Ricky Bowen

* Season 4
* Season 3
* Season 2
* Season 1

**Richard "Ricky" Bowen** is the male lead in the Disney+ Original Series *High School Musical: The Musical: The Series*. He is the son of Lynne and Mike Bowen. He is Big Red's best friend. He was a Junior at East High School in Season 1 and Season 2. He is a Senior at East High School in Season 4. In Season 1, he was casted as Troy Bolton in East High School's fall production of *High School Musical.* In Season 2, he was casted as Prince Adam/The Beast in East High School's spring production of *Beauty and the Beast.* In Season 3, he was casted as Kristoff in Camp Shallow Lake's production *Frozen.* In Season 4, he was casted to reprise his role as Troy Bolton in East High School's fall production of *High School Musical 3: Senior Year*. He is portrayed by Joshua Bassett.

## Background

### Personality

Ricky is a sensitive comedian. He can often mask his feelings through humor. Ricky is caring, kind and funny. Ricky cares deeply about stability and craves a safe place in his relationships. He tries hard to display his true feelings, but often he is unable to express himself the way he intends to. He sometimes says the wrong things, but his intentions are good. At his worst, Ricky can be closed-off and reactive, as we see when he is stressed about his mother ‘abandoning’ him and his father. Ricky can also be a bit controlling when he feels scared, as we see in his relationship with Nini. Ultimately, he is a sweet and loyal guy who is always looks out for his friends.

### Physical Appearance

Ricky has curly brown hair with blond highlights in the first season. He returns to his naturally dark brown hair in the second season. He is tall with a slim build. He usually wears t-shirts or hoodies that go along with his skater boy personality.

## Biography

### Early Life

Richard Bowen was born sometime in the summer of 2002 to Lynne and Mike Bowen in Salt Lake City, Utah. He grew up with Big Red and Nini Salazar-Roberts.

### **Season One**

#### The Auditions

He decided to audition for the fall musical after his girlfriend, Nini Salazar-Roberts broke up with him and started going out with another guy in order to impress her. He ended up getting the lead role, Troy after running in late and singing the song that she wrote for him to confess her love.

#### The Read-Through

After Nini gets upset with him for not taking the musical seriously, he thinks about quitting. Later on, Gina convinces him to stay. He decides to try harder to learn the dances from the musical which ends up impressing Nini.

#### The Wonderstudies

He tries to leave a voice message to Nini but EJ deletes it before she can see it. He later talks to Big Red about it and he tells him to be the bigger man. Later while in rehearsal with EJ while tossing a ball between each other he hits him in the nose giving him a cut on the mouth. He tries to apologize to EJ in the washroom but EJ gets mad at him because of the voice mail he left. Ricky later tells Nini not to share such personal messages, tipping her off that EJ has her phone.

#### Blocking

Ricky's mother returns home to reveal that she and his father are separating, and that she will be moving to Chicago. Ricky is discernibly hurt by the news and plans to stay at Big Red's for the night, before relocating to Nini's house after speaking with her mother, Carol. Nini comforts Ricky, and the two share a romantic moment, before she discovers that he has left the house. He returns to his house to ask his mother if she'll be leaving anytime soon.

#### Homecoming

At first Ricky said that he wasn't going to homecoming, but he then decides to go with Big Red. While at the dance he sees Gina and E.J. arrive as dates. Ricky scolds Gina for taking advantage of E.J., and after apologizing, he drives her home and the pair bond and share a moment.

#### What Team?

At the beginning of the episode, Ricky recommends that Nini sings a guitar ballad of "When there was Me and You" instead of walking through a field of boys. Everyone disagrees on his idea instead of Gina. After Carlos reveals that Miss Jenn may be getting fired, Carlos cancels rehearsals and Gina asks if she can hear his version of the song. After, he goes to Big Red's house and meets up with the theater club to come up with a plan to save Miss Jenn from getting fired.

