Richard Grieco

Richard Grieco was a rising star in Hollywood in the late 1980s starring in 21 Jump Street and a spin-off show, Booker, until his career suddenly derailed and began a rapid descent into obscurity.

Grieco was born on March 23, 1965 in Waterton, New York to an Italian father and Irish mother. He was an athlete during his youth and played football for Central Connecticut State University. As a young man, Grieco modeled for Armani, Calvin Klein and Chanel before studying acting.

Grieco broke into acting in the mid-1980s with minor non-recurring roles on popular television shows such as One Life to Live, Rags to Riches, Who's the Boss, The Facts of Life, and The Bronx Zoo. His break-through role that propelled him to stardom was his role as Booker on 21 Jump Street.

21 Jump Street was a police procedural crime drama television series that aired between April 1987 and April 1991. The series focused on a squad of squad of young undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools, colleges, and other locations where youths congregate. The series was one of the Fox network's more popular shows during the network's early years. Although co-star Johnny Depp was the biggest star on the show, Grieco's character was probably a close second.

Grieco was known as a sex symbol among young women during the late 1980s for his looks and his popularity led to the Fox network offering him a starring role on the spin-off show, Booker, where he continued to play Detective Booker. Unfortunately for Grieco, however, his new show was poorly received and was cancelled after only one season.

Grieco had a guido-like appearance during the height of his stardom, much like the people who currently appear on the MTV reality show, Jersey Shore.


Grieco attempted to parlay his burgeoning stardom into a singing career. In 1994 Grieco joined the Dunmore Band. Grieco later signed a contract with a German label and released the album, Waiting for the Sky to Fall, in 1995. A decade later, in 2004, Grieco collaborated with music manager Cheryl Bogart to form the band Wasteland Park.

Grieco's acting career, however, practically ended with the cancellation of Booker in 1990 as he nearly fell off the Hollywood radar. (While still a star, he was referenced in this hilarious early-1990s skit on Saturday Night Live where a group of weight-lifters were in agreement that he needed to receive a beating.) Grieco did have a starring role in short-lived series such as Marker on the UPN network in 1995, but that series was cancelled after only 13 episodes had aired. He did have a fairly prominent role in the 1998 Saturday Night Live vehicle, A Night At The Roxbury, but his appearance didn't seem to help his career.







During the past decade, Grieco has had starring roles in minor straight-to-video flicks such as Final Payback in 2001 and Fish Don't Blink in 2002. He has also appeared in several made-for-TV movies over the years, such as Phantom Force in 2004 and Almighty Thor in 2011.

Grieco must have looked at the stardom of former co-star, Johnny Depp, with incredible envy. Perhaps he also thought that given the success of the Jersey Shore show, the time was ripe for a Grieco comeback. It appears as though Grieco may gone under the knife to get some plastic surgery in an effort to revive his floundering acting career as shown in the photos below. It appears as thought Grieco may have gotten a nose job to thin out the bridge of his nose. As a result of this apparent plastic surgery, Richard Grieco's face looks somewhat feminine and the long hair certainly isn't helping his cause!




Grieco was briefly in the news in early 2011 when it was reported that he was practically begging to take over Charlie Sheen's role on Two and a Half Men after Sheen was fired in 2011. He also recently produced the Showtime reality series entitled Gigolos, about male prostitutes and claims that he was offered up to $10k a night for gay sex back in the 1980s. Grieco may have resort to male prostitution to raise some cash now, as he reportedly owes over $44,000 in back taxes to the IRS.


Richard Grieco was one one Hollywood's rising stars in the late 1980s. However, his career suddenly and inexplicably derailed, leaving him by the wayside. In an apparent effort to jump-start his career he may have gotten some bad plastic surgery. Accordingly, there can be no doubt that Richard Grieco is one washed-up celebrity!

Philip Michael Thomas

Philip Michael Thomas is an actor best known for his role as Detective Ricardo Tubbs in the mid mid-late 1980s TV show, Miami Vice. Although Thomas was a well-known actor at the height of popularity for Miami Vice, his career essentially ended with the show's cancellation in 1990 and he has not had any notable roles in the last two decades.

