Richard Rishi is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Tamil and Telugu films and few Malayalam and Kannada films. He is known for Koottu, A Film by Aravind and his controversial movies with director Mohan G, namely Draupathi and Rudra Thandavam which allegedly propagated casteism and anti-Dalit sentiments.

Production
Despite a relatively high-profile launch through Kadhal Virus, Rishi found it difficult to experience further success in the following years. After that he acted in the Malayalam film called Koottu released in 2004 which gave him a great success and improved his career. Koottu was a great nostalgic film. Films such as Thiru 420 by director duo Sekar Kumar and Sengattuvan, where he starred opposite former Miss India contestant Swetha Vijay, were stalled after production began.

Personal life
Richard studied in Loyola Matriculation. He has two younger sisters, former film actresses Shalini and Shamili. Their father is from Kollam and mother hails from a Malayali family living in Chennai. The sole reason behind his father's shifting to Madras was to become a singer.

Actor Ajith Kumar is his brother-in-law.