Long before he was making Tyler Perry’s Netflix audience do a double take as the ailing patriarch Horace Bellarie in Beauty in Black, Ricco Ross was the Marine who quietly stole scenes from Sigourney Weaver in one of the most quoted sci-fi films ever made. His career spans four decades, three continents, and roles that range from a doomed Colonial Marine to a Doctor Who villain, and he is still adding credits to an already packed resume.
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Ricco Ross |
| Date of Birth | April 16, 1958 |
| Age | 68 (as of 2026) |
| Birthplace | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | African American |
| Occupation | Actor, writer, producer, director |
| Years Active | Since the early 1980s (approaching 44 years) |
| Known For | Private Frost in Aliens (1986), Horace Bellarie in Beauty in Black (2024-2026) |
| Height | Approximately 6 feet 2 inches |
| Education | BA, Florida Atlantic University; MFA, UCLA; Post Graduate Certificate in Classical Theater, LAMDA |
| Spouse | Julie Shannon Ross (m. August 8, 2008) |
| Children | 4 (Aisha, Rami, Makaila, Miles) |
| Net Worth | Estimated $500,000-$2 million |
Biography
Early Life and Family
Ricco Ross was born on April 16, 1958, at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and he turned 68 on his birthday in 2026. He grew up in a large family of five brothers and five sisters, and in a 2026 interview on The Cisandre Show, he confirmed he is the eighth of the eleven siblings. He has described himself as the family clown growing up, always singing, dancing, and craving attention, and he has spoken about spending part of his childhood, from age seven to thirteen, in Pembroke Township, Illinois, a community once described by Oprah Winfrey as one of the poorest in the country.
Education and Early Path
Ross first tried acting in a high school production at South Plantation High School after his family relocated from Chicago to Plantation, Florida, a school name he has said struck him as an unsettling irony for a young Black teenager at the time. He went on to study theater at a community college and later earned a Bachelor of Arts from Florida Atlantic University between 1977 and 1979. He then went on to UCLA, completing a Master of Fine Arts from 1979 to 1981, before adding a Postgraduate Certificate in Classical Theater from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. His mother, Christine, remains a regular presence in his life, and he has publicly celebrated her birthday on social media. He lost his father when he was 21, an age he has said forced him to grow up quickly and take on the role of provider and protector without much guidance. Today, Ross works as an actor, writer, producer, and director under his own banner, Can You Dig It Productions, where he is currently developing a project called Dispatch. Ross has described it as centered on a 911-style dispatcher secretly working with agents targeting undocumented immigrants while covertly guiding people to safety, a modern parallel he has compared to Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad work.
Life in Europe
He is African American, and his career took him well beyond Hollywood. After landing recurring roles early in his career, Ross grew frustrated with being typecast as a gang member, so a college professor suggested he study Shakespeare in England. His year in London stretched into thirteen years abroad, during which he built a career acting across the UK and Europe while modeling in France and Italy, and he later met the mother of his first child there. He has said he only worked as a British actor, using an accent he had trained to match, for about four of those thirteen years.
Career
Breaking In
Ross broke into television as an extra on The Young and the Restless before landing a recurring role on Hill Street Blues, which he has called the role that first put him on the map. His first real spotlight moment came as the male lead in Whitney Houston’s 1985 music video for “Saving All My Love for You,” a role he has said in interviews he approached by encouraging Houston, then new to acting, to forget the camera and just react naturally. As of a 2026 interview, Ross said his career was approaching its 44th year, and he has described chasing the kind of staying power associated with Denzel Washington throughout that run, framing his own path as a marathon of peaks and valleys rather than a single big break.
Landing Aliens
His biggest break came soon after. Ross has given two different accounts of how he landed Aliens over the years. In an earlier interview, he said he read for Corporal Hicks, was then offered Private Drake, and turned down that role to appear in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket instead. In a more recent, more detailed conversation on BET Talks, Ross said he actually read for Hudson, the character with the most dialogue in the script, but that James Cameron, a relatively unknown director at the time, could not offer him the part. Cameron told him he still wanted him in the film, and after Ross was also offered a role in Mission: Impossible, Cameron convinced him to pass on that offer for Aliens by promising to rewrite three separate characters into one part written specifically for him: Private Frost. Ross ultimately turned down Full Metal Jacket, despite Kubrick’s reputation and repeated attempts to keep him on the project, because the Aliens shoot could not release him in time. The 1986 film became a defining credit of his career either way, and, by his own account, Cameron rearranged the shooting schedule so that Ross could travel between Prague and the Aliens set to complete Mission: Impossible.
