Richard Edson is an American actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

.

Biography

Edson was born in New Rochelle, New York

New Rochelle, New York

New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state.The town was settled by refugee Huguenots in 1688 who were fleeing persecution in France...

. He has one brother, Steven, who resides in the Boston area, and two sisters: Andrea, who resides in Newton, Massachusetts and Jennifer, who resides in New York City. His father Arnold was one of the first Marine officers to land at Guadalcanal in August 1942. His mother Marian, a retired school teacher, resides with his father in New Rochelle.

Music career

From 1981 to 1982, he was Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

's original drummer and played drums for Konk

Konk (Band)

Formed in 1980 in New York City, KONK was a band that emerged during a period marked by the Post-Punk/New-Wave and Disco scenes which were prevalent at the time. KONK won the attention of both scenes by playing a hybrid of the two musical styles which involved the blending of a New Wave attitude...

 at the same time. After the release of Sonic Youth's self-titled debut album

Sonic Youth (album)

Sonic Youth is the debut release by Sonic Youth. It was recorded in 1981 at Radio City Music Hall, New York City and released on Glenn Branca's Neutral label in 1982...

, Edson left the band to play with Konk full-time. Edson also played horns with San Francisco band The Offs

The Offs

The Offs are a punk/ska band from San Francisco, started by guitarist Billy Hawk and singer Don Vinil, and later joined by former Hot Tuna drummer Bob Steeler and a rotation of horn players including Bob Roberts, Richard Edson and Roland Young...

 on the group's eponymous 1984 album.

Acting career

Following his music career, Edson has worked as an actor, appearing in over 35 movies. His more notable roles include a disreputable parking garage attendant in Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 American teen coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by John Hughes.The film follows high school senior Ferris Bueller , who decides to skip school and spend the day in downtown Chicago...

(1986), Eddie in Jim Jarmusch

Jim Jarmusch

James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...

's cult film

Cult film

A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...

 Stranger Than Paradise

Stranger Than Paradise

Stranger Than Paradise is a 1984 American absurdist/deadpan comedy film. It was written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and stars jazz musician John Lurie, former Sonic Youth drummer-turned-actor Richard Edson, and Hungarian-born actress Eszter Balint...

(1984), real-life gambler Billy Maharg in Eight Men Out

Eight Men Out

Eight Men Out is an American dramatic sports film, released in 1988 and based on Eliot Asinof 1963 book 8 Men Out. It was written and directed by John Sayles....

, and Joey Breaker

Joey Breaker

Joey Breaker is a 1993 American romance film starring Richard Edson and Cedella Marley. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Erik King also appear in the movie. The movie contains some autobiographical elements of its writer and director Steven Starr.-Plot:...

 (1993). He also had roles in Platoon

Platoon (film)

Platoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone and stars Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. It is the first of Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, followed by 1989's Born on the Fourth of July and 1993's Heaven & Earth....

(1986), Good Morning, Vietnam

Good Morning, Vietnam

Good Morning, Vietnam is a 1987 American comedy-drama film set in Saigon during the Vietnam War, based on the career of Adrian Cronauer, a disc jockey on Armed Forces Radio Service , who proves hugely popular with the troops serving in South Vietnam, but infuriates his superiors with what they call...

(1987), Dirty Dancing

Dirty Dancing

Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach...

(1987), Let It Ride

Let It Ride (film)

Let It Ride is a 1989 comedy film. It stars Richard Dreyfuss as a normally unsuccessful habitual gambler who experiences a day in which he wins every bet he places...

(1989), and Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American dramedy produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee, who is also a featured actor in the film. Other members of the cast include Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, and John Turturro. It is also notably the...

(1989). He starred in the 1993 movie Super Mario Bros

Super Mario Bros. (film)

Super Mario Bros. is a 1993 American action film directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel. Based on the Super Mario Bros.video game and its entire franchise, the film features Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper and Samantha Mathis. It tells the story of the Mario brothers, Mario and...

as Spike, Koopa's (Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...

) cousin. Edson acted the lead role in three films directed by Raphael Nadjari

Raphael Nadjari

Raphaël Nadjari is a French born writer and director for film and television.In 1993, Nadjari started working for French television as a writer and director...

: The Shade (1999), I am Josh Polonski's Brother

I Am Josh Polonski's Brother

I Am Josh Polonski's Brother is Raphael Nadjari's second feature film. It was shot in New York City in 1999 and early 2000, in S8mm 200 ASA. The film was selected in the Berlin Film Festival at the Forum.-Plot:...

(2001) and Apartment #5c (2002).

In 2003, he appeared in the music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for Cave In

Cave In

Cave In is an American rock band that formed in 1995, in Methuen, Massachusetts. After several members changes in the late 90's, their lineup solidified with the 1998 release of Until Your Heart Stops through Hydra Head Records. Their early albums were prominent releases in the independent...

's single, "Anchor." Edson played the central character of the video, a depressed man walking down the street with his feet encased in cement blocks.

His television appearances include The Adventures of Pete & Pete

The Adventures of Pete & Pete

The Adventures of Pete & Pete is an American children's television series produced by Wellsville Pictures and broadcast by Nickelodeon. The show featured humorous and surreal elements in its narrative, and many recurring themes centered on two brothers both named Pete Wrigley, and their various...

and the third season finale

Season finale

A season finale is the final episode of a season of a television program...

 of Homicide: Life on the Street

Homicide: Life on the Street

Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...

. Edson appeared in a 2007 TV commercial

Television advertisement

A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...

 for The Travelers Companies Inc., in which he portrays the human personification of risk

Risk

Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...

. In total, Edson has appeared in about 85 movies/television shows.

External links