1. Richard George Whittle was born on 31 December 1979 and is a British actor.
37 Facts About Ricky Whittle
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Ricky Whittle first came to prominence as a model for Reebok in the early 2000s.
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Ricky Whittle is known in the United Kingdom for his role as Calvin Valentine in the soap opera Hollyoaks.
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In 2012, Ricky Whittle crossed over to American television when he booked a recurring role on VH-1's Single Ladies, followed by a recurring role on ABC's Mistresses in 2014.
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From 2014 to 2016, Ricky Whittle appeared in The CW's post-apocalyptic drama The 100 as Lincoln.
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Ricky Whittle starred in the Starz television series American Gods for three seasons.
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Richard George Ricky Whittle was born on 31 December 1979 in Oldham, England, to Harry and Maggie Ricky Whittle.
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Ricky Whittle's mother is from England and his father is from Jamaica.
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Ricky Whittle's father was in the Royal Air Force so the family moved to a different country every few years.
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However, Ricky Whittle was primarily raised in Northern Ireland and revealed that he had been bullied as a child because he was the only black child in school.
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At one point, Ricky Whittle told his mother he wanted to be white so he could fit in.
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Ricky Whittle studied law at Southampton Solent University where he was football team captain.
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Ricky Whittle would go on to become the face of Reebok in 2000.
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Ricky Whittle made his acting debut in 2002 the television series Dream Team which aired on Sky 1.
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Ricky Whittle left the show in 2006 after series 9 and in May 2006, it was announced that Ricky Whittle had joined the cast of the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks in the role of Calvin Valentine.
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In December 2009, it was announced that Ricky Whittle would leave Hollyoaks and the character would be killed off in 2010.
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Ricky Whittle only planned to do four years with the series.
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Ricky Whittle permanently relocated to Los Angeles in the summer of 2011 to further his career.
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Not long after, Ricky Whittle was cast in the feature film Austenland opposite Keri Russell, Jane Seymour and Jennifer Coolidge.
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Ricky Whittle joked that he only booked the role because of his body as the audition tape he submitted cut off his head.
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Ricky Whittle found it ironic that it filmed on location in the UK when he travelled to Los Angeles to pursue American TV projects.
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Ricky Whittle was set to film an episode of the NBC sitcom Up All Night when his management contacted him the night before to inform him that the network would not accept his visa.
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In March 2012, it was announced that Ricky Whittle was cast in the recurring role of Charles, a love interest of Denise Vasi's character, in the second season of the VH1 comedic-drama Single Ladies.
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Ricky Whittle submitted his audition tape just as he returned to the UK for Christmas.
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Ricky Whittle was initially supposed to appear in two episodes, and that turned into six.
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However, Whittle made such an impression on producer Stacy A Littlejohn that she wrote him into the rest of the season.
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Ricky Whittle filmed the series in Atlanta from January to June 2012.
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On 25 July 2014, at San Diego Comic-Con, it was announced that Ricky Whittle had been promoted to series regular for season 2.
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Around the same time, Ricky Whittle booked the recurring role of Daniel on ABC's prime-time drama Mistresses.
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Ricky Whittle wrapped filming for The 100 the week before he was scheduled to start production on Mistresses.
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In January 2016, it was reported that Ricky Whittle was in talks for the lead role on another series.
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Ricky Whittle controversially accused the show's creator Jason Rothenberg of bullying him into leaving the series by marginalizing his character.
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In January 2016, it was announced that Ricky Whittle had been cast as Shadow Moon, the lead role in Starz television adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel American Gods opposite Ian McShane.
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Out of the 2,000 audition tapes submitted, Ricky Whittle was chosen out of approximately 600 actors that met with the producers.
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In September 2017 Whittle was cast opposite Sanaa Lathan in the Netflix original film, Nappily Ever After based on the novel of same name by Trisha R Thomas.
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On 16 April 2018 it was announced that Ricky Whittle signed with talent agency William Morris Endeavor.
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Ricky Whittle dated his Hollyoaks co-star Carley Stenson from 2007 to 2009.