Richard Grieco

Richard Grieco
Richard Grieco
	Richard Grieco, 2006
Born	Richard John Grieco Jr.; March 23, 1965 (age 59); Watertown, New York, U.S.
Occupations	Actor; painter; former fashion model;
Years active	1985–present
Children	Tony Grieco
Website	www.griecoart.com

Richard John Grieco Jr. (born March 23, 1965) is an American actor, artist, and former fashion model. He played Detective Dennis Booker in the popular Fox series 21 Jump Street (1988–89) and its spin-off Booker (1989–90). He has also starred in various films, including If Looks Could Kill and Mobsters (both 1991). He has voiced characters in several video games and appeared as either himself or his 21 Jump Street character in several films and television shows. Since 2009, he worked as a painter, working in a style he calls abstract emotionalism.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Early life

Richard Grieco was born in Watertown, New York, the son of Richard and Carolyn (née O'Reilly) Grieco. He is of Italian and Irish descent.^[4]

Career

Modeling, TV and film

Grieco worked as a model for Armani, Calvin Klein and Chanel.^[5] His first television role was as Rick Gardner on One Life to Live from February to August 1987. In 1988, Grieco began appearing as Detective Dennis Booker on the shows 21 Jump Street and its spinoff Booker. Grieco's feature film debut was as Michael Corben in If Looks Could Kill (1991) and has appeared in numerous films since then. Later in 1991, he played the young Jewish bootlegger and mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel in the film Mobsters. He also appeared in the TV series Marker in 1995. He played himself in the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury as well as in an episode of the FX comedy It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Music

Grieco began a singing career in 1994 with the Dunmire Band. He signed to a German label and released a CD, Waiting for the Sky to Fall, in 1995;^[6]^[7] he re-released the album in 2011, making it available on streaming services such as iTunes and Spotify.^[8]^[9] In 2004, he formed the band Wasteland Park with music manager Cheryl Bogart.^{[citation needed]}

Art

In 2009, several years after being encouraged to do so by Dennis Hopper,^[2] Grieco publicly revealed that he has been painting since 1991 and sold his first painting for $10,900.^[10] He calls his work "Abstract Emotionalism."^[11]

In popular culture

In the WB sitcom Off Centre, Grieco is idolized by Chau Presley, a character played by John Cho. In the show, Chau meets Grieco at the Department of Motor Vehicles and trades him an Oingo Boingo shirt for the one he is wearing. Several references are made to Grieco and his films (especially Point Doom).

In A Night at the Roxbury, Grieco is idolized by the main characters. His lifestyle ("Clothes, Cars, Women") was what Doug and Steve Butabi were trying to achieve.

In 2016, he appeared as himself in an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	If Looks Could Kill	Michael Corben
1991	Mobsters	Benny "Bugsy" Siegel
1993	Born to Run	Nicky Donatello	Television film
	Tomcat: Dangerous Desires	Tom
	Nick's Game	Del Pizzo, Nick	Television film
1994	Sin and Redemption	Jim McDaniels	Television film
1994	Bolt	Bolt	Video
1995	A Vow to Kill	Eric	Television film
	The Demolitionist	'Mad Dog' Burne
	Suspicious Agenda	Tony Castagne
	It Was Him or Us	Gene Shepard	Television film
1996	Inhumanoid	Adam	Television film
1996	Heaven or Vegas	Navy
1997	When Time Expires	Travis Beck	Television film
	Against the Law	Rex
	The Journey: Absolution	Sergeant Bradley
	Mutual Needs	Brandon Collier
1998	Sinbad: The Battle of the Dark Knights	Sinbad
	A Night at the Roxbury	Himself
	Captive	Joe Goodis	Television film
	Garden of Evil	Dean
	Blackheart	Ray
1999	Ultimate Deception	Bobby Woodkin	Television film
2000	The Apostate	Michael Killan
2000	Point Doom	Rick Hansen
2001	Vital Parts	Ty Kinnick
	Sweet Revenge	Frank
	Final Payback	Joey Randall
	Manhattan Midnight	Midnight
	Death, Deceit and Destiny Aboard the Orient Express	Jack Chase
	Last Cry	J.C. Gale	Video
2002	Fish Don't Blink	Pete
2003	Book of Days	Mr. Finch	Television film
	Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain	Mark
	Webs	Dean
2004	Phantom Force	Mark Dupree	Television film
2004	Dead Easy	Simon Storm
2005	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang	B-Movie Actor
2006	Forget About It	Anthony Amato
2007	Raiders of the Damned	Dr. Lewis
2011	Almighty Thor	Loki	Television film
2013	AE Apocalypse Earth	Captain Sam Crowe	Video
2014	22 Jump Street	Dennis Booker
	After Midnight	Dr. Sam Hubbard
	Viral Video	FishyKiller	Short
2015	Cats Dancing on Jupiter	Derek Stockton
	A House Is Not a Home	Rafkin
	Viral Video 2	FishyKiller	Short
2016	The Chemist	Stone
2017	Eliza Sherman's Revenge	Himself
2017	Halloween Pussy Trap Kill! Kill!	Dale
2018	Loan Me a Dime	Walter Stone
	Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece	The Albanian
	Minutes to Midnight	Sheriff Wyatt
	Dick Dickster	Himself
	Impact Event	Justice Outlaw
2019	Clinton Road	Ghost Truck Driver
	Art of the Dead	Douglas Winter
	I'm Offended	Richard	Television film
2020	Dream Round	Sean McLaw
	Attack of the Unknown	Vernon
	Stay Off the App	Brooks
2021	Whack the Don	Nick
	Jungle Run	Nicholas Kiri
	Desert Moon	Sheriff Del
2022	Night of the Tommyknockers	Dirk

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	One Life to Live	Rick Gardner	Episode: "Episode #1.4786"
1987	Rags to Riches	Billy Gallento	Episode: "Hunk in the House"
1988	Who's The Boss?	Mauritzio	Episode: "All in the Famiglia"
1988	The Facts of Life	Ben	Episode: "Big Apple Blues"
1988–89	21 Jump Street	Detective Dennis Booker	Recurring cast (seasons 3-4)
1989–90	Booker	Detective Dennis Booker	Main cast
1994–96	Gargoyles	Anthony "Tony" Dracon	Voice, recurring role
1994	Sin and Redemption		made-for-television movie^[12]
1995	Marker	Richard DeMorra	Main cast
1995	Fantastic Four	Ghost Rider	Voice, episode: "When Calls Galactus"; credited as Richard Greico
1996	The Incredible Hulk	Ghost Rider	Voice, episode: "Innocent Blood"
2006–07	Veronica Mars	Steve Botando	Recurring cast (season 3)
2009	Gone Country 3	Himself	Main cast (season 3)
2010	Gigolos	N/A	Creator and executive producer
2016	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Himself	Episode: "Dee Made a Smut Film"
2021	Paper Empire	Santiago Ochoa	Episode: "Digital Limbo"