Richard Armitage Biography

Richard Crispin Armitage is a versatile English actor with experience in film, television, theatre, and voice acting. Born in Leicester, England, he is the younger son of Margaret, a secretary, and John Armitage, an engineer, and has an older brother named Chris. Armitage gained overnight success in the UK with his first major role as John Thornton in the British TV series, North & South, in 2004.
In October 2010, Peter Jackson revealed that Richard Armitage had been cast as Thorin Oakenshield in the three-part adaptation of The Hobbit. The principal photography for the films took place in New Zealand over three filming blocks with intermittent breaks, starting in March 2011 and concluding in July 2012, with additional pick-ups filmed in the summer of 2013. The Hobbit films, which include An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), were released in December.
Richard Armitage has labeled himself as a method actor, stating that he doesn’t pretend but truly believes in his character. While he can still interact with others on set, he admits to staying with the character even off-camera, describing it as marinating something in a marinade.