Ricky Jay
Ricky Jay
Richard Jay Potash, known professionally as Ricky Jay, is an American stage magician, actor, and writer. In a profile for the New Yorker, Mark Singer called Jay "perhaps the most gifted sleight of hand artist alive". In addition to sleight of hand, Jay is known for his card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter. He has also written extensively on magic and its history. He has acted in the films The Prestige, The Spanish Prisoner, Heist, Boogie Nights,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth1 January 1948
CityBrooklyn, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I suppose that if I could only do one thing, a solid card effect would be pretty high on the list. That's the root of it all, sleight-of-hand. It's certainly the thing I feel most comfortable with.
If it sounds too good to be true, it always is.
I certainly was performing before my writing was published, because I was performing when I was very young. And the thing is I'm very comfortable on stage, so a large portion of my act did come from ad-libs.
My father was the Formica King of Long Island, and my mother was the daughter of a Bengal Lancer in India.
I never talk much about my family, but my grandfather was friendly with these guys, with magicians and ventriloquists on the highest levels, and I was just interested.
In the winters, I enrolled in the hotel management program at Cornell University. I naively thought that I knew something about sleight-of-hand, entertainment and food, and that would be all I needed.
I think the toughest thing about being an actor in a film is to be with a director who doesn't know what they want. And that can be really, really frustrating.
I grew up like Athena—covered with playing cards instead of armor—and, at the age of seven, materialized on a TV show, doing magic.
Writing is the only thing in my life that doesn't get easier. It just doesn't.
I always read what I write out loud, and I did that long before any radio thing. My editor finds that unusual.
I love amazing people. I love dazzling them. That's why I think performing magic is one of the greatest things a person can do.
I'm probably the only kid in history whose parents made him stop taking music lessons. They made me stop studying the accordion.
Unlike other Jewish families, we didn't go out for Chinese food on Sundays, but we spent our time in a world of baking powder biscuits and the best shrimp cocktails that ever were.
I think a lot of people just assumed I came to L.A. to do more television and get into show business.