Richard Speight Jr.

Last updated

Richard Speight Jr.
Richard Speight Jr. by Gage Skidmore 2016 (cropped).jpg
Speight in 2016
Born
Occupation(s)Actor, director
Years active1984–present
Spouse
Jaci Hays
(m. 2003)
Children3

Richard Speight Jr. is an American actor and director who is known for a variety of roles including Jericho , The Agency , both CBS TV series, and the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers . In the WB/CW series Supernatural , he played a recurring role, the archangel Gabriel, originally thought to be a "Trickster" or Loki, as well as Loki whose identity Gabriel took on. More recently, he played Dugan in the 2021 film Old Henry .

Contents

Personal life

Speight grew up in Nashville, the son of Barbara and Richard Speight Sr. He has two older sisters. He attended Montgomery Bell Academy and the USC School of Dramatic Arts (formerly the USC School of Theatre), graduating cum laude. While at USC, he met and befriended writer and director Stephen Chbosky.

Richard Speight appeared in Chbosky's senior showcase piece[ citation needed ]. Years later, the two teamed up on the CBS series Jericho which Chbosky co-created. In 2003, Speight married Jaci Kathryn Hays, a dot-com executive from California. [1]

Career

Television

Speight has starred in a variety of commercials for Got Milk?; IBM; Pepsi; and Disney. He played Sgt. Warren "Skip" Muck in the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning World War II miniseries Band of Brothers , produced for HBO by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Speight appeared in several television series including The Agency; ER ; Jericho; Party of Five and JAG .

In 2007, he landed a recurring role on "the now longest-running sci-fi series in the history of American broadcast television" Supernatural where he played 'The Trickster/Loki' (later revealed to be the archangel Gabriel). Making a surprise return in 2018, Speight's characters returned to the screens as dual roles of Gabriel and Loki in Season 13 episode "Unfinished Business", while simultaneously directing the episode himself. He had a recurring role on Justified, and guest starred on shows such as Life , Memphis Beat , Longmire , CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2014), Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2017).

Film

Speight's earlier work included a role in the film, Ernest Goes to Camp ; and a regular role on the NBC Saturday morning sitcom, Running the Halls . He had a brief appearance in the film, Thank You for Smoking , directed and written by fellow USC alumnus Jason Reitman. Speight appeared in Speed 2: Cruise Control and The Last Big Attraction. He had a starring role in Reitman's short film, In God We Trust. Although credited, Speight does not appear in the film Independence Day , as the footage he was filmed in was cut in the final version. [2]

His more recent productions include La Musica Provata, The Week (2016), Mucho Dinero, Brick Madness, Bad, Bad Men, and Death House (2016). Lead roles include an FBI agent in a thriller, The Evil Gene (2016), and in a feature-length comedy thriller Driven (2019).

Web series

Speight is a close friend of actor Rob Benedict. They often appear at conventions in tandem. Together, they created the comedy web-series Kings of Con (2016) based on their experiences at conventions for Supernatural , a TV show in which they both were featured actors and beloved characters. Speight is co-writer, producer, director, and actor in Kings of Con, and plays a "heightened version of himself" as character Richard Slate. With the support of a successful Indiegogo campaign, the series launched on November 15, 2016 at the headquarters of Comic-Con, and internationally through multiple platforms. An after show called Kings of Conversation is available on their Facebook page.

Directing and writing

Speight's directing career began with co-directing/co-starring in the independent feature North Beach (2004). A copy of this work is being preserved as part of SF History section at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library. In 2013, he wrote and directed the satirical social comedy America 101. The festival darling and award-winning 10-minute short stars Band of Brothers veteran, Rick Gomez; co-stars Amy Gumenick, and North Beach alumni Jayden Lund and Jim Hanna. Now available on iTunes, the short feature is described as "One man's life becomes the lesson of the day when he takes a frenetic ride through his own personal version of the American experience." [3]

Success of America 101 launched Speight into being a director for commercials. He directed several spots for Pepsi and other major national brands. After having success in commercial directing and rigorous preparation in a Warner Bros. TV director's workshop, Speight made his debut as a television director on Supernatural's season 11 episode "Just My Imagination"–the first episode to have been nominated for Hugo Awards 2016 in the show's 15-year history. In season 13 episode "Unfinished Business", he both acted and directed himself in the dual characters of Gabriel and Loki. He continued to direct a few episodes each season throughout 11-15, achieving total of eleven episodes by the show's end in spring 2020. Speight is the Top "8th" Director of Supernatural by Episode Count

Speight continued as a TV director with Netflix's Lucifer, CW's Kung Fu, and Walker.

