Richard "Ricky" Bowen is one of the main characters in the Disney+ Original Series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. He is the son of Lynne and Mike Bowen, and 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 joins East High School's Drama Club. 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 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 of Frozen. In Season 4, he reprised his role as Troy Bolton in East High School's fall production of High School Musical 3: Senior Year. U
Background[]
Ricky is a snarky sweetheart, a B-minus student, and our star. Ricky's been dating fellow junior Nini for a year. When she unexpectedly breaks up with Ricky, he launches a bold plan to get Nini back — by auditioning to star opposite her in the school's production of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. Ricky's class-clowning covers a deep fear that he's not actually great at anything, except coasting by on charm. Constantly attempting get-rich-quick schemes with best friend and fellow skater Big Red. Stays up too late bingeing GoPro stunt videos on YouTube. Voted "Most likely to sleep through his alarm."[1]
Personality[]
Ricky is said to be a sensitive comedian. 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. He is a kind, caring boy who is always on the look out for his friends.
Physical appearance[]
Ricky has curly brown hair with blond highlights. He has a slim build and is tall.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Richard Bowen was born in the summer of 2002 to Lynne and Mike Bowen.
When Ricky was in kindergarten, he met Nini Salazar-Roberts. Ricky didn't know how to pronounce "Nina", so he just called her "Nini", and it stuck since then. In first grade Nini had decided to call Ricky "Ricky" because "Richard" sounded like an old man's name. Ricky started dating Nini the summer before their sophomore year and broke up in the Summer of 2019, when Nini confessed her love to him after showing him a song she wrote for him and posted on Instagram for their one-year anniversary ("I Think I Kinda, You Know"). Ricky suggests they take a pause due to her leaving for theatre camp and not being able to express his feelings.
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 named E.J. Caswell in order to impress her. He ended up getting the lead role, Troy Bolton 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 but 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 bathroom 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, him and the boys talk to E.J. about him having a 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[]
TBA
Color War[]
TBA
Camp Prom[]
TBA
Let It Go[]
TBA
Season Four[]
TBA
Relationships[]
Family[]
Mike Bowen (father)
Lynne Bowen (mother)
Friends[]
Big Red (best friend)
Nini Salazar-Roberts (childhood friend/ex-girlfriend)
Gina Porter (best friend/former teammate/girlfriend)
Carlos Rodriguez (former bunk-mate/friend)
Seb Matthew-Smith (friend)
Ashlyn Caswell (former teammate/friend)
E.J. Caswell (former cabin-mate/former enemy/former teammate/friend)
Kourtney Greene (friend)
Jet (former cabin-mate/friend)
Love Interest(s)[]
Gina Porter (girlfriend)
Lily (ex-girlfriend)
Nini Salazar-Roberts (ex-girlfriend)
Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- The Auditions
- The Read-Through
- The Wonderstudies
- Blocking
- Homecoming
- What Team?
- Thanksgiving
- The Tech Rehearsal
- Opening Night
- Act Two
Season 2[]
- New Year's Eve
- Typecasting
- Valentine's Day
- The Storm
- The Quinceañero
- Yes, And...
- The Field Trip
- Most Likely To
- Spring Break
- The Transformation
- Showtime
- Second Chances
Season 3[]
- Happy Campers
- Into the Unknown
- The Woman in the Woods
- No Drama
- The Real Campers of Shallow Lake
- Color War
- Camp Prom
- Let It Go
Season 4[]
- High School Musical
- HSM v. HSM
- A Star is Reborn
- Trick or Treat
- Admissions
- Trust the Process
- Night of Nights
- Born to Be Brave
Gallery[]
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 Nini, and his second crush was Minnie Mouse.
- 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 lead male 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.
- The only song he claims that he knows from Frozen is Love is an Open Door because Lily made him sing it on their second date.
- Ricky's 18th birthday was on Opening Night for Frozen in the episode Let It Go.
- Ricky's GPA is 1.8.
- Ricky is one of the three characters that appeared in every episode in the series along with Ashlyn Caswell and Carlos Rodriguez.