British Television and Beyond
During his years in the UK, Ross built a substantial resume on British television, including a main role as Greg Dacosta on the BBC drama Westbeach, a guest turn as the sinister Ringmaster in the classic Doctor Who serial “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy,” and appearances in Jeeves and Wooster and the miniseries Sleepers. Back in the United States, he went on to appear in Mission: Impossible, Fierce Creatures, Highlander: The Series, Babylon 5, JAG, ER, and Beverly Hills, 90210, among many others.
Beauty in Black
More recently, Ross became known to a new generation of viewers through STARZ’s P-Valley, playing Pastor R. J. Gilfield, and then landed the role that has arguably become his career’s second high point: Horace Bellarie in Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black. He nearly passed on the audition tape altogether after a long stretch of self-tapes for other projects, and decided to submit it at the last minute. Partway through the take, he stayed in character through an unplanned cough and a missed cue from his wife, who was reading opposite him off-camera, rather than stopping to redo it, and he has said that unpolished, in-character recovery is what ultimately landed him the role.
Horace is the wealthy, ailing co-founder of a cosmetics empire caught between a strained family and a dangerous new love interest, and the role has kept Ross a fixture of the show across all three of its seasons. Ross has said he built the character on the foundation of his own father, a physically imposing man in Chicago who was a Golden Gloves boxer, worked a factory job, and also ran numbers and worked as a loan shark, yet rarely raised his voice and grew quieter, not louder, when tensions rose around him. That same quiet capability for danger beneath a controlled exterior is what Ross has said he channels into Horace. To age into the character physically, he grew out his beard, dropped 10 to 15 pounds, switched to lighter weights to look less fit, and took up cigar smoking and a cane at Tyler Perry’s suggestion, changes he has said slowed down his voice and movement enough to feel like the character.
Ross has confirmed that Beauty in Black’s upcoming third season will be its last, an eight-episode run that had already wrapped production as of mid-2026 and was expected to premiere around September 2026, pending any change from Netflix.
Ross has said that decades ago, while driving down Sunset Boulevard early in his career, he told himself he would know he had truly made it once his own face appeared on a billboard there for an acting project. He had one billboard moment before that, from a modeling job in Chicago, but it took until Beauty in Black for an acting billboard on Sunset itself, something his wife photographed and sent to him just days before he discussed it publicly in 2026.
What’s Next
Beyond Dispatch, Ross has a handful of other projects lined up. He plays a Catholic bishop in an upcoming horror film called Do You Want to Play?, and stars in another film called What Heroes Do, about a widower carrying out his late wife’s final wish. He has also said he has projects in development at Tyler Perry Studios, along with an already announced but not yet publicly cast role he has called the most exciting of the group.
Awards and Honors
Ross has picked up recognition on both ends of his career. He won Best Actor at the Fright Night Film Festival in the United States in 2015 for his role in Batgirl Rises, and in 2026 he received the George Pal Memorial Award at the Saturn Awards for his work in Aliens.
| Year | Award | Category | For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Fright Night Film Festival (US) | Best Actor | Batgirl Rises |
| 2026 | Saturn Awards | George Pal Memorial Award | Aliens |
Music
Ross’s connection to music runs deeper than most fans realize. Beyond his breakout appearance in Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love for You” video, he later spent five years working as a vocal director for Celine Dion, touring internationally with her, an experience he has credited with sharpening his French. He also played jazz legend John Coltrane in the 2013 short film Trane and Miles. He has not released music of his own, but his career is closely tied to some of the biggest names in music.
Social Media
Ross is active and engaged across platforms. His Instagram account, @riccoross, has grown to more than 900,000 followers, where he posts a mix of behind-the-scenes content from Beauty in Black, travel, and family moments. His official TikTok, also @riccoross, has surpassed 690,000 followers and 8 million likes, and he has personally confirmed the account is his through videos addressing fan questions. He also maintains an X account, @riccoross1, and a Facebook page with close to 90,000 followers. A viral clip that circulated widely on social media showed him speaking Italian on set, drawing a visibly surprised reaction from Tyler Perry. Ross later confirmed in an interview that he speaks parts of five languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German, with Spanish and French being his strongest after English.
