Biography

Famous for his astounding ability to throw playing cards, and is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for throwing a playing card a hundred and ninety feet at ninety miles an hour. From ten paces he can throw a playing card into the flesh of a watermelon.

Ricky Jay had a consulting firm (together with Michael Weber) called 'Deceptive Practices' that advised movie, TV, and theater directors on various illusions, magic secrets, and con artistry techniques that may be needed during their productions. Their services were used for example by director Christopher McQuarrie on Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015). McQuarrie wrote after Jay's death: "I was blessed to have the legendary Ricky Jay as a consultant on Rogue Nation. An off-handed comment he made inspired the climax of the opera sequence. It's safe to say it would not be the same scene without him. He was the greatest of a vanishing breed." [Nov.25, 2018].

He is noted as one of magic's expert card technicians. He was the curator of the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts.

Stephen Fry wrote after Jay's death: "He had the chops alright. Saw him and his '52 Assistants' (in an air conditioned tent to keep his fingertips dry) and was blown away. Impossible feats. His book "Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women" a masterpiece" [Nov.25, 2018].

Jay was the grandson of Max Katz, a Brooklyn-based accountant and amateur magician who, as the head of a magician's society called the Knights of Magic, introduced his grandson to the world of deception and misdirection.