Photo: Alan Light / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Michael Richards earned three Emmys for playing Kramer, and I would argue he deserved a fourth just for the entrances. What looked like chaos, all slides and pratfalls and hair, was actually precision engineering; you do not win Emmy after Emmy by accident. His stand-up roots show in his timing, but his real gift was making the human body itself the punchline, a tradition running back to silent film. Plenty of sitcom characters are funny because of their lines; Kramer was funny before he said a word. For me, Richards represents physical comedy at its most disciplined, a craftsman disguised as a madman.
Overview
Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor and comedian. He achieved global recognition for starring as Cosmo Kramer on the NBC television sitcom Seinfeld from 1989 to 1998. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first entering the national spotlight when he was featured on Billy Crystal's first cable TV special, and went on to become a series regular on ABC's Fridays.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Michael Richards
- Name (Japanese)
- マイケル・リチャーズ
- Reading
- まいける・りちゃーず
- Born
- July 24, 1949 (age 76)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Ox
- Origin
- Culver City, California, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- stand-up comedian / actor / film producer / screenwriter / singer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Thousand Oaks High School
- University
- Evergreen State College
Awards & achievements
- 1993 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
- 1994 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
- 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Stand-up comedian — see all → · Actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.