An Irish gangster has turned things around after moving to Hollywood to make a life for himself as an actor.
Cavan born Richie Stephens left a life of crime behind to pursue a career in acting and has since appeared in hit TV series such as NCIS and Blue Bloods.
Motivated to share his story Richie has now written a book to detail his account of how he got back on the right track titled The Gangster’s Guide to Sobriety: My Life in 12 Steps, which is set to be released on May 24 by Post Hill Press and distributed by Simon & Schuster.
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The book follows the story of Richie’s involvement with drug trafficking, kidnapping, and robbery, along with other misdeeds that he alludes to and details the path he took to move away from the criminal world.
Richie’s intriguing story has caught the eye of Silicon Valley co-creators John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, who have signed a deal to develop the book into a TV series based on the fascinating story.
The creators have worked on several extremely successful productions, such as the writing for the Will Ferrell comedy Blades of Glory, and they also worked as executive producers and showrunners on the animated series King of the Hill and co-creating the George Lopez sitcom Lopez.
Speaking about the upcoming filming, Richie said: “Hopefully, if people see that someone as f***ed up as me could change their life, then there is hope for anyone.”
He has often taken up the role of hardened gangsters on shows such as Days of Our Lives, MacGyver, Major Crimes, and Criminal Minds, something that doesn’t take the actor much research to portray.
“This is easy for him because he was a drug trafficker, kidnapper, drug addict, alcoholic, and all-around criminal himself,” says the blurb for the book. “His life twisted and turned in harrowing self-destructive adventures that took him from his native Ireland to San Francisco, Australia, and finally, Los Angeles, coalescing into a classic tale of a man trying to run from his problems by moving to new and more exotic locations - a hard and painful realization that comes at a point in which he’s about to take his own life. The only reason there is a story to tell is because he did not. Instead, he found help, and in doing so, found himself. More than that, he found that help comes in different forms, and oftentimes it just takes the right thought to hit at the right time for it all to make sense.”
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