Australian actor Richard Cawthorne was born in 1976 in Hong Kong, the youngest of two. His mother, Zelda, was a journalist for the South China Morning Post, and his father, Russell, a Marketing Executive for Hong Kong film company Golden Harvest Studios. In 2012 Richard won the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award (AACTA), for his critically acclaimed portrayal of notorious Australian underworld figure Dennis Allan in the prime time drama Killing Time (2010). In 2015 Richard was appointed Ambassador to Australia's National Theatre Drama School.