[2] He appeared in hundreds of advertising campaigns and was photographed by Bruce Weber, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Steven Meisel, Horst, and Albert Watson.

His campaigns include Gianni Versace, Valentino, Gianfranco Ferré, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Dunhill, Cartier, and Donna Karan.

After Haileybury, Richards, a scholar-athlete, went to Princeton University from where he graduated in 1985 with a BA in Economics and played varsity football.

Since then, he has since appeared in over a fifteen independent films including such award-winning projects as the comedy, Hit and Runway (1999) and the dramas, Taxi Dance (2009) and The Disciple (2010.)

In 2005, Richards, also a screenwriter, began his own production company, Tortoise Entertainment, that develops and produces television, documentary and film projects.