Ricky Paull Goldin was born January 5, 1968, to Irish and British parents. He is the son of internationally famous hypnotist, Professor Paul Goldin, but his mother, Patricia, deserves all the credit.
Acting since the age of three, Ricky's first professional job was a contract role on TV's Romper Room. He went on to do over 150 television commercials, winning four Clios. By the age of fifteen, he was on Broadway, in On Golden Pond. He was discovered by the famous Joseph Papp, who served as a mentor and brought him to public theater in New York where Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson would play his parents in The Nest of the Wood Grouse. The show moved to the Kennedy Center, where Ricky performed for over a year to packed houses including command performances for President Reagan and President Bush.
Ricky was then off to Hollywood, where he landed recurring roles on hit shows such as Alf, Kate & Allie, and 21 Jump Street. Additionally, he made guest appearances on countless TV shows. Film credits include Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, The Blob, Piranha directed by James Cameron, Mirror Mirror, and Going Overboard with Adam Sandler.
After a season of Hail to the Chief starring Patty Duke on ABC, and a dozen other television pilots, he was offered a three-year contract on NBC's Another World. His character, Dean Frame, skyrocketed to popularity, and Ricky won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Best Actor. Around this time, he executive produced, co-created, and starred in ABC's summer hit, Street Match, a groundbreaking reality TV show about dating.
Ricky went on to produce several television projects for Telepictures, MTV, Viacom and Nash Ent. Discovered again by legendary Broadway star, Tommy Tune, he was hand picked out of over 3000 singing and dancing performers to star as Danny Zuko in the Broadway revival of Grease with Rosie O'Donnell as Rizzo. Ricky would lead the Macy's Day parade with Brooke Shields, who later played Rizzo, on the back of his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He also gave a command performance of Grease for President Clinton on Chelsea's birthday.
After 726 performances of Grease, Ricky was off to London and Ireland to star in The Pirates of Penzance and landed on the very stage that his father performed the sold-out Paul Goldin Show for twenty years. His extensive theater background includes Welcome to My Life in which he played multiple characters, The Long Christmas Dinner, Our Town, Damn Yankees, and Happy Journey.
Ricky went back to Hollywood, where he filmed a string of movies of the week including Love Lives On, starring Sam Waterston and Christine Lahti; A Face To Die For; Talk To Me; Into the Arms of Danger; Something Borrowed, Something Blue; Coach of the Year; Hard Knox; She's Leaving Home; and West Point. He was then awarded a contract role as Gary Dawson, a character with multiple personalities on Daytime's number-one series, The Young and The Restless.
After selling a sketch comedy pilot to Viacom, Ricky packed his bags and headed back to New York for a contract role on Guiding Light, the longest-running show on television. He would reinvent himself as the lovable rogue FBI agent, Gus Aitoro, his most popular role to date. Ricky won a Daytime Emmy nomination for Best Lead Actor in 2003, and sang on stage at Radio City Music Hall during the ceremony. In 2005, he hosted the main event, SOAPnet's Live From The Red Carpet. That very night, Ricky won the People's Choice Award for the Most Irresistible Couple in Daytime.
Ricky has received numerous honors for his portrayal of Gus Aitoro; Michael Logan of TV Guide named him the Best Actor in Daytime for 2005, and claimed his "is the kind of risky, frisky work that turned the young Tony Geary and Justin Deas into soap legends."
PLACE OF BIRTH: San Francisco, California
HAIR: Black
MARITAL STATUS: Married to Gretta Monahan
CHILDREN: Kai Rei Goldin [Oct 21, 2010; 9 lbs., 11 oz]
