Ricky Jay
At the premiere of Redbelt, April 2008
Born	1948 (age 63–64) Brooklyn, NY
Other names	Richard Jay Potash
Occupation	Magician, actor, author
Known for	Sleight of Hand, Card Tricks, History of Magic

Richard Jay Potash (born 1948), better known by the stage name Ricky Jay, is an American stage magician, actor, and writer. He is a sleight-of-hand expert and is notable for his card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter.^[1]

Life and career[link]

Jay was born in Brooklyn, New York to a middle class Jewish family.^[2] His grandfather, Max Katz, was a well-to-do certified public accountant and amateur magician who introduced Jay to the profession.^[3][4][5]

At least three of his one-man shows, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants, On the Stem, and A Rogue's Gallery were directed by David Mamet, who has also cast Jay in a number of his films. Jay has appeared in productions by other directors, notably Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, and Magnolia, as well as Christopher Nolan's The Prestige.

A collector and historian of note, he was a student and firm friend of the legendary Dai Vernon, who Jay states was: "the greatest living contributor to the magical art". An avid collector of rare books (he has spent over five thousand dollars on single books alone) and manuscripts, art, and other artifacts connected to the history of magic, gambling, unusual entertainments, and frauds and confidence games, he is also opposed to any public revelations of the techniques of magic.^[6]

Jay joined the cast and crew of the HBO western drama Deadwood as a guest star and writer for the first season in 2004. The series was created by David Milch and focused on a growing town in the American West. Jay played card sharp Eddie Sawyer, a dealer in the Bella Union casino of ambitious newcomer Cy Tolliver. Jay wrote the episode "Jewel's Boot Is Made for Walking".^[7] He left the series at the end of the first season.

He also played a henchman to villain Elliot Carver in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. When he was offered the role, the producers assured him that they would of course change the Indian name of his character, Gupta, accordingly. Jay in turn said that he would only play the part if they didn't change the name.

Until recently, Ricky Jay was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing a playing card 190 ft at 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) (the current record is 216 feet (66 m) by Rick Smith, Jr.). Ricky Jay can throw a playing card into a watermelon rind (which he refers to as the "thick, pachydermatous outer melon layer" of "the most prodigious of household fruits") from ten paces. In addition, he is able to throw a card into the air and cut it cleanly in half with a pair of "giant scissors" upon its return. In his shows, he often throws playing cards at plastic animals in "self defense".

Consultant[link]

Jay created a consulting firm, Deceptive Practices, which provides "arcane knowledge on a need-to-know basis." His firm's clients are often within the stage, television, and film industries. He has worked with libraries and museums on their collections, including the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts and the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, CA.

Credits[link]

Television[link]

• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (October 26, 1970)
• Saturday Night Live (1977)
• Arsenio (1988)
• Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women – 1 hour special for American TV (1989)
• Simon Drake's Secret Cabaret (UK)
• Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants – 1 hour version of his Off-Broadway show, taped for HBO (1996)
• Hustlers, Hoaxsters, Pranksters, Jokesters and Ricky Jay (1996)
• The X-Files – "The Amazing Maleeni" (2000)
• MythBusters – Episode 20, "Exploding Jawbreaker, Static Cannon, Deadly Playing Cards." Ricky demonstrated card throwing, and the speed of his throws was clocked. (2003)
• Deadwood – Eddie Sawyer (2004), Season 1
• Tales From The Crypt (Unknown)
• The Unit (2007)
• Kidnapped (2007)
• Lie to Me (2009)
• FlashForward – Flosso (2010)

Film[link]

• House of Games (1987)
• Things Change (1988)
• Homicide (1991)
• The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky (1995) (TV)
• The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
• Boogie Nights (1997)
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
• Magnolia (1999)
• Mystery Men (1999)
• State and Main (2000)
• Heist (2001)
• Heartbreakers (2001)
• Incident at Loch Ness (2004)
• Last Days (2005)
• The Illusionist (2006)
• The Prestige (2006)
• Redbelt (2008)
• The Great Buck Howard (2008)
• The Brothers Bloom (2009)

Books[link]

When not performing, Ricky Jay collects rare books and artifacts. He is the author of several books:

• Celebrations of Curious Characters
• Extraordinary Exhibitions: The Wonderful Remains of an Enormous Head, The Whimsiphusicon & Death to the Savage Unitarians - a collection of 17th, 18th, and 19th-century broadsides^[8]
• Jay's Journal of Anomalies
• Dice: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck
• Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women
• Cards as Weapons
• Ricky Jay Plays Poker

References[link]