Richard Gadd Biography

Richard Gadd is a Scottish actor, comedian, and writer best known for creating and starring in Netflix’s Baby Reindeer. He won three Primetime Emmy Awards for writing, producing, and acting in the series.

Richard Gadd Age

Gadd was born on May 11, 1989, in Wormit, Fife, Scotland. He is 35 years old as of 2025. Gadd celebrates his birthday on May 11th.

Richard Gadd Height

Gadd stands at an approximate height of 5 feet and 7 inches.

Richard Gadd Family

Gadd grew up in the village of Wormit, in the Fife area of Scotland, United Kingdom. Geoffrey Michael Gadd, his father, is a British-Irish microbiologist and mycologist who works as a professor at the University of Dundee. Further, he holds the Boyd Baxter Chair of Biology and is head of the Geomicrobiology Group. He was born on July 15, 1954, and is 70 years old as of 2024.

Richard Gadd Wife

Gadd identifies as bisexual. While talking with The Guardian in 2015, he said that he had struggled with alcohol and substance abuse. An ardent football fan, he roots for Dundee United and follows the Scotland football team. He has lived in London long term and was seen at a match at Euro 2024.

Richard Gadd Net Worth

Gadd has an estimated net worth ranging between $1 million – $5 million, which he has earned through being an actor, comedian, and writer.

Richard Gadd Baby Reindeer

Gadd was a bartender at the Hawley Arms pub in Camden Town, London. There, he met ‘Martha’, who would later become the main character in Baby Reindeer. Baby Reindeer is a dark comedy that started as an Edinburgh Fringe show in 2019. The show chronicles Gadd’s experience of being stalked by Martha and sexually assaulted by a man he met earlier in his career. 

Gadd became his breakout role, winning him two Edinburgh Fringe awards, including the Scotsman Fringe First Award for New Writing and a Stage Award for Acting Excellence. The show had a five-week run at The Bush Theatre in London, winning an Off West End Theatre Best Video Design Award and a nomination in the Best Performer category. Additionally, he won three Primetime Emmy Awards for writing, producing, and acting in the series.

Baby Reindeer later transferred to the Ambassador’s Theatre in London’s West End. However, the show was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A few months later, show won the Laurence Olivier Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre Award.

In April 2024, Netflix released a seven-episode drama based on his play, billing it as a true story. Gadd lost 28 kilograms to play the fictional version of himself to feel fragile and vulnerable. The show also features a fictional version of his parents.

Scottish lawyer Fiona Harvey was quickly identified as Martha in Baby Reindeer. Fiona denied his accusations and portrayal of her, saying that she has never been to jail as depicted in the Netflix show and is pursuing a multi-million-pound defamation allegation against Netflix.

Gadd’s former colleague has also challenged his version of events as depicted in the show. Even though Fiona didn’t directly name him in her lawsuit against Netflix, he has fully backed Netflix’s defense against her claims and requested to have her case dismissed. Moreover, he defended the accuracy of Baby Reindeer and restated claims made against Harvey for stalking.

Richard Gadd Education

Gadd studied at Madras College in nearby St Andrews. There, he played the lead role in the production of Macbeth. Further, he studied English literature and theatre studies at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 2011.

Richard Gadd Career

Gadd started stand-up comedy and musical comedy while studying at Glasgow University in 2008. He joined the Glasgow heats of the Chortle New Comedian Awards in 2009. In 2010, he performed  Richard Gadd: 6 And Half A 7, his first Edinburgh Fringe show. The following year, he made it to the finals at the Chortle Student Comedy Awards.

Gadd performed in  Gadd, Kirk, and Winning – Well, This Is Awkward… in 2012. Further, he finished a one-year course in training at the Oxford School of Drama. Subsequently, he moved to London to pursue his comedy career. He performed Cheese & Crack Whores in 2013 and Breaking Gadd in 2014 at the Edinburgh Fringe. Both of those shows had runs at London’s Soho Theatre.

In 2015, he performed Waiting for Gaddot at the Edinburgh Fringe, gaining him more mainstream attention than his previous shows. The show won an Amused Moose Comedy Award in 2015 and a Scottish Comedy Award for Best Solo Show in 2016. Moreover, the show won a nomination for a ‘Malcolm Hardee Award’ for Innovation and a Chortle Award for Innovation.

In 2016, Gadd performed Monkey See Monkey Do, winning the Edinburgh Comedy Best Comedy Show Award. He was also nominated for a Total Theatre Innovation Award. Later that year, he received a Chortle Comedian’s Comedian Award and a nomination for an Off West End Theatre Best Performer Award. Additionally, the show had multiple sell-out runs at Soho Theatre, had a run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and toured the UK and Europe. In 2017, the show won a nomination for the Barry Award and was broadcast on Comedy Central as part of their Soho Theatre Live series.

Acting and screenwriting

Gadd has several credits in multiple TV series, films, and short films before he gained success for  Baby Reindeer. He kickstarted his acting career with an appearance in one episode of BBC Scotland’s Scot Squad in 2014. The following year, he appeared in four episodes of E4’s Tripped. He starred with  Daniel Mays in  BBC Two’s Against the Law.

Gadd has also starred in BBC Three’s Clique, Sky One’s Code 404, and Sky Arts’ One Normal Night. Besides acting, he wrote for Netflix’s Sex Education and has written episodes of Ultimate Worrier for Dave and The Last Leg for Channel 4. In 2022, he portrayed Conrad Lennox in three episodes of Disney Plus’ Wedding Season. Moreover, he has had multiple projects aired on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland. After the success of Baby Reindeer, he now serves as a writer for BBC’s Half Man.

Richard Gadd Movies and TV Shows

Gadd has starred in several movies and TV shows during his career such as

• Scot Squad
• Tripped
• Vicious
• Against the Law
• Humans
• Urban Myths
• Outlander
• Code 404
• Wedding Season
• A Bear Named Wojtek