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 think a lot of people just assumed I came to L.A. to do more television and get into show business.
One of the best sleight-of-hand guys I know is a plumber.
Like every art form, there are jealousies and angers and competitiveness in magic. But there's camaraderie among magicians, whether you perform it for a living or you're an enthusiast.
Magicians from the nineteenth century threw cards distances, but I think I'm the first one who made a thing about using them as weapons.
I'm much more interested in lesser-known eccentrics and characters and performers. Like Matthew Buchinger, who was born in Germany in 1674, had no arms or legs and yet did magic, and had 14 kids, and made the most extraordinary calligraphy.
I don't know what first got me to attack melons. It's not like I ate a bad one and got an upset stomach. It just eventually seemed like the appropriate fruit.
I was considered a comedy magician. And - how do I put this without sounding egotistical? - it didn't take me long to realize that comedy magicians usually couldn't do comedy or magic.
I've been really lucky in terms of film projects with people, terrific actors and also writers and directors that I really respect.
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.
My father was the Formica King of Long Island, and my mother was the daughter of a Bengal Lancer in India.
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.
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 know absolutely nothing about the 20th Century.