Richard Gadd

Richard Gadd (born 11 May 1989) is a Scottish actor, comedian, and writer, best known for creating and starring in the 2024 Netflix drama series Baby Reindeer, which was based on his eponymous one-man dark comedy show. Gadd won three Primetime Emmy Awards for writing, producing, and acting in the series. Gadd also won a Peabody Award for the series.

Early life and education Richard Gadd was born and brought up in the village of Wormit, in the Fife area of Scotland. Gadd has described himself as a "middle-class guy from Fife" and "from a remote part of Scotland”. His father is microbiologist and mycologist Geoffrey Michael Gadd, who is a professor at the University of Dundee. Gadd then studied English literature and theatre studies at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 2011.

Career Comedy career

Gadd began performing stand-up comedy and musical comedy while he was a student at Glasgow University in 2008. He entered the Glasgow heats of the Chortle new comedian awards in 2009. In 2010 Gadd performed his first Edinburgh Fringe show, Richard Gadd: 6 And Half A 7. In 2011, Gadd was a Chortle Student Comedy Awards finalist. In 2012, Gadd co-performed in the Edinburgh Fringe show Gadd, Kirk And Winning – Well, This Is Awkward…, and trained at the Oxford School of Drama, completing a one-year course in 2012. He then moved to London to pursue his comedy career. Gadd's 2015 Edinburgh Fringe show, Waiting for Gaddot, was intentionally more mainstream than its predecessors and gained Gadd more success and wider attention. It was also nominated for a Malcolm Hardee Award for Innovation and a Chortle Award for Innovation.

Gadd's 2016 Fringe show Monkey See Monkey Do won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Comedy Show and was also nominated for a Total Theatre Award for Innovation. Later that year, Gadd won a Chortle Comedian's Comedian Award and was nominated for the 2017 Offie for Best Performer. The show then had several sell-out runs at Soho Theatre, toured the UK and Europe, and had a run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, where it was nominated for the 2017 Barry Award. In 2017 it was broadcast as part of Comedy Central's Soho Theatre Live series.

Acting and screenwriting As an actor, Gadd had multiple credits in various television series, television films and short films before his breakout success in Baby Reindeer. His acting career began with a role in a 2014 episode of BBC Scotland's Scot Squad and continued in four episodes of E4's Tripped in 2015. He starred opposite Daniel Mays in the 2017 BAFTA-nominated BBC Two single drama Against the Law. Gadd's other acting credits include BBC Three's Clique, Sky Arts's One Normal Night, and Sky One's Code 404. He has also appeared in several short films. Gadd wrote for Netflix's Sex Education and has written episodes of Ultimate Worrier for Dave and The Last Leg for Channel 4. In 2022, Gadd starred as Conrad Lennox in three episodes of the Disney+ series Wedding Season. Gadd wrote and starred in the drama Half Man that aired on HBO and BBC in 2026 alongside Jamie Bell.

Baby Reindeer

While a jobbing comedian, Gadd worked as a bartender at The Hawley Arms pub in Camden Town, London. There he met 'Martha', who became the main character in Baby Reindeer. Baby Reindeer began as a 2019 Edinburgh fringe show, a dark comedy chronicling Gadd's experiences of being stalked by 'Martha' and sexually assaulted by a man he met earlier in his career. It was Gadd's breakout success and won two Edinburgh Fringe awards: The Scotsman Fringe First Award for New Writing and a Stage Award for Acting Excellence. The show had a five-week run at London's Bush Theatre, received the Offie for Best Video Design and was nominated for an Offie for Best Performer. The show later transferred to the Ambassador's Theatre in London's West End but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A few months later, the show won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.

In April 2024, Netflix released a semi-autobiographical seven-episode drama based on Gadd's play and billed as a 'true story'. Gadd lost 28 kilograms to play the fictionalized version of himself in order to feel "vulnerable and fragile". Baby Reindeer also featured a fictionalized version of Gadd's parents. Within a week of its release, Baby Reindeer was the top series on Netflix globally, having garnered more than 52 million viewing hours. The enormous success and popularity of Baby Reindeer resulted in a notable annual increase in spending on Netflix digital subscriptions.

The woman depicted as 'Martha' in Baby Reindeer, portrayed as having stalked and sexually assaulted Gadd, was quickly identified as Fiona Harvey, a Scottish lawyer. A former colleague has also questioned the version of events in Baby Reindeer.

Half Man Gadd wrote and starred in BBC and HBO six-parter, Half Man, after Baby Reindeer. Ruben is not based on a real person. "It’s not based on anyone or drawn from anyone at all," he says. He followed a strict, highly regimented training and nutrition program—working with professionals, eating pre-planned meals on a fixed schedule, and maintaining complete discipline—to build a realistic, lived-in physique rather than a stereotypical Hollywood body. Gadd deliberately transformed his voice to make the character feel more intimidating and "animalistic." Wanting to create a stark contrast with the anxious, neurotic Donny Dunn from Baby Reindeer, Gadd spent months doing daily vocal exercises to deepen his register, developing a lower, gruffer, and more abrasive sound. He also incorporated grunts, growls, and a guttural laugh into Ruben's speech, aiming to give the character a primal presence that felt physically imposing. Gadd said the vocal work became a key part of his overall transformation, helping him create a character who seemed to operate on a deeper and more threatening level than those around him.

Personal life Gadd is bisexual. He explained: "Bisexual is the easiest way of explaining it to people, but even then, I feel like I have a restlessness around sexuality, almost a confusion or an ever-shifting attitude towards it." In June 2025, Gadd played for the Rest of the World team in the Soccer Aid for UNICEF UK game, which was victorious in defeating England XI 5–4. As of 2015 he lived in London.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2024Truth SerumJimmyShort film Television

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result 2024 Astra TV Awards Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie Baby Reindeer Best Writing in a Limited Series or TV Movie Gotham TV Awards Outstanding Performance in a Limited Series Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Television Critics Association Awards Individual Achievement in Drama 2025 British Academy Television Awards Best Limited Drama Best Leading Actor British Academy Television Craft Awards Best Writer: Drama Golden Globe Awards Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film Independent Spirit Awards Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie 2026 Canneseries Konbini Prix de l'Engagement Himself Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Half Man