graduation film from the world-famous National Film and Television School. Directed by Edinburgh International Film Festival-nominee Robert McKillop, written by Daniel Kanaber, and starring two of the hottest young actors in the country, Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) and Andrew Hawley (ITV’s Wuthering Heights).

straysfilm.co.uk

 

[Alvedansen]

For Mr Porter

welldressedman.tumblr.com

 

[dajrekshn]

oh man, he's so hot!

straysfilm.wordpress.com

 

[Kellz]

He's so handsome and talented! I think he looks a bit like Michael Fassbender.

 

[kokobombon]

Thanks, Alvie!
I like him in GoT but he´s also really good in Sirens.

 

[Alvedansen]

i love the styling on Sirens, they make him look so so hot!

also that lipbiting

i loved these two stylings/outfits

fyeahrichardmadden.tumblr

 

[kokobombon]

^yummy! facial hair suits him so much...
I find british actors playing gay characters SO sexy!

 

[dajrekshn]

he looks much better with the facial hair imo. he looks totally different without it.

 

[Penny Lane]

I like him better with facial hair too, he looks so young without it.

He's also going to be on the BBC adaptation of “Birdsong”

Richard Madden is gaining fans fast as Robb Stark on HBO’s massively popular “Game of Thrones”, which was recently picked up for a no-brainer of a second season. Before returning to work on the show, he will film a lead role opposite Eddie Redmayne and Clemence Poesy in BBC miniseries “Birdsong.”

upandcomers.net

 

[johnnys_girl09]

^Richard, Eddie AND Clemence I will definitely be tuning in!

This might be stating the obvious but he is really really handsome

 

[mimirose]

^ Eeeee, that's so exciting! Can't wait for the adaptation - that's going to be an incredible cast. This GIF of him in Sirens is really lovely,

gingerliferuiners.tumblr

 

[advo]

Ugh. I don't think I've fallen so hard for a guy on TV since Henry Cavill as I have with Richard. He's so gorgeous - especially with facial hair! And then the accent ~swoons~. GoT needs to come back soon!

 

[Alvedansen]

some bts videos from Sirens




At Britain's best dressed man Party with Esquire editor Jeremy Langmead

esquire.co.uk

 

[kokobombon]

^Blue Steel! LOL
Thanks for the fun vids, Alvie

 

[chickadee]

"Too late, he's in my cart." He's gorgeous. Gorgeous voice, gorgeous face, and gorgeous style. I love my GoT men.