Richard Dormer trained as an actor at RADA in London, and has since played many leading roles onstage throughout the UK and in Ireland. He won the 2004 Irish Times Best Actor Award for his performance in Frank McGuinness's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. He has also appeared extensively on television and on film. His first play, Hurricane, based on the life of Alex Higgins, the Belfast snooker star, premiered at the Old Museum Arts Centre in Belfast in 2002; the subsequent tour included the London premiere at the Soho Theatre in 2004 and a transfer to the West End. The play won the 2002 BBC Radio Drama Award from the Stewart Parker Trust, and his performance gained him The Stage's Best Actor Award at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival. The Half, his second play, premiered at the Belfast Festival at Queen's in 2005. During 2005 and 2006 he appeared with the Peter Hall Company in productions of Miss Julie, Measure for Measure and Waiting for Godot.
