[3] At Cannes, he met the casting directors for the multi-award-winning, critically acclaimed Off-Broadway play The Exonerated written by husband and wife team Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank.

Based on interviews they conducted with more than 40 exonerated death row inmates, the play starred Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Aidan Quinn, and Delroy Lindo and was directed by Bob Balaban.

Richardson joined the production for its final run and appeared in the 2005 Court TV film adaptation starring Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, Aidan Quinn, and Susan Sarandon;[4] directed by Balaban.

In 2011 and 2012, Richardson appeared in the ABC police drama Detroit 1-8-7 and had a recurring guest star role on NCIS: Los Angeles as Gov.

In 2004, Richardson wrote his first screenplay The Subway Story., which won the Independent Filmmaker Project's Gordon Parks Award for Outstanding African-American Screenwriting.