Thomas was born on May 26, 1949 and broke into acting in his early 20s in the 1970s. His first role was in the 1972 blaxploitation film, "Come Back, Charleston Blue" where he had a minor role as a minister. Thomas followed with small roles over the next 10-15 years in films such as Stigma, Book of Numbers, Bogart, Coonskin and in TV shows such as Griff, Good Times, Toma, The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, and Trapper John, M.D.

Thomas finally caught his big break when he was cast as Detective Ricardo Tubbs on the hit TV show Miami Vice in 1984. Although co-star Don Johnson was the biggest star of Miami Vice, Thomas was popular and achieved his own acclaim. Among Miami Vice fans, Thomas was known affectionately as "the scuzzy black guy on Miami Vice."

On Miami Vice, Thomas played Miami undercover police detective Ricardo Tubbs, a former NYPD police officer who traveled to Miami to find the person who killed his brother, Rafael Tubbs. While in Miami Tubbs encountered another undercover cop, Sonny Crockett (played by Don Johnson), who is also looking for the same person.

Miami Vice was a popular show and was renowned for its heavy integration of music and visual effects to tell a story. Miami Vice also heavily influenced mid-80s fashion as male fans started dressing in hot pink or teal t-shirts with white pants or white sports coats.




Thomas was well-known for possibly possessing the greasiest-looking skin and hair in all of Hollywood. Here are some pictures of Thomas looking his greasiest - I bet his entire face and hair would ignite in flames if someone had lit a match within 5 feet of him when these photos were taken:

Thomas was known for having a massive ego. During a mid-1980s Academy Awards ceremony, Thomas wore a gaudy gold medallion emblazoned with the letters "EGOT," which stands for "Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony." During a 1984 interview, Thomas said, "Hopefully in the next five years I will win all of those awards." Despite his massive career aspirations, Thomas neither won nor was nominated for any of these awards.

After the cancellation of Miami Vice in 1990, Thomas struggled to find steady work. He appeared in a number of crappy made-for-TV movies and had non-recurring roles on TV shows such as The Adventures of Superboy, Zorro, Swamp Thing, and Nash Bridges.




Thomas has also sunk his teeth into a singing career. Thomas recorded a music album entitled Living the Book of My Life in 1985. However, the album sold poorly and failed to produce a hit single. Thomas performed the title song of his album during the 1985 episode of Miami Vice entitled The Maze.

Thomas released his second album, entitled Somebody, in 1988. Somebody also sold poorly and failed to produce a hit. In 1993, Thomas collaborated with Kathy Rahill to compose My, My, Miam...i, which was chosen as the city of Miami's theme song.

Thomas later joined forces with Jamaican fitness instructor Sandi Morais to compose songs for a family-friendly musical entitled Sacha, which enjoyed runs in south Florida and New York. Thomas also produced music for Morais' fitness videos in 2001 and 2006.

Cementing his image as a washed-up celebrity and apparently desperate for a steady stream on income, in 1994 Thomas entered into a contractual agreement with the Florida-based Psychic Reader's Network (later known as Traffix, Inc.) to become the spokesman for the Philip Michael Thomas Psychic Connection. He appeared in TV ads dressed in a wardrobe similar to that of his Miami Vice Ricardo Tubbs character, opening the ads with the phrase, "From Miami Vice to world advice!"

Traffix later replaced Thomas with Miss Cleo. Thomas sued for breach of contract and won. In 2002 a New York arbitrator awarded Thomas $1.48 million for improper use of his name and likeness and an additional $780,000 in interest.

Having sunk from a headline actor on Miami Vice to the spokesman for a physic network by 1994, fans of Thomas must have thought that the actor's career couldn't possibly sink any lower. However, fans were wrong - according to the Internet Movie Database, Thomas's only role since 2003 was a voice-over role for the video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.

Philip Michael Thomas struggled in Hollywood for years until finally catching his big break when he was cast as Detective Ricardo Tubbs on Miami Vice. Thomas fought the odds to become a success despite possessing arguably the greasiest skin and hair in all of Hollywood. However, Thomas's career quickly plummeted after the cancellation of Miami Vice as quickly as it rose during the mid-1980s. Now, the actor would be fortunate to be cast in an infomercial. All of this makes Philip Michael Thomas one washed-up celebrity!