--- name: "Rick Aviles" canonical: "https://film.one/person/rick-aviles" fi1m_id: "rick-aviles" imdb_id: "nm0043173" tmdb_id: 3432 wikidata_id: "Q2096412" roles: ["Actor"] born: "14 October 1952" died: "17 March 1995" reviewed_on_fi1m: 6 average_fi1m_score: 67 average_as: "actor" average_over: 6 updated: "2026-10-04T19:57:24.909607+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Rick Aviles ## Identity Rick Aviles - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/rick-aviles - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** rick-aviles - **IMDb ID:** nm0043173 - **TMDB ID:** 3432 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2096412 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Aviles, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2096412, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0043173/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3432 Actor. Born 14 October 1952 in Manhattan, New York, USA. Died 17 March 1995. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 14 October 1952, Manhattan, New York, USA - **Died:** 17 March 1995 - **Active:** 1981–1995 - **Average Fi1m score:** 67, as actor, over 6 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1980s 56 (2), 1990s 72 (4) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 70 to 66 across 5 titles - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 1 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 2 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Thriller 3, Action 2, Comedy 2, Crime 2, Drama 2, Adventure 1 - **Screen time:** 13 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $1,153m across 6 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Aviles, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2096412, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0043173/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3432 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Ghost*](https://film.one/film/ghost.md) (80) - **Hulu:** [*Waterworld*](https://film.one/film/waterworld.md) (61) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Rick Aviles > A New York stand-up with a rubbery face and a line in impersonations, whom the films kept casting as killers, pimps and dealers. The best known of those parts, *Ghost*'s Willie Lopez, is a plot device, and the comedian was mostly left at the door. In *Ghost* (1990), Rick Aviles is the mugger whose killing of Patrick Swayze's character sets the whole story going. The film needs him for a few minutes and then it needs him to be gone, and everything that made it a hit, the grief, the pottery, Whoopi Goldberg, happens after he has done his job. Our review says the film earns its tears. None of them are for Willie Lopez, and none were meant to be. That was the shape of most of his screen work. Aviles came up as a street performer and stand-up on the Greenwich Village nightclub and subway circuit in the 1970s and 1980s, where critics noticed his ethnic impersonations and a face that seemed to have no bones in it. His screen debut was Mad Dog in *The Cannonball Run* (1981), and he kept taking small supporting parts through the decade while hosting *It's Showtime at the Apollo* from 1987 to 1991. When the films called, they called for killers, pimps and drug dealers, tough New York men with a short lifespan in the script. Two directors saw something else. Jim Jarmusch used his comic timing in *Mystery Train* (1989), as Will Robinson, and Brian De Palma put him alongside Al Pacino in *Carlito's Way* (1993), as Quisqueya. We have not reviewed either, so we will not weigh them here, but they are the parts that suggest what a fuller career might have looked like. Later commentary points out that his roles kept Puerto Rican and Latino characters where films of the period liked them, as criminals and low-level figures, and Willie Lopez is the example everyone reaches for. Aviles, in 1993: "I can't believe they cast me as a killer. I mean, I'm a comedian. Why don't they cast other comedians as killers?" Watching *Ghost* with that in mind, we felt a small, nagging frustration on his behalf. Here was a man built for voices and faces, given a name, a street corner and a reason to be forgotten. His last major studio job was Gatesman in *Waterworld* (1995), a film so busy building an atoll that our review did not single him out, and there is no shame in that. He wanted agents to bill him as the Killer Comic. The films only ever bought the first half of the billing. ## Biography Rick Aviles (1952–1995) was an American actor and stand-up comedian of Puerto Rican descent. Born Richard Anthony Aviles in Manhattan, New York, he began his career as a street performer and comedian on the Greenwich Village nightclub circuit in the 1970s and 1980s. He made his film debut as Mad Dog in *The Cannonball Run* (1981) and later hosted *It's Showtime at the Apollo* from 1987. Aviles appeared in numerous films, including *Mystery Train* (1989) as Will Robinson, *The Godfather Part III* (1990) as Mask #1, *Ghost* (1990) as Willie Lopez, *Carlito's Way* (1993) as Quisqueya, *Waterworld* (1995) as the Gatesman and *Joe's Apartment* (1996) voicing a cockroach. His television credits include *The Stand* (1994) as Rat Man. He had a sibling, actress Angel Aviles. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (6) - *Waterworld* (1995), Fi1m 61, as Gatesman — [page](https://film.one/film/waterworld.md) - *Carlito's Way* (1993), Fi1m 86, as Quisqueya — [page](https://film.one/film/carlitos-way.md) - *Ghost* (1990), Fi1m 80, as Willie Lopez — [page](https://film.one/film/ghost.md) - *The Godfather Part III* (1990), Fi1m 63, as Mask #1 — [page](https://film.one/film/the-godfather-part-iii.md) - *The Secret of My Success* (1987), Fi1m 62, as Maintenance Man — [page](https://film.one/film/the-secret-of-my-success.md) - *The Cannonball Run* (1981), Fi1m 50, as Mad Dog — [page](https://film.one/film/the-cannonball-run.md) ## Complete filmography (23) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Joe's Apartment* (1996), as Cockroach (voice) - *Waterworld* (1995), as Gatesman — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/waterworld.md) - *The Stand* (1994), series, as Rat Man - *Carlito's Way* (1993), as Quisqueya — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/carlitos-way.md) - *The Saint of Fort Washington* (1993), as Rosario - *Moon Over Miami* (1993), series, Actor - *The Carol Burnett Show* (1991), series, Actor - *The Godfather Part III* (1990), as Mask #1 — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/the-godfather-part-iii.md) - *Green Card* (1990), as Vincent - *Ghost* (1990), as Willie Lopez — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/ghost.md) - *No Place Like Home* (1989), as J.J. - *Identity Crisis* (1989), as El Toro - *Mystery Train* (1989), as Will Robinson - *One Night Stand* (1989), series, Actor - *Spike of Bensonhurst* (1988), as Bandana - *Monsters* (1988), series, as Mr. Vega - *Mondo New York* (1988), as Comic in Park - *The Secret of My Success* (1987), as Maintenance Man — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/the-secret-of-my-success.md) - *Street Smart* (1987), as Solo - *The Equalizer* (1985), series, as Scam - *A Billion for Boris* (1984), as Hector - *The Cannonball Run* (1981), as Mad Dog — Fi1m 50, [page](https://film.one/film/the-cannonball-run.md) - *The Day the Women Got Even* (1980), as Pancho Diaz --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/rick-aviles