#### Thanksgiving

Ricky decides to call his mom since she's away in Chicago over the holidays and she hasn't called him yet. When he tries to call her her boyfriend Todd picks up instead, he hangs up and goes to call Nini to talk about his mom getting a new boyfriend but decides not to. Gina arrives at his door to walk to Carlos' party with him and gifts him a hat she knitted. He opens up to her about what happened and she tells him about her living with just her mom. She then suggests he ignores what happened and go to the party to have fun. After Gina gets a call from her mom saying they're moving again he waits for her in the kitchen and asks if she wants to talk about it or if he should call her later but she says there's no point to it. Ricky goes to lave after her but Nini stops him and he opens up to her about his mom getting a new boyfriend and compares it to Nini quickly moving on from him. When she says he should call his mom he ignores her, but that night he does end up calling his mom.

#### The Tech Rehearsal

After Gina stops showing up to school he tries texting her but she never responds. He and Nini are sent to rehearse alone and he tries talking to her about what happened at Ashlyn's party but she shuts down the conversation. After starting rehearing they warmed up to each other and talk about how they gave each other their nicknames and their childhood memories until Ricky brings up I Think I Kinda You Know/Nini Version.

#### Opening Night

He gets to the school early and Miss Jenn gives him advice, Nini joins them and she talks to him about what happened at the theater but he brushes off what happened as them being in "a weird place" mentally. After Gina comes back, they talk but he feels he has changed too much in the week she was gone for them to go back to how they were. In the middle of his performance of Get'cha Head in the Game he sees Todd sit next to his mother and kiss her. Ricky drops the ball and is too distracted to finish the rest of the song. He tries searching for Nini to talk to her about the situation but once he hears about her stage fright over the dean of YAC showing up he asks EJ to take over for him as Troy.

#### Act Two

Ricky's mom finds him in the hall and he confronts her about Todd showing up to the musical but he leaves to watch the show after his mom tells him that not all couples are meant to be together. Later Gina talks to him in the hall and he tells her about not wanting to ruin Nini's big moment and she gets him to watch the rest of the musical with her. But during their scene Nini grabs him out of the audience to sing with her. After the musical finishes he goes to talk to Nini about the Dean of YAC leaving and he asks her about what to do since the musical has finished. As she's about to leave he tells her he loves her and gives her a monologue about how he's loved her since the 7th grade and they kiss. She gives her the necklace she got him and he gives her the guitar pick her got her.

### **Season Two**

#### New Year's Eve

Ricky is committed to making his relationship with Nini work. On Christmas, he finds out that him and his dad have to move to a different house to downsize. While opening a gift from Nini, he realizes that this is the first Christmas without his mom and dad being together and that the first gift he can remember getting was a skateboard. He then sings The Perfect Gift for Nini. Nini tries to tell him something, but Ricky stops her and says that he believes that their relationship is the one thing he knows won't change and that she is his home. Days later on New Year's Eve, Rickys is excited about the spring musical. He thinks it will be Bet on It, so he sings Bet On It as he prepares to audition for the role. At the party at Ashlyn's he finds out that Nini is moving to Denver.

#### Typecasting

Ricky decides that he won't be auditioning for the show this semester since Nini isn't there, but Nini tells him it will be good to do it so he will be around his friends. He talks to Mr. Mazzara and he convinces Ricky to audition for the show. During auditions he is very nervous and unprepared, so Miss Jenn wonders if he will be a good lead to have for the show. After Big Red messes up during his audition, Ricky runs to help him up and supports him as he tries again, so Miss Jenn casts him as the leading role, the Beast.

#### Valentine’s Day

For Valentine's Day, Ricky travels to Denver to surprise Nini, only to find out that she went to Salt Lake to surprise him. Since he was on the bus all night, he was very tired at school and him and Nini decided to meet up after school. While waiting for Nini at his house, Gina arrives, and they have talk about how they help each other out by listening to each other. Gina tells Ricky about a stuffed bear that her mom normally gets her on Valentine's Day but didn't this year. Ricky thinks she'll still get it, but Gina disagrees. At the end of the episode, Ricky tells Nini over the phone that he hopes nothing changes between them and sings her a song that he wrote over the phone. After he hangs up from Nini, he gets a text from Gina thanking him for giving her the chocolates, but Ricky wasn't the one who gave them to her.

