People
Ricky Jay
Acting · follow into films and chains
Biography
Richard Jay Potash (June 26, 1946 – November 24, 2018) was an American actor, magician, cardsharp, and film consultant. Ricky's love and deep study of card tricks and deception gained him worldwide fame and respect, and he was often called in to consult for movies and TV shows where deception was a key element of the story. Ricky was an exceptional close-up magician and playing-card handler, but he also acted in movies such as Boogie Nights, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Magnolia, as well as TV shows like the X-Files, HBO's Deadwood, and David Mamet's The Unit, always playing intense characters who seemed to know everything but only handed out information in riddles and suggestions.
Notable films
Where to start
Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.
Chains
KinoChain journeys
Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.
The Long Con of the Cue Ball
Eight films about hustlers, pupils and the moment a performance of skill curdles into something crueller. The table is never just a table.
8 films
The prestige is the trick you never see coming
A chain of films about magicians, mediums and con artists, tracing the moment cinema learned to lie to us and we learned to love it.
8 films
The Rivalry Within: How Feuds Shape the Soul
From duelling magicians to warring chefs, explore how rivalry reveals our deepest fears and desires. A cinematic journey through competition, obsession, and the...
8 films
The Perfect Needledrop: Ten Moments That Own the Screen
From sudden silences to euphoric choruses, these are the film moments where a song doesn't just score the scene, it becomes the scene.
10 films
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Related people
Collaborators & neighbours
Acted
The Prestige
2006 · Milton
Heist
2001 · Don 'Pinky' Pincus
Heartbreakers
2001 · Dawson's Auctioneer
Magnolia
1999 · Burt Ramsey / Narrator
Mystery Men
1999 · Vic Weems
Tomorrow Never Dies
1997 · Henry Gupta
The Spanish Prisoner
1997 · George Lang
Boogie Nights
1997 · Kurt Longjohn
The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky
1995 · Hawkes
House of Games
1987 · George