Richard Pyros is a British-Australian actor, who first achieved fame in the hit Australian Channel SevenTV show, Big Bite which was nominated for two AFI Awards. Whilst still studying at drama school, Pyros was selected to create an array of characters including the memorably disheveled newsreader, 'Tee Pee Moses', and for his impersonation of personalities such as Rob Sitch, Michael Caton, Harry Potter and Detective Lennie Briscoe from Law & Order.
Pyros has performed extensively in theatre, most recently in Ivo van Hove's lauded Hedda Gabler for the Royal National Theatre and opposite Matt Smith in the new Anthony Neilson play, "Unreachable" at London's Royal Court Theatre. He has performed with leading Australian theatre companies, and around the world in countries such as England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, France, Austria, Germany and China. He is an accomplished comedian and writer; his TV writing credits include BackBerner, Big Bite, Comedy Inc. and Stand Up Australia! writing material for host, Cameron Knight. In 2007, Richard toured his show, Gilgamesh to the Barbican Theatre, London for the world-renowned 'Bite' season, as well as to The Beijing Oriental Pioneer Theatre, The Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre and the Sydney Opera House. In 2012, Pyros was nominated for a Green Room Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of Oedipus in Malthouse Theatre's version of Oedipus Rex, "On The Misconception of Oedipus", directed by Matthew Lutton. He was beaten by acclaimed actor, Colin Friels. He next appears in the Belvoir production of Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky in November 2020. Prior to attending drama school, Pyros was a member of the comedy troupe 'Enter The Datsun' with Charlie Pickering, Michael Chamberlin and Charlie Clausen, writing and producing several television pilots and featuring in a number of Melbourne International Comedy Festivals. For television, Pyros currently appears in the BBC Two/Netflix drama, Giri/Haji and next appears as a regular in the Hulu historical comedy-drama series, The Great with Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult. He was also recently co-writer on the Seven Network show, Fam Time and created the web series, 'Lessons For Life, with Alan Mercedes' with Charlie Clausen.
Pyros has directed two operas, an immersive Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck at the Bussey Building, Peckham and Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at Kings Place, London.
Career highlights
From 2009–2012, Pyros was a member of the resident acting ensemble at Sydney Theatre Company, selected by then Co-Artistic Directors, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton. In 2012, Pyros performed as Cate Blanchett's boyfriend, Alf in the award-winning production, Gross und Klein by Botho Strauss adapted by Martin Crimp and directed by Benedict Andrews, which toured from Sydney to Paris, London, Vienna and Recklinghausen. His performance was described as, 'Pyros matched Blanchett blow-for-blow, in a scintillating, tour de force, acting matchup of heavyweight champions.'
