Shane Ritchie's Fact File

Personal Life
Shane Richie was born to Irish parents in Harlesden in North West London, on March 11th 1964

He has a brother called Dean.

Lenny Henry convinced Shane – real name Shane Patrick Roche – to change his name to Shane Richie, when they toured together, when Shane was 17. He had been using the stage name Shane Skywalker.

In 1998, he split up with his wife Coleen Nolan, mother of their sons Jake and Shane junior.

Did You Know?
Shane, now aged 38, started his showbiz career at the age of 15, as a Pontin’s Bluecoat in Weston-Super-Mare.

Shane’s biggest thrill was meeting Robin Williams: “He gave me the best advice about making it as a star – just be yourself.”

Shane has a tattoo saying ‘Co’ on his backside, which he ordered when he was drunk with Billy Idol in LA. It was supposed to be the name of his wife at the time Coleen – but he stopped the tattoist because he couldn’t stand any more pain.

Shane loves movies and has an extensive collection. He sometimes watches all three Godfather epics in one evening and reckons he has seen them all more than 100 times.

Shane’s worst job was cleaning up after donkeys when he was 17 and running donkey derbys.

Cool Credentials
Shane wrote, produced and starred in Boogie Nights – a musical set on a London Housing Estate in 1977. In the musical Shane played Jack-the-lad Roddy O’Neil, who loses his girlfriend after messing around with another woman. It was an instant hit when it opened in 1998.