Michael Richards (born July 21, 1948) is an American actor, writer, producer and comedian from Los Angeles, California.
Richards began as one of the cast members on ABC's Friday's television show, but didn't start making a name for himself until he portrayed "Stanley Spadowski" in Weird Al Yankovic's movie UHF in 1989.
In the same year, he was cast as "Cosmo Kramer" in the television series Seinfeld, which was created by fellow Friday's cast member Larry David and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The show quickly went on to become one of the most popular sitcoms in American history.
In 2000, Richards made an attempt to start a vehicle of his own, The Michael Richards Show, but ratings were poor and the show did not survive.