Rick Cosnett Biography: In His Own Words – Exclusive Video, News, Photos, Age

Richard James Cosnett, better known as Rick Cosnett, is a Zimbabwean-Australian actor and producer. He is best known for portraying Wes Maxfield in the supernatural horror/thriller series The Vampire Diaries, Elias Harper in the American thriller series Quantico, and Eddie Thawne in CW’s The Flash.

RICK COSNETT BIOGRAPHY: AGE, EARLY LIFE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

Rick Cosnett was born on April 6, 1983 (Rick Cosnett age: 40) in Chegutu, Zimbabwe, where he grew up on a farm. There, his family partook in community musical theater, as Cosnett grew interested in the world of acting early on in his childhood. Cosnett has two sisters and is cousins with famed English actor Hugh Grant.

At the age of 17, Cosnett and his family relocated to Queensland, Australia, in large part because of the land reforms in Zimbabwe.

Cosnett went on to attend the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. Initially, he received a scholarship to study music but ended up graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting.

RICK COSNETT BIOGRAPHY: CAREER

In an exclusive interview with uInterview, Cosnett spoke about how he first got into acting.

“Yeah, well my dad was a tobacco farmer and my mom, you know, just like the most wonderful cultured, wonderful people, but living in this very kind of chauvinistic, racist society. I’m going way too deep here for your question,” Cosnett chuckled. “But they did amateur musical theater at this amazing little place that obviously I kind of fell in love with when I was two or three years, to go watch them in rehearsals, variety shows, Gilbert and Sullivan’s. My dad would always be the lead. Mom was always the chorus,” Cosnett smiled. “And, you know, I was kind of a magical child anyway. I was always dancing and singing and my imagination was just wild. And it was such a beautiful place to be able to grow up in that, you know, I think it was that early that I was definitely for sure. Like it’s always been a part of me to want to express this joy, to work out the meaning of life through the human experience, and I think when I was 8 or 9 I started realizing that it was an actual job that people do, and then I wanted to do that a hundred percent.”

In addition, Cosnett also went on to discuss how he first became associated with the recent drama/LGBTQ film Tu Me Manques.

“I just auditioned for it,” Cosnett stated. “Came through my agent and I thought it was a really interesting script. It was a very long, five-paged monologue audition. And I just kind of spoke in my natural voice, which I don’t usually do, you know, in my natural accent, which ended up being the film. And I think I just sort of struck a certain authenticity for myself in the role, which I hadn’t really done before. You know in Australia, I’d always played Australian roles, even in theater, even with roles that were closer to who I am. So, yeah, and the director was just incredible. Obviously, Rodrigo [Bellot], who wrote the film as well and produced it. And [he] had written it originally as a play, which was a huge success and a huge movement in Bolivia and then worked that into the story of the film. So, yeah that’s how I got involved. And then obviously, he was really intricate in terms of – which was great for me to be able to give me the tools that I needed to create just the tip of the iceberg, which is what you see in the film. There was also even more scenes as well that are not in there, but you know in terms of the actual person that I was playing, in his life and what that meant and living with HIV today and what that means, and being an artist. It was a very cool, very cool project because people were so intensely involved on a more personal and emotional level.”

When asked which moment in the film was most impactful for him, this is what Cosnett had to say:

“Yeah, I mean, I think what he did really cleverly was, you know, there’s three different actors playing one role and there are so many different actors in the stage play, which ends up being in the film. And so, it really hits you on a subconscious, unexplainable level that is not really very cerebral and something that’s difficult to even discuss because it represents all of us. It represents not only gay people, but every human being, and then even larger than that, and the relationship that love can play in our lives. And the minute you put a stop to that love with various things as we see in the play, like expectations on your children, fear, all these things, what a catastrophic impact that can have. In this case, which is a true story, you know, it’s kind of the worst-case scenario that happened. And you have a myriad of different scenarios that do happen in so many people’s lives and still happen and will continue to, unfortunately, happen until we kind of break down this stigma of being gay.”

The main message Cosnett feels people should take away after watching this film is “that no matter who your children are, you have no choice but to embrace everything that they are.”

RICK COSNETT BIOGRAPHY: PERSONAL LIFE

Cosnett currently resides in Santa Monica, California. On February 13, 2020, Cosnett publicly came out as gay via his Instagram account. He is currently single.