Richard Moss was born on July 5th, 1950, in Derbyshire, England, as the younger of two sons to Margaret Hannah and Thomas Fredrick Donald Moss. He was educated at Sterndale school near Buxton, and later in Australia and New Zealand.
Richard studied mechanics at the Auckland Technical Institute, but his passion for opera and theatre led him to pursue a career in the arts. He studied voice with Pacini and Milverton Carta, and acting at the Bailey Academy of Dramatic Art with Gil Cornwall LGSM, who introduced him to the classics and the techniques of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Jerzy Grotowsky.
Gil Cornwall was more than a teacher and mentor, but a powerful guiding light at one of life's major crossroads, and his influence continues to light the path to this day. Richard won second prize in the National Trinity College Shakespeare and Dickens awards, making proxime accessit all the sweeter.
Richard's professional career began as a radio actor at the NZBC, playing a tiny part in a radio play for school children, entitled Young Tom's Drum. He went on to play many leading roles, collecting three Mobil Radio awards along the way.
He joined the Auckland Independent Theatre, first as an actor, and later as actor/assistant director, under the theatre's founder, director, and principle writer Kevin J Wilson. His role in Pinocchio's Traveling Circus, written and directed by Ian Mune, featured him as Mr. Fireater the Circus Master.
The production was later taken up by Television New Zealand and produced as a special telecast for children, marking the beginning of a love affair with television and film that has lasted to this day. His film credits include Convict King, Prisoners, Winners and Losers, Kangaroo, The Far Country, Palate on the Floor, Sleeping Dogs, Hercules Returns, The Craic, On The Day, Mystery Crash, Vigilante, Joker Game, and many others.
As an actor, theatre is Richard's first love, and his professional theatre history includes plays such as Shakespeare's Richard the Third, King Lear, Loves Labours Lost, Othello, Eduardo Manet's The Nuns, Edward Bond's Summer, Steel Rudd's On Our Selection, Tom Stoppard's On The Razzle, Noel Coward's Fallen Angels, Eric Idle's Pass The Butler, Tudor Gates' Who Saw Him Die, Tennessee Williams' Glass Menagerie, Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, Kevin J Wilson's Cigalo the Clown, John Guare's House Of Blue Leaves, A South African double bill, and many others.
Richard has been married three times and is the father of two daughters and two sons, with five granddaughters, one grandson, and lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife Lindy. He continues to act, write, study the craft, and apply his voice to various commercials, characters, and narrations.
