Ricco Ross is an American actor.

Life and career

Born at

Cook County Hospital The John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County (formerly Cook County Hospital) is a public hospital in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is part of the Cook County Health and Hospital System, along with Provident Hospital of Cook County and ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, he is the fifth of eight children, and in addition has three step sisters and another brother from his father's first marriage. He first acted in a high school production, majored in theater at a local community college, and entered

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

(FAU), where he was awarded a BA in Theater. He earned a scholarship to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, where his career started to develop. Ross' first television role was as an extra on ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

'', which was followed by a small part in ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...

'' and the male lead in the music video for Whitney Houston's 1985 hit song "Saving All My Love for You". He later played Private Ricco Frost in the film ''

Aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

'' (1986), and also appeared in the films ''

Death Wish 3 ''Death Wish 3'' is a 1985 American action thriller film directed and edited by Michael Winner. It is the third film and the last to be directed by Winner in the ''Death Wish'' film series. It stars Charles Bronson as the vigilante killer Paul Ke ...

'' (1985), ''

Spies Like Us ''Spies Like Us'' is a 1985 American spy comedy film directed by John Landis, and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest and Donna Dixon. The film presents the comic adventures of two novice intelligence agents sent to the Soviet Un ...

'' (1985), '' The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission'' (1985 TV film), "

Displaced Person Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

" (1985 episode of ''

American Playhouse ''American Playhouse'' is an American anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Overview It premiered on January 12, 1982, with ''The Shady Hill Kidnapping'', written and narrated by John Cheever an ...

''), ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...

'' (1996), ''

Mission Impossible ''Mission: Impossible'' is a multimedia franchise based on a fictional secret espionage agency known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). The 1966 TV series ran for seven seasons and was revived in 1988 for two seasons. It inspired a serie ...

'' (1996), ''

Fierce Creatures ''Fierce Creatures'' is a 1997 British-American farcical comedy film. While not literally a sequel, ''Fierce Creatures'' is a spiritual successor to the 1988 film '' A Fish Called Wanda''. Both films star John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kli ...

'' (1997), ''

Nate and the Colonel ''Nate and the Colonel'' is a 2003 Western (genre), Western film written, directed and edited by Paul Winters. The film also stars Winters as Colonel Ben Loftin and Ricco Ross as Nate. ''Nate and the Colonel'' is the first feature film to use ...

'' (2003) and '' Hydra'' (2009). From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, he lived and worked in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. While there, he made guest appearances in ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' (in the 1988 serial ''

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy ''The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'' is the fourth and final serial of the 25th season of the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 14 December 1988 to 4 January 198 ...

'') and ''

Jeeves and Wooster ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British ...

'', and played a supporting role as CIA agent Karl Richfield in the 1991 mini-series

Sleepers ''Sleepers'' is a 1996 American legal crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 book of the same name. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin H ...

. Ross now appears in various commercials as well as TV shows aired throughout the United States.

Aliens

Ricco Ross originally read for the part of Corporal Hicks. He was then offered the role of Private Drake, but he turned it down in favour of appearing in ''

Full Metal Jacket ''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 novel ''The Short-Timers'' and stars Matthew M ...

''. However,

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

was so impressed with Ross' audition that he wrote the character of Frost specifically for him, and as a result Ross left Kubrick's production to appear in Aliens. In a 2014 interview for the podcast "I Was There Too", Ross stated that Private Frost's first name is actually Robert.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music Video

External links

* Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Male actors from Chicago American male film actors American expatriate male actors in the United Kingdom American male television actors Florida Atlantic University alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni African-American male actors South Plantation High School alumni 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-film-actor-1950s-stub