Richman, an only child, was born into a Jewish family in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and raised in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood.

[6] Richman's acting career has included guest roles on Guiding Light, All My Children, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, and he portrayed God as a butcher on Joan of Arcadia in 2004.

As a self-educated food expert and trained sushi chef,[7] Richman has kept a travel journal that includes every restaurant he has visited since 1995.

He stated at the time that this change was not done because he wanted to avoid eating large amounts of food, but rather in order to keep the show interesting.

On January 23, 2011, Richman appeared on Food Network's Iron Chef America as a judge for a battle with Gruyère as the theme ingredient.

[15][2] In June 2014, Richman posted a photo of his newly svelte physique on Instagram and boasted about his 70-pound weight loss, adding the hashtag "#thinspiration".

[17] He later apologized, but the Travel Channel postponed Richman's series Man Finds Food, which was meant to begin airing in July 2014, until April 2015.

[25] On June 8, 2014, Richman represented the "Rest of the World" team in the annual Soccer Aid match against England at Old Trafford, Manchester, in a game that combined former professional players and celebrities.

After wrapping up filming on November 14 in Tottenham, North London, Richman received a notification via the tile tracker app that his keys were nearby, around Muswell Hill Playing Fields.

After three hours, with the help of a bodyguard, they were able to recover the items Richman valued most, including a book from his mother and a birthday card from his deceased father.