Bio:

Rick Cooley is an LA-based actor and entrepreneur.  In his late teens and early twenties he traveled the state fair circuit east of the Mississippi in the summer and fall as a professional weight, age and birth month guesser.  He started doing print work and commercials in Cleveland and Chicago then moved to NYC in the height of the Studio 54 era.  He worked with the legendary Wilhelmina, when she was running the agency doing domestic and international print work and commercials.

Rick began acting in NYC with some of the best acting coaches in the business.

Friday nights he tended bar at the infamous West Bank Café in the heart of Hell's Kitchen, when Hell's Kitchen was still Hell's Kitchen, where he met wonderful actors and artists from Tennessee Williams to the original cast of Saturday Night Live.

Rick got his first break when he produced and was featured in a one act play written & directed by Michael Schulman.  His great reviews led to a role on Love Boat which gave sent him to Los Angeles for a week, but he never left! He then booked a recurring role on the TV series Dynasty.

Through his connections in entertainment, Rick made his way into the decorative lighting business.  He founded a custom decorative lighting company and built the company that fabricated more custom lighting fixtures for the casino industry in the history of Las Vegas such as the Wynn Casinos, Caesars Palace and the Cosmopolitan.  He also obtained the world wide licensing rights to the TV series Dynasty while on the show and created the Dynasty Chandelier Collection.  Chandeliers from this Collection were featured on the set of the Colby's and were marketed through high end designer showrooms on the west coast.

Rick is now a partner in the RED O restaurants along with designing and fabricating all the decorative lighting fixtures for the restaurants.    Red O's cuisine is inspired by celebrity chef Rick Bayless.   Current locations are Santa Monica, Newport Beach and La Jolla, with plans to expand to other major cities.

Recently, Rick has returned to acting classes, currently studying with Aaron Speiser for the past several years.