Richie Stephens is an actor who hails from Ireland and is regarded for his ability to expertly portray villains. Richie is also a master of accents who has appeared in music videos for the popular musical group "Florence + The Machine". Recently, he spoke about his experiences working as an entertainer.

Acting

Blasting News (BN): What drove you to act?

Richie Stephens (RS): At thirteen I had an audition for a big Irish movie and the casting director told me they would use me but they never did. I was so disappointed I quit for a lot of years. After I broke my back in a construction accident in 2011, I decided to try again.

I immediately started booking jobs and enjoying the work.

BN: What media inspired you?

RS: I was always interested in storytelling in its various forms. Stephen King was a favorite of mine from a young age and my grandmother read to me a lot before I knew how to read.

BN: How did you find venues to perform?

RS: My mother took me to speech and drama classes. This gave me an outlet of sorts and I performed local theater in my community. Ireland has a rich history of artists and drama so there was no shortage of opportunity.

BN: What projects have you been a part of?

RS: I've worked on over 100 projects, from film, TV, theater, voice over, commercials and web series. My favorites have been “Major Crimes” and “Blue Bloods.” I got to work with a lot actors I have admired for many years on both shows, like Raymond Cruz, Michael Paul Chan, Robert Clohessy and Steven Schirripa.

BN: How did you start working with "Florence and the Machine"?

RS: I got an audition for the music video "What Kind of Man". They were looking for some gangster-type bad guys for the video and I was booked along with six other guys. We were all dressed the same and I put on my green leather jacket in between takes because it was cold.

The director Vince Haycock liked the look with the jacket and I got to wear it in the video! After the video came out, I got a big following on Twitter from her fans and they wanted me back for another video. I ended up doing two more!

BN: Which video was the most fun to make? Why?

RS: The third one "Third Eye" since there are a lot of very long seemingly seamless Scorsese style shots in it.

I had to carry Flo over 20 times in a row because just being off by a half second could ruin the shot. It came out fabulous and I became close to Flo, the director and crew.

Accents

BN: How many accents can you do?

RS: Over fifty. Irish ones alone I can do fifteen! I'm always picking up new ones or regional variations. Each week I might have fun with a different one, depending on my mood! I have viral accent videos on YouTube where people have daily comment fights over whether they are right or wrong!

BN: What is your idea of an ideal project?

RS: To work with Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, The Cohen Brothers, Guy Ritchie, Paul Thomas Anderson, Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, Matt Ross, Mel Gibson to just name a few!

BN: What’s best about working in the entertainment industry?

RS: It's the type of industry that people can really show you appreciation or recognition if you've had some success. People admire good acting work. I've had people write me poetry, make phone covers with my face on them and send me letters and messages!

BN: What is your advice for people trying to break into show business?

RS: Get right information on how to best pursue your goal, then work hard to get there and be very persistent. Have thick skin because you may need to hear a lot of "no's" before you get a "yes". Be good at getting along with people. Try to have fun with it and be proud of doing great work whether they pick you or not.

BN: What’s next?

RS: An episode of the television series Blue Bloods titled "Mob Rules" and a movie called “Soy Nero” that should be on Netflix soon. I have a TV series in development too about a British mob boss called Paddy Conroy. I have other plans too but I cannot mention them yet.