'Seinfeld' Star Michael Richards, now 75, recently addressed his controversial racist rant of 2006

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As Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld, which originally aired on NBC from 1989 to 1999, Michael Richard played one of the most beloved and frantic characters in the history of television

In 2006, however, the actor/comedian, who won three Emmy Awards for playing Kramer, ignited a wave of controversy via what appeared to be a racist rant during a live performance caught on camera in 2006.

Richards, who turned 75 years old on July 24, recently addressed the issue in an interview with People. “I was immediately sorry the moment I said it onstage,” he said. “My anger was all over the place and it came through hard and fast. Anger is quite a force. But it happened. Rather than run from it, I dove into the deep end and tried to learn from it,” he said. “It hasn’t been easy. Crisis managers wanted me to do damage control. But as far as I was concerned, the damage was inside of me.”

Richards said he has remained friends with Jerry Seinfeld, who wrote the Foreword to his new book.

Backstory

Born on July 24, 1949, Michael Richards was raised in South Los Angeles, California, to Phyllis (Nardozzi), an Italian-American medical records librarian, and William Richards, an electrical engineer.

Richards enjoyed performing in elementary school and later took the lead in several high school and college productions while working as an ambulance attendant and hospital orderly

During the Vietnam War, Richards trained as a medic in the United States Army and wrote and directed plays on drug abuse and race relations for the Army's V-Corp Training Roadshow.

Richards attended the California Institute of the Arts and was mentored by famed performance art guru Allan Kaprow. He graduated from Evergreen State College in Washington with his BFA in Theatre Arts.

After initially appearing with the San Diego Repertory Company, Richards returned to Los Angeles, where he was discovered by Budd Friedman, founder of the Improv Comedy Club and talent manager Charles H. Joffe.

Then came a regular appearance on ABC's late-night sketch series Fridays, followed by Seinfeld, and the rest is history.