#### The Storm

Ricky says goodbye to Nini as she leaves to go back to YAC. Ricky and the Drama Club get stuck in East High during a snowstorm. Ricky and Gina joke about the chocolates and Ricky asks Gina for advice on if she should tell Nini to come back to Salt Lake and she says no. After the storm clears, he borrows Big Red's car to say goodbye to Nini one last time. Once he gets home he realizes that he wants to tell Nini his feelings and he calls her and tells her.

#### The Quinceañero

The gang plans a surprise party for Carlos' birthday. While getting ready, Ricky thinks they should ask Miss Jenn about getting Nini a part in the Show and Nini disagrees because she wants to try her own solo thing. While at the party, Ricky asks Gina for advise about trying to get Nini in the show and Gina says that there are better people to confide in than her when talking about Nini. Ricky asks Miss Jenn if Nini could be in the show, but Miss Jenn says the show was already cast.

#### Yes, And...

The drama club spends the weekend at East High for a retreat to work on the show, but Ricky wanted to spend time with Nini. Instead he doesn't take the retreat seriously and begins to take all of his anger out on Miss Jenn because she is going on a date with his dad, Mike Bowen. At the end of the episode, Miss Jenn tells him that she will stop seeing Mike because that is what is best for Ricky. (This is also the episode we find out about the flashback scene between Ricky and Gina that happened during Act Two.)

#### The Field Trip

Ricky is very happy for Nini about how her song went viral, but Big Red asks him is he is really okay with the song not being a duet. He says he is fine with it because it is just a song, until he hears Nini say that the song means so much to her. The drama club sneaks into North High to see if they stole their Beast mask and run into the North High drama club and they have a dance off. Lily talks to Ricky about the true meaning behind The Rose Song, and tells him that Nini wants some space. She then tells him to let her know when he is looking for a girl who doesn't want any space. Before the dance off, Nini doesn't think it is a good idea, so Ricky suggests that she should take off since he doesn't want her feeling like she is under glass. After the dance off, The drama club finds out they will be disqualified from the Menkies if the sing the Rose Song, and Ricky suggest they throw the song out since it didn't really fit in the show anyways. This makes Nini mad.

#### Most Likely To

Ricky accidentally deletes a comment off of Nini's new Instagram page. He then goes to talk to her to try to fix things between them but they end up getting into a huge fight in the middle of Salt Lake Slices. That night, they meet up in Nini's treehouse and he confesses to her that he deleted a comment and that he is sorry. He says that he doesn't like who he is becoming. They decide to break up and Ricky takes off his necklace that Nini got for him at the end of season 1. At the end of the episode he goes over to Big Red's house crying and Big Red comforts him while they watch a movie with Ashlyn.

#### Spring Break

Over Spring Break, Ricky visits his mom in Seattle for the first time since seeing her at the High School Musical opening night. He doesn't speak to his friends the entire episode, and reveals to his mother how he has felt about her during this time. She apologizes and inspires him to get up and write a song. At the end of the episode, Ricky sings Let You Go and asks his mom if she wants to hear the song that he wrote.

#### The Transformation

Ricky goes over to Big Red's house with E.J. and Carlos help come up with a better transformation for the Beast. While there, he talks to E.J. about E.J.'s crush on Gina. He also grows closer to Carlos and helps him write a song for Seb and he plays the guitar for Carlos as he sings to him. The group comes up with a great transformation for the Beast, but it backfires when the rope pulling Ricky up snaps and Ricky lands on Ashlyn.

#### Showtime

Ricky and Ashlyn reveal that the fall sprained both of their wrists and they have to wear braces during the entire show. Before the show starts, Ricky talks to Lily about how Lily likes him. Ricky sees his dad and Miss Jenn talking. At the end of the episode, they can't find his harness for the transformation, and Miss Jenn yells at Ricky to just jump off of something high.

