Celebrity Nooz: Richard Karn

Richard Karn (Actor) as Al Borland - Home Improvement

Updated: 5/1/2008

Name: Richard Karn

Birth Name: Richard Karn Wilson

Born: February 17, 1956, Seattle, Washington

Claim To Fame: No doubt Richard is best known for his role as Al Borland, the sidekick of Tim Allen's character, on the sitcom 'Home Improvement' (1991 to 1999).

In 2002, he became the host of the game show 'Family Feud'.

Family Life: Tudi Roche (1985 - present) Has one son, Cooper (b. 1992)

Info: Richard made is TV debut in a beer commercial in 1979 for Michelob.

Trivia: His wife, Tudi Roche, periodically appeared on "Home Improvement" as Jill's sister.

Graduated University of Washington with B.F.A. from the Professional Actors Training Program.

Richard's life changed forever on the day he rolled through a stop sign on his way home from a rehearsal of "Macbeth." He promptly landed in traffic school, where he met an agent who told him about "Home Improvement."

Worked as an apartment building manager prior to his success on "Home Improvement", and even maintained that job during the show's first season until he knew the show would be successful.

His last name is omitted from his stage name because it was discovered that the Screen Actors Guild already had an actor by the name of Richard Wilson.

His son, Cooper, goes to Campbell Hall. This school was also once attended by Andy Garcia's children, Denzel Washington's daughter (Olivia), Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen and Andrew Lawrence.

Richard is an avid golfer (20 handicap)

Richard made an appearance in The Strokes' music video for "Someday", which featured segments of the band on a fictional showing of Family Feud against the band Guided by Voices.

Where Are They Now: Richard parlayed his Home Improvement TV success into three books that he wrote:

In 1999, he released the book, House Broken: How I Rebuilt My Home for Just Under Three Times the Original Bid, humorously discussed Karn's misadventures in renovating his house. The best-selling book also discussed his experiences working on "Home Improvement."

Then the book, Handy at Home hit stores in the fall of 2002... followed the next year by Household Hints 2003.

From 2002 to 2006 he hosted the game show, 'Family Feud' taking over for Louie Anderson.

In later years Richard did some infomercials two of the most notable ones are "Internet Tool Box" and "Little Giant Ladder Systems".

He continues to act too... most recently he was featured in an episode of the Courteney Cox TV show 'Dirt'.

Write To Richard Karn:
Richard Karn
c/o Christopher (Chris) Wright
Christopher Wright Management
3207 Winnie Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90068

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