Growing up on Long Island, New York, Ricky Downes always possessed a fascination with both voice over and performance, actively participating in his school’s theatrical productions and creating animated shorts of his own, which always featured his voice.

 
After graduating Emerson College in 2015, Ricky started pursuing voice acting professionally, performing in various nationally aired television commercials, video games, and short films - including the titular voice of Wish Weasel, an award-winning television pilot featured on Adult Swim, starring an intergalactic, wish-granting weasel puppet.
 

In 2020, Ricky received international and Internet fame when he recorded the entirety of the Broadway smash hit Hamilton, but in the voices of Jim Henson's The Muppets. The video garnered millions of views, received appraisals from major publications including USA Today, Broadway World, Nerdist, and Screen Rant. The video can be seen on Ricky's YouTube channel.

​

Most recently, Ricky was cast as the lead role in the Off-Broadway, national tour of Rockefeller Production's Paddington Gets in a Jam, puppeteering and voicing the iconic bear. The tour also included an extended run at the Seattle's Children Theater, with a Christmas version of the play - Paddington Saves Christmas for the 2022 holiday Season.

​

In his free time, Ricky can be seen in and around New York City, performing stand-up comedy, bringing his animated and zany persona to life on stage. One of his most ambitious comedy performances was a one man show of Disney's The Lion King at the long-renowned People's Improv Theater in the heart of NYC.
 

Ricky has been instructed and taught by professional voice over artists and scholars including Heather May, Aleks Wierzbicki, and his mentor and coach Debi Derryberry of Nickelodeon’s Jimmy Neutron fame.