Richard Speight, Jr

Personal life

Born September 4, 1970, Speight was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of Barbara and Richard Speight. He has two older sisters, Barby and Lindy. Speight attended Montgomery Bell Academy and the University of Southern California's School of Theater, graduating cum laude. While at USC, he met and befriended writer and director Stephen Chbosky. Speight appeared in Chbosky’s senior showcase piece. 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 in California.

Television

Speight has starred in commercials for such brands as Got Milk?; IBM; Pepsi; and Disney. He has also directed several commercials for Pepsi as well as for other major brands.

Speight 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, such as The Agency; ER; Jericho; Party of Five and JAG. He had a recurring role on the drama Supernatural (U.S. TV series) from 2007 to 2014, where he played 'The Trickster'/Loki (later revealed to be the Archangel Gabriel).

He has guest starred on Life (U.S. TV series), Memphis Beat, Longmire (TV series), and had a small recurring role on Justified (TV series). He also had a guest role on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2014, and in 2017 on Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders Season 2 Episode 5 (titled "Made In..." April 2017), a police procedural series on CBS, as a guest star along with friend and co-worker Rob Benedict.

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 Jason Reitman's short film, In God We Trust.

His more recent productions include "La Musica Provata", "The Week (2016)", "Mucho Dinero", "Brick Madness", "Bad, Bad Men", and "Death House" (2016). Speight plays a lead role as an FBI agent in a thriller, "The Evil Gene" (2016).

Web series

Speight is a close friend of actor Rob Benedict. The two of them often appear at conventions in tandem. Together, they created the comedy web-series "Kings of Con" 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 Comic Con Headquarters in the U.S., and internationally through multiple platforms such as GooglePlay.

Directing and writing

Speight's directing career began with co-directing/co-starring in the independent feature North Beach.

Speight 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; and co-stars Amy Gumenick (a veteran of "Supernatural") and North Beach alums Jayden Lund and Jim Hanna. The short feature is described thusly: “One man’s life becomes as the lesson of the day as he takes a frenetic ride through his personal vision of the American experience.” It is now available on iTunes.

The success of " America 101" launched Speight into the world of commercial directing. He has helmed several spots for Pepsi among other national brands.

Following his success in commercial directing and rigorous preparation in Warner Bros. TV Director's Workshop, Speight made debut as TV show director on Supernatural (season 11) Episode 8 "Just My Imagination" – the first episode to have been nominated for Hugo Awards 2016 in the show's 11-year history.

Podcast

Speight has participated in several podcasts including Thrilling Adventure Hour (Episodes 148, 159, 165, 171, 195, 196).

Music

Speight plays the guitar and bass. He has been in several bands, his first recorded one being a cover band in high school, The Distortion Hawgs, where he performed lead vocals. In his college years, he was in the band Strange Neighbors with actor/harmonica player Tim Omundson, as well as in the band Fugitive Pope (1995) as the guitarist. Speight has two songs released as a guest on singer songwriter Jason Manns albums – "Christmas with Friends (2014)" and "Covers with Friends (2016).

Conventions

While he only appeared in five episodes of Supernatural, Speight's character is a fan favorite, enabling him to stay in close contact with the current cast and crew through his steady attendance at fan conventions (including San Diego Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con and several in Europe, Brazil, 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. He has made appearances since 2008 and has become the Master of Ceremonies in 2013 – hosting for the entire three days of convention weekend, 13 weekends a year. Along with Matt Cohen, Speight is known as the Karaoke Kings, a fan favorite event where the actors show up in costumes to sing karaoke with fans (which Speight and Cohen started with fewer than 10 attendees and has now grown to a crowd of over 1,500). Speight also participates in Saturday Night Special concert with the band Louden Swain as a singer and bass player.

In a 2012 interview for "The Examiner", he said that Gabriel has been his favorite role, “bar none;” due to the duality and depth that the character offered.