Ricky Jay

Ricky Jay, born Richard Jay Potash on June 26, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York City, was a singular figure in the worlds of magic, cinema, and scholarship. From his first televised appearance at age seven on Time for Pets in 1953, Jay cultivated a reputation as arguably the most gifted sleight‑of‑hand artist of his generation, dazzling fellow magicians, historians, and audiences with feats such as throwing a playing card 190 feet, slicing a returning card in half, and performing flawless card‑trick routines that seemed to read the minds of participants. He amassed one of the most comprehensive private collections of conjuring manuscripts, rare books, and gambling paraphernalia, and he dedicated much of his life to preserving the obscure history of confidence games, often lecturing at prestigious venues like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harvard, and the TED Conference. Jay’s collaborations with playwright David Mamet produced iconic one‑man shows—Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants, On the Stem, and A Rogue's Gallery—and also led to memorable film roles in Mamet’s House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, and Redbelt, as well as appearances in The Prestige, Tomorrow Never Dies, Boogie Nights, and the HBO western Deadwood where he also wrote an episode.

Beyond performance, Jay was a sought‑after consultant, founding the firm Deceptive Practices to provide “arcane knowledge” for Hollywood productions; his ingenuity contributed to the hidden wheelchair in Forrest Gump, the self‑drinking glass in Congo, and the illusion of a ladder of light in Angels in America. He authored eleven books ranging from Cards as Weapons to the celebrated Matthias Buchinger: “The Greatest German Living”, cementing his legacy as a scholar of deception. His singular blend of artistry, historical erudition, and cinematic presence made him the only magician ever profiled by PBS’s American Masters, a testament to a career that spanned over six decades and left an indelible mark on both stage and screen.