Personal Life
Marriage and Children
Ross has been married to actress Julie Shannon Ross since August 8, 2008, and he has described her as his “Goddess” in social media posts marking their anniversaries. Julie is his only publicly known wife, and there is no verified record of an earlier marriage, though he has said he became a father for the first time during his years living in Europe, with a partner he has not publicly named, before he later married Julie. Together, Ross and Julie have four children: Aisha, Rami, Makaila, and Miles, and Ross has also spoken warmly about his godson, Nicolas. The couple is frequently photographed together at premieres and industry events, and Ross often posts about trips they take together, from Las Vegas getaways to New York City birthday celebrations.
Height has been reported at around 6 feet 2 inches, though this figure comes from fan and aggregator sites rather than an official or verified source, so it should be treated as approximate. Outside of acting, Ross has talked about his background as a basketball player, including turning down a professional contract in Cyprus after dunking on a seven-foot opponent in a pickup game, a decision he made in part because he had just welcomed his first child.
Health and Fitness
Ross has also spoken candidly about his health. He has said he has stayed close to the same weight since his college years, working out three times a week with a routine that includes basketball, weight lifting, and stretching, though he intentionally lost weight to play the frail, ailing Horace in Beauty in Black. He serves as a Global Ambassador for Zero Prostate Cancer and has used that platform to talk openly about his own prostate health, revealing that his own prostate runs significantly larger than average, and urging other men, especially Black men, to get screened starting at age 40 rather than waiting until symptoms appear.
Net Worth
Ricco Ross’s net worth is estimated at between $500,000 and $2 million. This figure is built from his decades-long acting career rather than any single aggregator’s number, since widely circulated online figures for him are not well-sourced. His income streams likely include SAG scale and above-scale fees for a long list of film and television credits stretching back to the early 1980s, his years of modeling work in France and Italy during the late 1980s and early 1990s, his recurring television roles on P-Valley and Beauty in Black, and smaller residual income from decades of reruns and streaming licensing on projects like Aliens and Mission: Impossible. His continued main cast role on Beauty in Black, one of Netflix’s more talked-about recent dramas, suggests his earnings may be trending upward as the show continues.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ricco Ross famous for? Ricco Ross is best known for playing Private Frost in the 1986 sci-fi classic Aliens, and more recently for his role as Horace Bellarie in Tyler Perry’s Netflix series Beauty in Black.
How many languages can Ricco Ross speak? Ross has confirmed in interviews that he speaks parts of five languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German, with Spanish and French being his strongest besides English.
Who is Ricco Ross’s first wife? Julie Shannon Ross is Ricco Ross’s only publicly known wife. The couple has been married since August 8, 2008, and there is no verified record of an earlier marriage, though Ross has said he became a father for the first time during his years living in Europe, with an earlier partner he has not named.
How many children does Ricco Ross have? Ricco Ross has four children: Aisha, Rami, Makaila, and Miles.
Selected Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Death Wish 3 | The Cuban | Film |
| 1985 | Spies Like Us | WAMP Guard | Film |
| 1986 | Aliens | Private Frost | Film |
| 1988-89 | Doctor Who | Ringmaster | “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy” |
| 1991 | Sleepers | Karl Richfield | Miniseries |
| 1993 | Westbeach | Greg Dacosta | Main cast |
| 1996 | Mission: Impossible | Denied Area Security Guard | Film |
| 1997 | Babylon 5 | Captain Frank | Episode: “The Face of the Enemy” |
| 1997 | Fierce Creatures | TV Journalist | Film |
| 2006 | ER | Barnard | Episode: “Scoop and Run” |
| 2013 | Trane and Miles | John Coltrane | Short film |
| 2016 | A Husband for Christmas | Roger Burkett | TV movie, title role |
| 2020-22 | P-Valley | Pastor R. J. Gilfield | STARZ series |
| 2024-26 | Beauty in Black | Horace Bellarie | Netflix, main cast, final season 3 expected 2026 |
| TBA | Do You Want to Play? | Catholic bishop | Upcoming horror film |
| TBA | What Heroes Do | Lead role | Upcoming film |
| TBA | Dispatch | TBA | In development, Can You Dig It Productions |