Podcast

Speight has participated in several celebrity podcasts including Thrilling Adventure Hour (Episodes 148, 159, 165, 171, 195, 196) and Michael Rosenbaum's Inside of You (2018). After the beginning of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, Benedict and Speight teamed again to brighten their communities with their own podcast series ...And My Guest Is Richard Speight, each offering original perspectives of COVID-19 life in lockdown. It evolved into Kings of Con: The Podcast, a much anticipated revival of the Speight-Benedict brand.

Continuing the legacy of Supernatural, the two host a weekly podcast Supernatural: Then and Now (2022), revisiting every episode along with the show's cast & crew as guests.

Music and music videos

As a talented musician and performer, Speight has been a part of the music industry both on and off screen. A guitar and bass player with over two decades of experience, Speight's music career has been a colorful collaboration with many gifted artists.

Speight has been in several bands. First, he was in a cover band in high school called The Distortion Hawgs (1986), where he performed lead vocals & bass. He was the guitarist for Fugitive Pope in 1993. While in college he was in the band Strange Neighbors in 1989 with actor and harmonica player Tim Omundson. Speight participates as a guest singer on several albums by singer songwriter & producer Jason Manns– Christmas with Friends (2014), Covers with Friends (2016), and Recovering with Friends (2018). The highest ranking of collaborations with Manns include the chart debut at #16 on iTunes for Covers with Friends and peaked #12 for Recovering with Friends on Billboard. Speight released his debut album with a country band "Dick Jr. & The Volunteers" called The Dance and How To Do It (2019) produced by Manns.

Speight is a beloved guest performer at Saturday Night Special concerts by the indie rock band Louden Swain, held all over North America averaging a dozen shows a year. Along with the cast of Supernatural, a live recording album of the same name was released by Louden Swain in 2017. The album made several music charts - Billboard chart was #1 on Heatseekers West North Central, #13 on Heatseekers, and #40 on Independent Albums, and iTunes highest ranking at #78 in the U.S. ; He is also a contributor to album Sky Alive by the same band. As an actor, he has been featured in music video for two of Slayer's trilogy You Against You and Pride in Prejudice, showcasing his strength in acting for horror genre

As a director, Speight completed his first music video for Louden Swain's rock song called Bandaged Hand using only an iPhone and spare few hours during his convention tours. As a director, Speight oversees the entire creative process including Sound & Music department for films and television.

Conventions

While he only appeared in five episodes of Supernatural between 2007-2014 (although he made 12 appearances in total by the time Supernatural ended), both Speight's on-screen and off-screen character became very much beloved by fans, which enabled him to stay in close contact with the current cast and crew through his steady contributions at fan conventions (in San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic Con, and several in Europe, Brazil, and Australia). As of May 2016, he has participated in over 70 fan conventions.

His most notable contribution to the convention world is at the "Salute To Supernatural", held annually in many cities across North America. Making appearances since 2008, Speight's charmingly quick wit and on-stage chemistry with fellow performers have enabled the convention to grow over the years as he became the master of ceremonies in 2013 – hosting for the entire three days of convention weekend, 13 weekends a year.

Along with Matt Cohen, Speight became known as the Karaoke Kings as founders of an accessible karaoke event for all, which started with fewer than 10 attendees and has grown to crowds of thousands. Speight also is a singers and bass player with Louden Swain participating in Saturday Night Special concerts.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1984Love Leads the WayJim Jetson
1987 Ernest Goes to Camp Brooks
1992 Demonic Toys Andy Direct-to-video
1995Dead WeekendSpray Paint Punk
1996 Independence Day EdScenes cut
1997 Menno's Mind Kal
1997 Speed 2: Cruise Control 'C' Deck Officer
1999The Last Big AttractionChristopher CanbyShort film
2000In God We TrustRobertShort film
2000North BeachPeteCo-director
2000Dave's Blind DateDaveShort film
2002Mr. LuckeDJ Tom BushVoice role
2005Love For RentGeorge
2005 Thank You for Smoking Trainee
2006 Open Water 2: Adrift JamesCo-writer
20113 Blind SaintsSam
2011AppleBoxBryan Watercress
2012 Noobz Jeff
2012 Crave Master Rupert
2015The Evil GeneGriff Krenshaw
2017 Death House Bennett
2019DrivenRoger
2019 Our Friend Davey Faucheux
2021 Old Henry Dugan

