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!

Chris Burke

Chris Burke is an actor best known for his role as "Corky" on the moderately successful 1989-1993 family drama Life Goes On. Burke is unique among actors in that he is suffering from Down Syndrome. Despite his handicaps, he has managed to accomplish quite a bit during his life and acting career.




Chris Burke should be commended for doing what he's done, overcoming his conspicuous disabilities. He is an inspiration to all people suffering from mental handicaps. This post focuses on Burke's career, not his mental handicaps over which he has no control.

Burke was born on August 26, 1965 in Point Lookout, New York. His parents were told to institutionalize him when he was born, but they decided to raise him at home and nurture his talents. During the early 1980's, public schools were not mainstreaming students with disabilities into the general population and there were no good private education programs for disabled students in the area, so Burke was sent to board at the Don Guanella School in Springfield, Pennsylvania and he graduated in 1985. After graduation he worked as an elevator operator and did volunteer work.

Burke first set his sights on becoming a tap dancer. He later switched to acting while at the Don Guanella School. He was further inspired by attending night classes, going through auditions, writing scripts, and reading books.

Burke's his first acting work was in the ABC movie Desperate. ABC network executives were moved by his performance and created Life Goes On with Burke's character as the main role.

In Life Goes On, Burke's Corky character was sent to a public high school with normal kids. The show generally focused on Corky's troubles and how he strived to be accepted and fit in with the other kids. In one of the episodes, Corky was shown lip-synching and dancing to Public Enemy song, Fight The Power:


Burke also achieved literary success while he was on Life Goes On. In 1992, Burke wrote an autobiography, the New York Times Best-Seller, A Special Kind of Hero.

Burke has acted sporadically since the cancellation of Life Goes On in 1993, primarily appearing in minor roles on TV shows and movies. His more notable roles include his role as a custodian in Mona Lisa Smile in 2003 and a role in 2002 on ER.

Burke has been touring with a band in recent years. His band mates are twins Joe and John Demasi (collectively, "the Demasi twins"):

Unfortunately, it appears as though the Demasi twins are taking advantage of Burke's fame for their own selfish needs. The Demasi twins also look like a couple of freaky weirdos. Here is a video of Burke and the Demasi twins performing. Even though Burke is supposedly the star of the band, the Demasi twins are hogging the camera time. I sure hope that Burke keeps his wits about himself and protects the children from the Demasi twins!

Edit - June 25, 2007

The original video I had linked was of Chris and the DeMasi twins singing to some mentally handicapped kids at a camp or school. Unfortunately, that video was deleted from YouTube. Here is a different clip of Chris and the DeMasi twins performing:


The Demasi twins are even worse than I thought! According to a Down Syndrome website, Chris Burke "met the DeMasi twins, 47, when he was 13 and they were music counselors at a day camp." I sure hope that Chris is a chaperone at this camp and protects the kids from the weirdo DeMasi twins!!

Chris Burke's career peaked with Life Goes On and he has accomplished far more than anyone could have expected when he was born. However, by hooking up with the Demasi twins who appear to be taking advantage of him, Burke has become one washed-up celebrity!