Ricky Bartlett is a SAG-AFTRA actor, radio host, Society of Voice Arts and Sciences (SOVAS) award-winning voiceover artist and double-leg amputee. Most notably, the Columbus, Ga. native appeared in an episode of Chicago P.D. in 2019, which was his debut acting role.
He now serves on SAG-AFTRA’s Diversity and Ethnic Equal Opportunities (EEO) Committee. Bartlett is also the head of Creative Development for Studio b.Vox — a voiceover company that he created and runs from his current home in Louisiana.
After having his left leg amputated in 2014 due to contracting necrotizing fasciitis while hiking, Bartlett decided to have his right leg removed in 2022 because of complications caused by the same flesh-eating disease.
Bartlett spoke with Able News about representation for the disabled community, as well as staying positive through everything that has come his way.
You discovered you lost a toe before your first amputation and you just flushed it down the toilet like nothing happened. Is that correct?
One day, I walked into the bathroom, undid my bandages and I found my middle toe sitting in the bandage. I didn’t panic. I just thought, “What would my cavemen ancestors have done?”
Would they have cried about it and went to the local doctor? No. They had sabretooths chasing them. I wrapped everything back up, cleaned it up and walked the best as I could back into the dining room where we were having Thanksgiving dinner.
Never told anybody, but my wife Jennifer knew something was up because the stench was horrible. But that was my mentality. It was stupid, but that was it.
Now you made the call to have your second leg amputated. How did you come to that decision?
They originally told me that they needed to amputate half the foot. And I said, “No, I’m not walking around looking like no goat. Amputate it to the same area that my left leg is.”
Then on Friday the 13th, they chop-chopped that thing right off. That was the best decision I’ve ever made; I didn’t have to put my wife through that again. During the first amputation, the only way I went to that hospital was hearing that woman scream of frustration because she thought I was going to die in that bed, and they told me that had I laid in that bed for 12 hours, I would have.
Getting into the acting world, have you experienced any difficulties with getting roles with being disabled?
I had an audition for a Jardiance commercial. I had diabetes, so I thought it was great. I contacted the casting department and they said, “We’re not going to put you into this audition because we don’t think the director is going to want you.”
They basically blocked me because they didn’t think I’d be able to do a lot. That angered me, so I posted it on Facebook and I ended up getting on the SAG-AFTRA’s Diversity and EEO Committee. Now I can do something about these things, but when it comes to actors with disabilities, we are so shadowed.
Do you have any projects lined up?
I’m doing a video game called Get Prepped! as a voiceover and I love it; it’s beautiful. The woman who founded this video game company was human trafficked internationally and she survived.
That’s why I’m so passionate about it. There are kids out there playing eight hours of video games on a Saturday, but they also may be dealing with some things and they can’t or won’t talk to someone.
What this game does is they have real licensed therapists, so while they’re playing the game in this apocalyptic world, they can go to a virtual office and do a telemedicine conference with someone to get the help they need. That blew my mind, so I immediately said, “I would love to be a part of this.”
I was sexually abused, so this video game pulled me closer because of my own experience. Being driven from Columbus to Atlanta at 11 years old and having men waiting there for me to be passed around was the moment I wanted to commit suicide.
When I was in a hospital for therapy after my first amputation, all the nurses wanted to come to my room because everyone was so negative. But I was positive because losing my legs was not the worst thing that ever happened to me.
You won a Danny Award for singing. What was stepping out of your comfort zone for that experience like?
At first, I said “No,” but then I remembered that Gabriel Iglesias said, “You always say yes.” The Danny Awards is global; they were looking for everybody from everywhere and they were choosing 10 people. When they called me up, I thought they were joking.
They flew me out to New York and I performed on Broadway. After that, someone emailed me and said, “I was in the audience back in 2023 and I loved your speech at the end. I was going to commit suicide the next day, but that speech made me decide I need to beat my own monsters.”
You want to see a big old country boy crying? That touched my heart like you wouldn’t believe.
Do you ever wonder what your life would look like if you hadn’t gone hiking that day?
I don’t think I’d be as happy. I complained a lot back then about the small things. Having gone through that and realizing that I could have died, I feel like I’m a better person now because I see things differently than I did before.
I try not to tell other folks what to do. But you have to understand that you will wake up the next day. That sun’s going to shine, so make sure you focus on the positive because what you put out there comes back.
Anthony DiCocco is a reporter with The SBU Media Group, part of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism’s Working Newsroom program for students and local media.
April is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month