Ricky Jay

Ricky Jay (born Richard Jay Potash in 1946) was an American stage magician, actor, and writer.

Born to a Jewish-American family, Jay is considered one of the most knowledgeable and skilled sleight-of-hand experts in the United States. He is notable for his signature card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter. At least two of his shows, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem, were directed by David Mamet, who has also cast Jay in a few of his films. Jay has appeared in productions by other directors, notably Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights and Magnolia, as well as The Prestige and season one of HBO’s Deadwood as card sharp Eddie Sawyer.

Books in order of publication:

Cards as Weapons. Image Graphiques (1977). 

Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women. Villard (1986). 

Many Mysteries Unraveled: Conjuring Literature in America 1786–1874. Antiquarian Society (1990).

The Magic Magic Book. Whitney Museum Library Associates (1994).

Jay’s Journal of Anomalies. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2001). 

Dice: Deception, Fate, and Rotten Luck. Quantuck Lane Press (2002). 

Extraordinary Exhibitions: Broadsides from the Collection of Ricky Jay. Quantuck Lane Press (2005). 

Ricky Jay Plays Poker (Audio CD). Sony Legacy (2007).

Magic: 1400s–1950s (with Mike Caveney, Jim Steinmeyer) Taschen (2009). 

Celebrations of Curious Characters. McSweeney (2010). 

Matthias Buchinger: “The Greatest German Living”. Siglio (2016).