#### Second Chances

After the show, he gives Nini an opening night card and they share a moment, Just For a Moment, before going their separate ways. Ricky talks to Miss Jenn and forgives her and tells her that if she wants to, she has his blessing for her to date his dad. Miss Jenn asks Ricky if he is happy, and Ricky says that he thinks he is, or at least is getting there. As he leaves he sings Second Chance about starting over. At Slices, Lily confesses that she likes him and to give her a call. At the end of the episode, Ricky calls Lily to ask her out.

### Season Three

#### Happy Campers

Ricky plans to go on a vacation with Lily and her family to go jet skiing but after finding the harness she stole from them he leaves her to join the rest of the wildcats at Camp Shallow Lake. He sings Finally Free about how he is moving on from the past and he can finally be happy with his friends.

#### Into the Unknown

Ricky talks to Carlos about what roles they want in the musical and he reveals that he has virtually no knowledge of the musical. He then sees Jet for the first time and tries to say hello but Jet ignores him. While heading to get breakfast he runs into Gina, they awkwardly hug and she asks if they can "restart" their relationship and he happily agrees, saying that this summer is all about fun. Later when Jet decided to audition for the musical, he hands Jet the paper and encourages him to sing, later calling him a "little Ricky". During the montage while Nini sings You Never Know, Ricky waits in his bed for EJ to return so he can hit him with a pillow.

#### The Woman in the Woods

When looking at the shrine that Maddox set up in the woods Jet approaches him and Ricky asks him why he stopped singing. Later he helps Carlos prank Kourtney by dressing up in a leaf suit and scaring her in the woods. After EJ tells him he can't come with him to explore the woods he goes with Gina instead, they search after "the woman in the woods" after hearing angelic singing but only finds Ashlyn. Ricky expresses how proud he is of Gina for getting the lead, and the two walk back to camp together.

#### No Drama

It’s the first read through of the cast’s debut performance of Frozen! Ricky is on a mission to finish his bucket list before he turn 18. Side mission: hug Corbin Bleu! Ricky expresses jealousy during Gina and EJ’s performance of Love is an Open Door, after EJ replaces a missing Jet in rehearsal, and he quickly exits the barn when it’s finished. Later, Gina runs into Ricky while he’s rehearsing his lines and playfully steals his bucket list. After rehearsal, Ricky gets his hug from Corbin and the camp settle down for a movie night, but Ricky once again expresses jealousy towards EJ and Gina, and leaves before the movie is over. He runs into Jet in the yurts and scolds him for letting down the cast, especially Gina. Jet questions Ricky’s motives towards lecturing him, and suggests it’s because he likes Gina. Ricky says they’re just friends, before storming out.

#### The Real Campers of Shallow Lake

In this episode Ricky has to be the ‘Jilted Ex’ so they can build up drama for the documentary since Corbin and Channing think that they are too perfect. He sings ‘What do you know about love’ with Gina and sparks fly, which hints that there are hidden romantic feelings between them. But he tells Carlos that he wasn’t faking that he still had feelings for Gina but unfortunately Channing caught it on camera. So drama!

#### Color War

It is Color War! He is on the blue team with EJ, Ashlyn and Gina. He tries to help Gina perfecting Basketball but he doesn’t know how really. Miss Jenn comes to visit and gives her dad’s early birthday gift and it is moon rocks so he can walk on the moon ( to finish his bucket list). Gina asks his help to ask EJ to be her date but there is a tradition for not having a date.

## Relationships

### Family

**Mike Bowen (father)**

In Season 1, after his divorced with Ricky's mother he is the one Ricky chooses to live with, he tries but often fails to be a good father to Ricky. In Season 2 he and Miss Jenn break off their relationship in Yes, And... when they notice how much distress it causes him, but they start dating again at the beginning of Season 3 after Ricky gives them permission to.

