Richard Grieco, a beloved American actor, was born March 23rd, 1965, in Watertown, New York.
Grieco’s career began in the late 80s with small parts in shows like One Life to Live, The Facts of Life, and The Bronx Zoo. He would have his big break in 1988 with the original 21 Jump Street TV show!
The star’s time on 21 Jump Street is his most celebrated performance to this day. He starred on the infamous show from 1988 to 1989 as Booker, then reprised his role in the spin-off series “Booker”. The spin-off series centered around Grieco’s character and his time conducting detective work for a large Japanese company. Booker ended in 1990, Grieco began his film acting career the following year.
Grieco’s film acting career launched with the release of If Looks Could Kill. He played the role of a secret agent in this movie, similar to his previous work in Booker and 21 Jump Street. In the years following If Looks Could Kill, he starred in several films including,
- Mobsters (1991)
- Born to Run (1993)
- Sin & Redemption (1994)
- A Vow to Kill (1995)
- It Was Him or Us (1995)
Most of Grieco’s movies from 1993 to 1996 were “made for TV” movies.
Now, let us jump into Grieco’s time as the voice of Marvel’s Ghost Rider!
Grieco began voicing Ghost Rider in 1994; he did this for an episode of Fantastic Four: The Animated Series. He reprised the voice acting role two years later in The Incredible Hulk TV series. Both episodes were going to turn into full-time gigs for Grieco, as Ghost Rider was supposed to receive his own television series; this, unfortunately, did not come to fruition.
He would not return to the role until 2011 when he voiced Ghost Rider in two Marvel video games, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. He did a fantastic job in all four productions, and many of us fans hope to hear him voice the character again.
We should acknowledge some of his notable roles and achievements from 1994 to 2011. And oh, are there many! He has over 30 acting credits between this time, some of his most famous include movies and shows like A Night at the Roxbury, Veronica Mars, and Almighty Thor.
Grieco does not have any acting credits for 2012, but he would come back onto the scene in 2013 starring in AE: Apocalypse Earth. In 2014 he returned to his role as Booker in the great 22 Jump Street starring alongside Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, and Ice Cube.
Since his role in 22 Jump Street, Grieco has taken on small parts in mostly smaller-time productions; one notable appearance though was on an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in 2016 called Dee Made a Smut Film.
Richard Grieco is a man with many talents as he has also worked as a director and producer! He also currently works as an artist; what a career change! Will he ever return to his role as Ghost Rider? We sure hope so!