Richard Gadd (born 11 May 1989) is a Scottish actor, comedian, and writer, best known for creating and starring in the 2024 Netflix drama series Baby Reindeer, which was based on his one-man dark comedy show of the same name.
[6][7] Richard Gadd was born, and brought up in the village of Wormit, in the Fife area of Scotland, United Kingdom.
[8] Gadd has described himself as a "middle-class guy from Fife", and being "from a remote part of Scotland”, although Wormit is actually across the river from the central Scottish city of Dundee.
During his time at Madras College, he took on the lead role in the production of Macbeth, where he was praised for his “wonderfully physical” performance.
[9] The Guardian wrote that his first two shows "purported to be autobiographical accounts of the young Scotsman's bleak life, a roundelay of failed relationships, blackouts, abusive therapists and fratricide.
"[9] Writing in 2015, The Guardian described him as a "schlock comic with a name for gaudy multimedia tales of drug addiction and sexual violence, mental illness and gore".
[29] While a jobbing comedian, Gadd worked as a bartender at The Hawley Arms pub in Camden Town, London.
[30] Baby Reindeer began as an Edinburgh fringe show, in 2019, a dark comedy, chronicling Gadd's experiences of being stalked by 'Martha' and sexually assaulted by a man he met earlier in his career.
[39] According to a report by Barclays bank, the enormous success and popularity of Baby Reindeer resulted in a notable annual increase in spending on Netflix digital subscriptions.
[40] The woman depicted as 'Martha' in Baby Reindeer, portrayed as having stalked and sexually assaulted Gadd, was quickly identified as Fiona Harvey, a Scottish lawyer.
[43] As a screenwriter, Gadd wrote for Netflix's Sex Education, and has written episodes of Ultimate Worrier for Dave and The Last Leg for Channel 4.