**Lynne Bowen (mother)**

Lynne was often away at business trips during Ricky's childhood, these trips turned into an excuse to spend more time away from Ricky's dad. In The Read-Through she returns home only to tell Ricky that his dad and her are getting a divorce and she leaves again soon after to permanently move to Chicago. After moving she waits for Ricky to call her and once he does her new boyfriend, Todd end up picking up the phone. She decides to introduce Ricky to Todd during the opening night of East High's production of HSM, which leads to Ricky panicking and leaving mid-show once he sees Todd. In Season 2, Ricky visits her during spring break, after his break-up with Nini, she comforts him and gives him a talk about how not all relationships are meant to be.

### Friends

**Nini Salazar-Roberts** **(childhood friend/ex-girlfriend)**

Ricky and Nini have known each other since kindergarten. He gave her the nickname Nini since then because he could not pronounce his A's at the time. He has Nini listed under his favorites in his contacts. They dated until the summer before his junior year when he asked for a break and couldn't say he loved her. During the last few weeks of summer, Ricky tried to go out with other girls, but continued to shamelessly talk about Nini the entire time.

In Act Two, he finally tells her he loves her, resulting in a kiss and the two getting back together.

See also Nini and Ricky

**Big Red** **(best friend)**

Big Red and Ricky are best friends who enjoy skateboarding together. While Ricky's mother returns to their house after being away in Chicago, Ricky goes to Big Red's house as an attempt to get away from his dysfunctional family. However, this plan ultimately backfires as Ricky is unable to sleep because of underlying thoughts regarding his family and Big Red's sleep apnea machine.

In Opening Night, Ricky presents his guitar and a song that he wrote (Just For A Moment) to Big Red. Big Red is the only person to have heard it. Left utterly confused, Big Red wanted to clarify that the song was for Gina. Ricky hesitantly shakes his head, noting that it was for Nini.

See also Ricky and Big Red

**E.J. Caswell**

As they both have loved Nini, E.J. and Ricky form a rivalry. In The Auditions, Nini had a moment of sudden stage fright during her audition which gave Ricky the idea to turn on his flashlight for her to get more comfortable. Following he does this, E.J. mimics his action aggressively to try to one up him.

During a Troy and Chad character warm-up between the two, Ricky unintentionally hits E.J.'s nose with a basketball out of spite.

At the end of Opening Night, Ricky panics over the Youth Arts Conservatory recruiter arriving for Nini and his mother with her new boyfriend, feeling that he wasn't what Nini needed to set a good example for the recruiter. After this unfortunate situation, Ricky finds E.J. and asks him to take over as Troy. E.J. is left surprised, but is seen to take on the role anyway.

See also Ricky and E.J.

**Gina Porter** **(best friend/girlfriend)**

In episode 5, Homecoming, Ricky and Gina share an intimate moment together in the car when Ricky gives Gina a ride back to her house. Proceeding a conversation about their family, Gina plants a kiss on Ricky's cheek before leaving.

In episode 6, after everyone ditches rehearsal, Gina asks to hear a more in-depth idea from Ricky for the musical. He ends up serenading her with an acoustic version of When There Was Me and You. Nini hears him and walks back to the rehearsal room, assuming that Ricky was performing alone. Much to her dismay, she realizes that Ricky was singing to Gina. She storms off in response. After they finished performing Truth, Justice, and Songs in Our Key, Ricky gives Gina a huge hug and spins her around. Nini can be seen watching them from afar.

Before the Thanksgiving party at Ashlyn's in episode 7, Gina shows up to Ricky's house bringing a tray of turkey cupcakes in the hopes of walking to Ashlyn's with him. Ricky is not in the best mood, as he had went to call his mom moments before but heard her boyfriend pick up instead. Understanding the situation, Gina comforts him. She shows him the hat she made him, which cheers him up despite not fitting right.

In episode 8, Gina doesn't answer any texts Ricky sends her, ultimately moving away without saying goodbye.

During Act Two, Gina comes back for the show and has a brief conversation with Ricky.

