Born on 28 December 1882 in Lemberg, Eastern Galicia. His father was an employee in a manufacturing business, then he became independent. He learned in a cheder and in a yeshiva from R' Shmuel Kalish. He also finished a folkshul. As a child, he sang with Cantor Baruch Kinstler. Later, as an adult, he worked as an employee in a manufacturing business, then he entered into Gimpel's chorus, where he was for a year, and in tha time also cam to act in episodic roles, gaining the attention of actor and director Akselrad, who engaged him in Czernowitz, where he debuted in the 1902-03 as "Tlmi" in "Asha re". From there he toured with Yiddish theatre across Germany and entered into Krakow's Yiddish theatre under the direction of Ebel, later with Zelig Schorr, Tanentsop and then five years with Ber Hart across the Galician province.

During the First World War he began again to act with Akselrad in Czernowitz, but had to cut it short because he was taken in to military service, and at first, in 1918, when he returned, he acted for two-and-a-half years in Krakow (direction: Moses Jacob), again a year with Hart in Lemberg, and since January 1929 with Yungvirt in Vienna. In the Fall of 1929, one time in the "Second Avenue Theatre", he performed in Lateiner's "Dos yidishe harts", due to union conditions he used to act in the non-union theatres, and later three years returned to Galicia.

About this Jonas Turkow wrote:

"The Urichs had the possibility to remain in America. They had,