Rickland Powell was born and raised outside of Boston, MA. He fell in love with the stage in elementary school, cast as the Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz". This passion for acting and musical theater followed him through many productions in grade school and community theater groups. He was accepted as a Theater Major based on his experience at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst campus.

After college, he realized that as much as he loved the stage and acting, he also grew fond of hot food and dry lodgings. He left the performing arts in lieu of a career in business for many years, starting companies, growing them, and eventually selling them. Until late 2012, when he finally retired from corporate life. He had an opportunity to play an undead minion (called a "Deado") of Kevin Bacon in "R.I.P.D." for an extended period of time, which reignited his desire to act.

Several more opportunities arose thereafter and he was able to get involved with a few of the productions. He also brought his son into the business in the productions "Sex Tape", "Central Intelligence", and Okja, as an uncredited extra.

Rickland joined the Screen Actors Guild in 2015, after realizing that his original desire to perform had never left him.