JAY, Ricky 1948–

PERSONAL

Originally, Jay was a middle name, legally changed to a surname; born 1948, in Brooklyn, New York, NY; grandson of Max Katz (a certified public accountant); married Chrisann Verges (a production manager and producer). Education: Attended Cornell University; studied illusions with Tony Slydini.

Addresses: Agent— Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Career: Actor, producer, magician, consultant, and writer. Deceptive Practices, founder (with others) and consultant for stage, screen, and television productions; sideshow barker and magician in a carnival; opening act magician for numerous performers, including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Ike and Tina Turner, and Emmylou Harris; singer with the group Chico and the Deaftones; lecturer in the United States and abroad; Mulholland Library of Conjuring and Allied Arts, Century City, CA, curator, 1985–90; Milbourne Christopher collection of magic, Los Angeles, CA, curator; previously worked as an accountant on Wall Street and as an encyclopedia salesperson.

Member: American Antiquarian Society.

Awards, Honors: Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women: Unique, Eccentric, and Amazing Entertainers—Stone Eaters, Mind Readers, Poison Resisters, Daredevils, Singing Mice, Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc. named a "notable book of the year," New York Times, 1986; Obie Award and Lucille Lortel Award, 1994, both for Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants; Screen Actors Guild Award nomination (with others), outstanding performance by a cast, 1998, for Boogie Nights; Screen Actors Guild Award nomination (with others), outstanding performance by a cast in a theatrical motion picture, 2000, for Magnolia; Drama Desk Award nomination, outstanding solo performance, 2003, for Ricky Jay: On the Stem.

CREDITS

Film Appearances:

George and Vegas man, House of Games, Orion, 1987.

Mr. Silver, Things Change, Columbia, 1988.

Aaron, Homicide, Triumph Releasing, 1991.

Kearns, Ring of the Musketeers (also known as Der Ring der Musketiere ), Columbia/TriStar Home Video, 1994.

George Lang, The Spanish Prisoner, Sony Pictures Classics, 1997.

The Hat, Hacks (also known as Sink or Swim and The Big Twist ), Rigorous Productions, 1997.

Kurt Longjohn, Boogie Nights, New Line Cinema, 1997.

Henry Gupta, Tomorrow Never Dies, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer/United Artists, 1997.

Vic Weems, Mystery Men, Universal, 1999.

Burt Ramsey, Magnolia (also known as mag–no'li–a ), New Line Cinema, 1999.

Jack, State and Main (also known as Sequences et consequences ), New Line Cinema, 2000.

Himself, That Moment: Magnolia Diary (also known as That Moment: Magnolia Diary October 1998—March 2000 ), New Line Home Video, 2000.

Himself, Grateful Dawg, Sony Pictures Classics, 2000.

Dawson's auctioneer, Heartbreakers, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer, 2001.

Don "Pinky" Pincus, Heist (also known as Le vol ), Warner Bros., 2001.

Film Work:

Technical advisor, The Escape Artist, Orion/Warner Bros., 1982.

Magic advisor, New Magic (short film), Showscan Film Corporation, 1983.

Consultant for confidence games, House of Games, Orion, 1987.

Sleight of hand consultant, Sneakers, Universal, 1992.

Illusion wheelchair designer, Forrest Gump, Paramount, 1994.

Martini illusion, Congo, 1995.

Technical consultant: con games, Heartbreakers, 2001.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Ratty inventor, "The Water Engine," TNT Screenworks, TNT, 1992.

Hawkes, The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky (also known as Hole in the Sky ), ABC, 1995.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Doug Henning's World of Magic, NBC, 1976.

Host, Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, CBS, 1990.

Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants, HBO, 1996.

Host, The Story of Magic, Arts and Entertainment, 1997.

The Virtual Ed Sullivan Show, UPN, 1998.

Television Appearances; Pilots:

Like Magic, CBS, 1981.

Lenny NiCastro, Civil Wars, ABC, 1991.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, NBC, 1977.

Bird, "Red Dog Blues," Simon & Simon, 1983.

Guest, Late Show with David Letterman, 1994.

Herman Pinchbeck, "The Amazing Maleeni," The X–Files, Fox, 2000.

Television Work; Specials:

Producer, Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, CBS, 1990.

Assistance, The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show, CBS, 1991.

Stage Appearances:

Philostrate, A Midsummer Night's Dream, New York Shakespeare Festival, New York City, 1982.

Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants (solo show), Second Stage Theatre, New York City, 1994, then U.S. cities, then London, 1999.

Ricky Jay and David Mamet: Two Hussies, Town Hall, New York City, 2001.

Who Says It Can't Be a Musical?, Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, New York City, 2001.

Ricky Jay: On the Stem, Second Stage Theatre, New York City, 2002.

Radio Appearances:

Weekly essayist on KCRW, the National Public Radio affiliate in Santa Monica, CA, 2003.

WRITINGS

Television Specials:

Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, CBS, 1990.

Stage Shows:

Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants (solo show), produced at Second Stage Theatre, New York City, 1994.

Ricky Jay: On the Stem, produced at Second Stage Theatre, 2002.

Radio Shows:

Wrote weekly essays for KCRW, National Public Radio affiliate in Santa Monica, CA, 2003.

Nonfiction:

Cards As Weapons, Darien House, 1977.

Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women: Unique, Eccentric, and Amazing Entertainers—Stone Eaters, Mind Readers, Poison Resisters, Daredevils, Singing Mice, Etc., Etc., Etc., Etc., Villard Books, 1986.

Jay's Journal of Anomalies, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2001.

Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck, Quantuck Lane, 2002.

Also wrote The Magic Magic Book, Writers and Artists Series, Whitney Museum of American Art; Many Mysteries Unraveled: Conjuring Literature in America 1786–1874, American Antiquarian Society. Contributor to periodicals and books, including Cambridge Guide to American Theater and Encyclopaedia Britannica.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Newsmakers 1995, Issue 4, Gale Research, 1995.

Periodicals:

Entertainment Weekly, June 21, 2002, p. 36.

Los Angeles Magazine, September, 2001, p. 54.

New Yorker, 1993.

Playbill, June 30, 2002, p. 36.

Electronic:

Ricky Jay Official Site, http://www.rickyjay.com, October 28, 2003.