When Richard Madden Could Barely Afford Rent—Here’s How He Survived Before Game Of Thrones Turned Reality
Before playing Robb Stark in Game of Thrones, Richard Madden was nearly broke, surviving on $5 a day—beer or dinner? How Thrones' call changed everything.
Game of Thrones Changed Richard Madden’s Life ( Photo Credit – Instagram )
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Before Richard Madden wore a crown as Robb Stark, he was flat broke, like “one meal or one pint”. Today, he’s known for headlining global hits and winning Golden Globes, but rewind the clock, and it was a very different story. Back in the early 2010s, Madden was just another struggling actor barely scraping by in London. He opened up about that grind during a past visit to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (via People), which still feels fresh today.
He remembered living off roughly five dollars a day, rationing between food and fun. “I had two options: I could either buy one meal, or a newspaper and a pint,” he told Fallon. “It went the other way usually.” Things got so tight that he was also running out of rent money. “I was on my last month’s rent,” Madden said. “I asked my agent for an advance, and that helped me get through the next little bit.” If Thrones hadn’t come through? Simple. “Moved back to my parents’ house,” he admitted.
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Game of Thrones: A Turning Point For Richard Madden
Everything turned around when HBO came calling. Madden landed the role of Robb Stark in Game of Thrones in 2011, and life took a major turn. The fantasy series exploded into a worldwide juggernaut, and Richard Madden’s performance quickly made him a fan favorite. For three seasons, he played the noble (and doomed) King in the North before getting famously wiped out in 2013’s Red Wedding—the episode that traumatized a generation. Though his time in Westeros was cut short, Madden’s career was just heating up.
Fast forward to 2018, and the actor landed another game-changing gig in the BBC thriller Bodyguard. Madden starred as David Budd, a tense and troubled war vet-turned-protection officer, in a show that quickly went from under-the-radar to global sensation. “I thought this would just be a little show in the U.K.,” he said. “And then it kind of got carried away with itself, so I was thrilled about that.”
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The thriller was picked up by Netflix and streamed worldwide, racking millions of viewers. That breakout performance earned Madden his biggest award yet—a Golden Globe in January 2019 for Best Actor in a TV Drama.
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Robb Stark’s Role Came Just In Time To Save Him
Even with the hype, Richard Madden didn’t think he had a shot at winning. “I was like, ‘I’m not going to win this, not getting near it,’” he told Fallon. His dad, though, wasn’t having that attitude. “Just before we were going, he said, ‘You’ve got to write a speech in case you win.’” So Madden scribbled one down, just in case. Madden was sitting next to Julianne Moore when his name was called. “She was like, ‘Congratulations!’” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Thank God Dad told me to write that speech.’”
It’s been over a decade since that Thrones call changed everything, but looking back, it still feels like a twist of fate. Richard Madden went from near eviction to Emmy stages and Netflix banners in just a few short years. Not bad for a guy who used to choose beer over dinner.