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1989 ABC Afterschool Specials Kenny1 episode
1989 Freddy's Nightmares Oliver Michaels2 episodes
1990 Elvis Leon1 episode
1990 China Beach Grunt #21 episode
1990 By Dawn's Early Light SAC GuardTelevision film
1990 Matlock Delivery Boy1 episode
1993 Running the Halls Mark G. "The Shark" StarkMain role
1995 Amanda and the Alien JoJo, Cafe ManagerTelevision film
1995 ER Barinski1 episode
1996 Party of Five Miller West1 episode
1996 Hypernauts Alien Vendor1 episode
1997 Built to Last Stanley1 episode
1999 JAG Lt. Michael Gerter1 episode
1997 L.A. Doctors Carl1 episode
1999JAGWarren Toobin1 episode
2001 Band of Brothers Sgt. Warren "Skip" Muck Television miniseries, 7 episodes
2001 The Agency LexRecurring role (season 1); main role (season 2); 35 episodes
2005 Alias Derek Modell1 episode
2005 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Lloyd Bryant1 episode
2005 CSI: Miami Kevin Banks1 episode
2005 Yes, Dear Frank2 episodes
2005 Into the West Rupert Lang1 episode
2006–2008 Jericho Bill KoehlerMain role
2007–2018 Supernatural The Trickster / Gabriel / Loki Recurring role, 12 episodes
2009 Life Dean Ellis1 episode
2010 Memphis Beat Donald1 episode
2010 Look: The Series Rapist3 episodes
2011–2012 Justified Jed Berwind4 episodes
2012 Longmire Vacationing Biker1 episode
2014 CSI Store Owner1 episode
2019Home Is Where the Killer IsJames ThomasonTV film
2020 Home Movie: The Princess Bride YellinEpisode: "Chapter Eight: Ultimate Suffering"
2022 Kung Fu Leif Winzing2 episodes
2022 The Winchesters The Trickster / Loki1 episode
2025 9-1-1: Lone Star Reverend Phil1 episode [4]

Music videos

YearMusic VideoArtist
2015"Supernatural Parody"The Hillywood Show
2016"Pride In Prejudice" Slayer
2017"Stranger Things Parody"The Hillywood Show
2018"Supernatural Parody 2"The Hillywood Show

As a director

YearTitleNotes
2000North BeachCo-director, actor
2013America 101Director, writer, executive producer
2015–2020 Supernatural Director; 11 episodes:
11x08 "Just My Imagination"
12x12 "Stuck in the Middle (With You)"
12x20 "Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes"
13x07 "War of the Worlds"
13x20 "Unfinished Business"
14x02 "Gods and Monsters"
14x06 "Optimism"
15x05 "Proverbs 17:3"

15x08 "Our Father, Who Aren't In Heaven"

15x12 "Galaxy Brain"
15x18 "Despair"

2016–2017Kings of ConDirector; 7 episodes
2019-2021 Lucifer Director; 4 episodes:
4x7 "Devil is as Devil Does"
5Ax6 "BlueBallz"
5Bx13 "A Little Harmless Stalking"
2021-2023 Kung Fu Director; 6 episodes:
1x10 "Choice"
2x4 "Clementine"
2x7 "The Alchemist"
2x12 "Alliance"
3x4 "Harmony"
3x12 "Loss"
2021-2023 Walker Director; 3 episodes:
1x17 "Dig"
2x2 "The One Who Got Away"
3x14 "False Flag: Part One"
2022 The Winchesters Director; 1 episode:
1x07 "Reflections"
2024 Dead Boy Detectives Director; 1 episode:
1x07 "The Case of the Very Long Stairway"

References

  1. "Richard Speight Jr". Twitter.
  2. Speight, Richard [@dicksp8jr] (August 20, 2011). "@sblgrn ~ FYI - I wasn't in "Independence Day." Shot stuff for it but it all got cut. I'm in the credits though so its on IMDB. Flerbdermin" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  3. "America 101 Web Page".
  4. https://tvinsider.com/1171035/911-lone-star-richard-speight-jr-reverend-phil-judd-drinking-photo