Richard Leone

Upon graduating valedictorian of his University, Richard Leone scrapped his plans to attend law school and returned to his first love - music. While on scholarship as a singer, he took a road trip with friends and accepted a dare to audition for a summer-stock festival along the way. A week later, Leone received an invitation to join the Texas Shakespeare Festival. Unaware at the time, he had been chosen from over 1000 young hopefuls from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Texas. During the four production summer, Leone caught the attention of the music director who recommended him for the graduate acting program at the University of Houston. Leone drove to Houston to audition for the graduate school and its upcoming production. He was immediately accepted into the program and cast in "Much Ado About Nothing". On opening night, Edward Albee sat in attendance. Several weeks later, Albee cast Richard Leone as the lead character in a production at "Stages Repertory Theatre". Leone was signed by the best agency in town, took his M.F.A. degree, and landed a principal part in the only feature film shooting in Houston at the time Killing the Badge (1999). In that action film, Leone portrayed C.I.A. hitman Jackson Bright. Uninspired by industrials, Leone sent his reel off for a California production of "Hamlet". Knowing he was up against every starving actor in L.A., he promptly forgot about the tape and began feeding himself by singing with the "Houston Grand Opera". During opening week, Leone received an invitation to come to California where he was offered the role of "Laertes". He wrapped up his musical committments, loaded everything he could fit into his car, and drove to L.A.. Upon wrapping "Hamlet", Leone was cast as "Adam" in "The Diaries of Adam and Eve". He followed that tour with the lead in the Jackson Douglas film "Guerrilla Filmmaking" (2002), where he headed up a cast which included improv giant Will Sasso. Recently, Richard Leone dropped to 5% bodyfat to portray Eric Delgado - a solemn young actor with a Bruce Lee fixation - to hysterically accurate results. That performance can be seen in the Tyrone Tann docudrama P.O.V.: The Camera's Eye (2003). In that movie, Leone executes a 20 minute continuous take with absolutely no cuts whatsoever. The improvised take is one of the longest of its kind in cinematic history. He quickly followed that performance with the sale of his first screenplay - an original dramatic mystery - to Nelson Films Incorporated. The script went for an undisclosed amount, but Leone's salary may soon be revealed. He is attached to portray the title character.