See also Ricky and Gina

**Ashlyn Caswell (friend)**

While the two characters don't talk much on screen they are shown to care about each other with Ashlyn trying to convince EJ to not steal Ricky's phone in season 1 and in season 2 checking up on Ricky after his break-up with Nini. Ricky and Ashlyn also played the leads together in East High's production of Beauty and the Beast.

See also Ashlyn and Ricky

**Kourtney Greene (friend)**

At first Kourtney doesn't think much of Ricky after his original break-up with Nini but at the end of season 1 she is shown to care about him, asking if he's okay after he sees his mom hugging her boyfriend.

See also Ricky and Kourtney

**Seb Matthew-Smith (friend)**

Ricky and Seb don't interact much in the series but Ricky does help Carlos write a song for him and sing backup vocals while Carlos is performing it.

See alsoSeb and Ricky

**Carlos Rodriguez (friend)**

In season 1 Carlos originally gets frustrated with Ricky because he isn't as familiar with theater but when Ricky shows his commitment to trying to learn the dances Carlos is impressed. In season 2 after hearing about Seb being insecure about his relationship with Carlos Ricky helps him to write a love song for Seb.

See also Carlos and Ricky

**Jet**

Ricky is described as Jet's hero and the only camper to not be scared away from Jet's "bad boy" persona. In Into the Unknown, Ricky sees Jet for the first time and tries to say hello but Jet ignores him. When Ricky goes to his cabin to grab his snowsuit, he tries to talk to Jet again, but Jet still ignores him. When he talks, Ricky asks if he sing as well, but Jet says not anymore. Later when Jet decided to audition for the musical, he hands Jet the paper and encourages him to sing, later calling him a "little Ricky". During the montage while Nini sings You Never Know, Ricky leaves a not on Jet's bed saying "Pretty good for a guy who doesn't sing" but after sharing a look, Jet crumbles the note up and throws it away. In The Woman in the Woods Jet opens up to him about what made him quite music and being misdiagnosed with ADD. Later Ricky is seen playfully hitting twizzlers against Jet's arm like he's playing the drums.

See also Ricky and Jet

### Love Interest(s)

**Nini Salazar-Roberts (childhood friend/ex-girlfriend)**

**Gina Porter (former admirer/best friend/girlfriend/kissed)**

**Lily (ex-girlfriend)**

See also Lily and Ricky

## Appearances

### Season 1

* The Auditions **(Appears)**
* The Read-Through **(Appears)**
* The Wonderstudies **(Appears)**
* Blocking **(Appears)**
* Homecoming **(Appears)**
* What Team? **(Appears)**
* Thanksgiving **(Appears)**
* The Tech Rehearsal **(Appears)**
* Opening Night **(Appears)**
* Act Two **(Appears)**

### Season 2

* New Year's Eve **(Appears)**
* Typecasting **(Appears)**
* Valentine’s Day **(Appears)**
* The Storm **(Appears)**
* The Quinceañero **(Appears)**
* Yes, And... **(Appears)**
* The Field Trip **(Appears)**
* Most Likely To **(Appears)**
* Spring Break **(Appears)**
* The Transformation **(Appears)**
* Showtime **(Appears)**
* Second Chances **(Appears)**

### Season 3

* Happy Campers **(Appears)**
* Into the Unknown **(Appears)**
* The Woman in the Woods **(Appears)**
* No Drama **(Appears)**
* The Real Campers of Shallow Lake **(Appears)**
* Color War **(Appears)**
* Camp Prom **(Appears)**
* Let It Go **(Appears)**

## Filmography

 Season 2 | Spring of 2020
 Season 3 | Summer of 2020
 Season 4 | Fall of 2020

## Songs

### Season 1 (2019-2020)

* I Think I Kinda You Know/Ricky Version
* I Think I Kinda You Know/Duet
* Truth, Justice and Songs in Our Key
* When There Was Me and You
* Just for a Moment
* Get'cha Head in the Game
* Breaking Free
* We're All In This Together

