Richard Cotovsky was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in the Rogers Park area. He attended the Mary Bartleme School which is now an old folks home. He then went to Stone School and graduated in 1967. He continued his education at Senn H.S. and transferred to Niles North H.S. when his family moved to Skokie, Ill. Not knowing what he wanted to do with his life he continued his education at Southern Illinois University knowing this would defer him from the draft and avoided going into the Army and getting killed in Vietnam. He then transferred to the University of Illinois at the Medical Center in Chicago for a degree in Pharmacy. In his senior year, he took an elective of introduction to the theater which led him to see the original production of David Mamet's "American Buffalo" with W.H. Macy, Mike Nussbaum, and J.J. Johnston. The rest is history. He became an actor. Refer to filmography.