Damien Richardson is doing a lot for his new role on City Homicide. Not only is he learning about being a cop, but the talented actor is learning a new language! With character Matt Ryan's Italian background, Damien has been spending time with his language tutor on set to give an authentic-sounding delivery.

"I'm learning from scratch," he reveals, adding, "I've never even been to Italy!". But Damien is up to the challenge, explaining, "If they'd picked German, I'd have a smattering; French, I know a few words. But that's the great thing about being an actor - you continue to learn and investigate and keep using your mind."

The AFI-nominated actor, who earned the nod for his role as a stalker on The Secret Life Of Us, says he's loving playing a character with more mental stability."On The Secret Life of Us I had to attack Kelly (Debra Mailman) and I got an AFI nomination for it and everyone was excited that I was pretty psycho. But that became like a poison chalice because any time anyone wanted a nutcase, they'd get me in."

"So City Homicide is great for me because I get to play a normal guy."

Detective Matt Ryan is a police officer with plenty of integrity, which stems from a personal experience with the police as a youngster.

Says Damien, "He's taken on a previous injustice and really looks at things with a moral point of view. He really has respect for the victims of crime and their families."

Damien recently finished filming Torn, a movie with Australian actor Costas Mandylor (Picket Fences), which was shot in 21 days and a great grounding for the tight deadlines associated with TV.

He is also appearing in the recent release Noise, starring alongside Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffiths in The Hard Word.

On the stage, Damien is as adept in front of the audience as he is behind the scenes. He co-wrote "The Belly Of The Whale", which won Best New Drama at the Melbourne Fringe Festival (1999) and is currently working on a script for a new feature film, Smashed.

He lives in Melbourne with wife Nicole and kids Maisie and Albert.