### Season 2 (2021)

* Something in the Air
* The Perfect Gift
* Bet On It
* High School Musical 2 Medley
* Belle
* Even When/The Best Part
* The Mob Song
* Let You Go
* Something There
* Second Chance

### Season 3 (2022)

* Finally Free
* For the First Time in Forever/Do You Want to Build a Snowman? (Mashup)
* What Do You Know About Love?
* It's On
* This is Me
* Kristoff Lullaby
* Everyday

### Season 4 (2023)

* Maybe This Time
* Now or Never (Auditions)
* Puppy Love
* Can I Have This Dance
* Nightmares Come to Life
* Speak Out
* Now or Never
* A Night to Remember
* The Boys Are Back
* Scream
* Right Here, Right Now
* We're All in This Together (Finale)
* Just Wanna Be with You
* High School Musical (Finale)
* Love You Forever
* Born to Be Brave (Finale)

## Quotes

* *It was my idea to take a pause."*
* *"That was the old me."*
* *"I also believed in you... in us."*
* *"Hey, I take this seriously."*
* *"I thought there was a little trust left between us."*
* *"The next time I spill my guts out to you in a voicemail, do me a favor and keep it to yourself."*
* *"I thought we sort of, like, got each other."*
* *"My world's been a little upside down lately."*
* *"This feels different already."*
* *"It's really hard to talk about it, you know? Not with you, but anyone else."*
* *"You're not that scary."*
* *"I kind of need to thank you actually."*
* *"I still don't know all the theater terms."*
* *"It's a little hard to smile when we don't even know the plan."*
* *"Yeah, thanks. I really don't need advice from a buddy right now."*
* *"The whole show's unstoppable."*
* *"I never thought about singing, that's for sure... until you. Now I don't want to stop ever."*
* *"You're, like, one-in-a-million talented."*
* *"OK, but you're, like, good at everything else, so I don't want to hear it."*
* *"My parents took me to Disneyland once, and I met a very talented Minnie Mouse."*
* *"I love you. I've loved you since the first time you picked up your ukulele and you wrote a song about clouds."*
* *"Acting, dancing, throwing drinks in people's faces."*
* *"I don't hate musicals. I just think it's weird when people, like, burst into song in the middle of the street."*
* *"It's about Zac Efron dancing with a basketball."*
* *"That night in your room when you told me you loved me, I meant to say it. I meant to say it! And I’ve kicked myself every day since then, because I didn’t say it. But I do. I love you."*
* *"I never outgrew you."*
* *"Friend of the Year over here. Give me a ribbon."*
* *"He's bringing the mints, I'm bringing the moves."*
* *"I don’t really know what happens tomorrow, or in two minutes when we walk out that door. All I know is I want this feeling to keep going.*
* In The Real Campers of Shallow Lake: "I for one am looking forward to being reviled by America"

## Trivia

* The creator of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Tim Federle named both Ricky's parents Lynne Bowen and Mike Bowen after his parents.
* He has a fear of change.
* His parents are separated/divorced.
* His first crush was Minnie Mouse and his second crush was Nini Salazar-Roberts.
* His real name is Richard Bowen, and his nickname "Ricky" was given to him by Nini in kindergarten.
* He can skateboard.
* He enjoys arranging songs to play on his acoustic guitar.
* He can play both the Guitar and Piano.
* He was cast as the male lead role four times in a row.
* He helped Carlos Rodriguez write a song about how he feels about Seb Matthew-Smith called "In a Heartbeat" in The Transformation.
* He broke his wrist in The Transformation when he fell on Ashlyn Caswell when the harness broke.
* He is Lily's favorite actor at East High School.
* His 18th birthday was on Opening Night for *Frozen*.
* He has a G.P.A, of 1.8
* He got accepted to Salt Lake City Community College.
* Him, along with Ashlyn and Carlos, are the only main characters to appear in every episode.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CQCrqdijhVE/
2. ↑ The Tech Rehearsal
3. ↑ Showtime