Growing up, Richard Gallion always ditched his theater class, not knowing his future would be in acting, writing, and producing stage plays. Chicago’s streets were filled with many choices, and Gallion chose his life. He knew that if basketball wasn’t going to be his future, he still wanted success, despite what his inner-city environment might have dictated.
“I didn’t want to be a menace to society or a product of it.”
He got his start in writing plays under the mentorship of Chicago playwright John Ruffin. And now, years later, Gallion has garnered roles in FOX’S APB, Transformers 4, USA’s Sirens, FOX’s Empire, and Chicago PD.
For Gallion, acting was natural. His challenge never was his ability. His only challenge was navigating the array of talents he possessed—acting, writing, and directing. And after navigating through what he learned was his craft, he crowned himself founder of his own entertainment company, RGE (Richard Gallion Entertainment). He’s owned his talents, and he’s got a list of receipts and credits to show for it.
Vee Harrison: I was reading up on you over the last few weeks, and I learned that it was a basketball injury that eventually landed you in this industry. Talk to me about how that went down.
Richard Gallion: I mean, the thing is, it’s hard for athletes to transition to any other thing, which is why you have a lot of athletes that are 30 years old, still trying to chase a hoop dream. But thank God, this acting bug bit me. I had a wrist injury, and I went to a rehearsal with a mutual friend. They were in a stage play at the time, and there was a guy that was also in the show, but he was a no-call, no-show. So the producer asked me to read the lines just to fill in.
I’m sitting back there, I’m bored, and of course, I didn’t have an acting bone in my body. And the worst part about it—while I was in college, I was playing NCAA Division I basketball for Chicago State. While I was playing basketball, I had a theater class that I never went to.
Vee: Cut it out! Do y’all hear this?
Richard: I had a whole theater class and never went to it. I went to it once, and that was just for the final. I’m sitting there, I’m bored, I’m like, okay, if this dude asks me to read one more time, I’m going to just do it. I got up there, I read, had fun with it. I was a natural at it. So the dude was like, hey, I don’t like no-call, no-show, so if you want the role, the role is yours.
As an athlete, I like challenges, but I don’t know if I was ready for that challenge because I was shy as well. I didn’t speak well. My accent is still country, but it was even worse back then—I didn’t articulate my words and finish my sentences. So, you know, I had a fear of speaking. And anyone who talked proper, I used to say they talked white. I had to get over that.
“When I did the show, that acting bug just bit me, and I came to a conclusion: If I could do anything else for the rest of my life and money wasn’t an issue, what would it be? Basketball was hard on my body. I said, well, acting is it, because I can act until I’m boo-booing in a pamper.”
Vee: Richard Gallion Entertainment, RGE. I mean, from there you birthed this monster, right? This really sparked a career for you in acting. Talk to me about your entertainment company and what you are hoping it does over the next few years.
Richard: This is what I do full-time. I partner with the APC Theater—it’s an 1100-seat theater. For the last 15 years, I’ve been doing my own productions, writing, producing, directing, acting in them. I don’t like people telling me when I can work.
“I don’t like other people trying to tell our story. So I just wanted to get to it and make this a real career thing.”
And that’s what I did. I put all my focus and energy into building my own company. For the last five years, I’ve partnered with the APC Theater on 114th and Vincennes, where I became the artistic director. And yeah, I’m a CPS vendor now, so schools come there for field trips.
Vee: Let’s talk about your upcoming play, “A Fall From Royalty.”
Richard: My adult life is when I really started to learn about real Black history. I didn’t know anything about us being Kings and Queens and owning resources and land. I didn’t know about that because again, I had only known of being slaves and just being spenders—we’re consumers.
“This story, I wrote it to help uplift people. Right now, a lot of us are in an identity crisis, and I feel like if we can go back to the drawing board of what we really come from, like our actual roots, we will see our worth.”
Vee: My heart couldn’t exit this interview without giving some time to your daughter. Let’s talk about your daughter. You brought her up several times. I’m a mama. Nothing has been more challenging. Nothing has been more fun. Nothing has been more ugly, you know? I think it molds us.
Richard: I have five kids. It was my oldest daughter that really, really helped transform me into a man. I stopped being impulsive. I realized that I didn’t just have me to live for—I had my daughter to live for as well.
“I did not have a relationship with my father. So having that fear of failing her, it made me father a little better. It made me very conscious.”
She’s 21 years old now. She went to school on a full scholarship academically. She had 11 scholarship offers. Beautiful young woman, working on getting into real estate. I’ll never forget sitting in the hospital room when she was first born.
The promise was God, if you, if you teach me how to father every step of the way, every child I ever bring in this world, I will be the best father to them that I could be.
And, and I always get a reminder from her, and just random people. Oh, you did an amazing job as a father.
Richard Gallion continues to rise, turning his past experiences into powerful storytelling. Don’t miss his upcoming stage production, “A Fall From Royalty,” bringing history and culture to life on stage!
📌 CYPHER NEWSROOM: INTERVIEW VIDEO
📌 CYPHER NEWSROOM: INTERVIEW AUDIO
📌 RICHARD GALLION ENTERTAINMENT
