Rick Genest


Rick Genest, also known as Zombie Boy, was a Canadian artist, actor, fashion model, and musician. He held a Guinness World Record for his full-body tattoos.

Personal life

Genest was born in Châteauguay, Quebec. Diagnosed with a brain tumor, he was on the surgery waitlist for six months, during which he contemplated his life and possible death, before undergoing the surgery with minimal complications.
Genest subsequently had himself tattooed over most of his body, and held the Guinness World Record for the most tattoos of human bones.

Career

Tattooed as a living skeleton, Genest also worked in various sideshows and freak shows across Canada as an illustrated man. Not long after beginning his facial tattoos, Genest was first introduced to the public on November 13, 2006 in a blog post on BME's ModBlog, which was followed in March 2008 by his first interview, by which time his tattoos were largely completed. In this interview, Genest clarified that he preferred the moniker "Zombie" to "Skullboy", as BME had been referring to him.
The introductions on RzyM's Channel led to increasingly mainstream media coverage, notably a June 2008 feature in Bizarre magazine. In the 2009 television film Carny, starring Lou Diamond Phillips as a small-town sheriff, Genest was seen as a Tattooed Man at the Carnival. Following, he was again discovered by Marc Quinn, in Bromont, Quebec, where Genest was working with the sideshow, Alive on the Inside, at Carnivàle Lune Bleue during the summer of 2010.

As a model

On January 19, 2011, Genest was featured in the new Thierry Mugler Autumn/Winter men's collection, headlining it on the brand's website, after his discovery by Formichetti, also Mugler's creative director. It was Genest's involvement and Lady Gaga's urging which resulted in the menswear show, something not originally planned. His involvement also influenced Formichetti on the collection itself. The show was accompanied by a video featuring Genest, shot by fashion photographer Mariano Vivanco. He later featured alongside Lady Gaga in the fashion show for the women's 2011 Autumn/Winter line.
On February 27, 2011, Genest was featured in Lady Gaga's video for "Born This Way", with Lady Gaga wearing makeup to replicate Genest's tattoos. Genest was featured in the sixth volume of Vogue Hommes Japan in an editorial titled "Hard To Be Passive". In the Summer issue of GQ Style, Formichetti and he are interviewed, with Genest shot in Mugler by Karim Sadli for the editorial.
In late 2011, Genest was featured in a campaign entitled "Go Beyond the Cover", promoting Dermablend professional makeup products, appearing in a video where a makeup team covered all the tattoos on his head, torso, arms, and part of his back in its concealer product. The advert then shows him sitting with the phrase "How do you judge a book?". He then proceeds to remove portions of the makeup, starting with a section of his chest to reveal the tattoo underneath, continuing to his face. The video then shows the process of applying the cover-up played backwards. The commercial success of this campaign led to a 2-year endorsement contract with L'Oreal for Genest, who became its first-ever male spokesperson. Genest also appeared in the music video of the Polish pop singer Honey. The video for her song "Sabotage" was released on January 19, 2012.
For the 2012 San Diego Comic Con, the Tonner Doll Company produced "Zombie Boy", a limited edition character figure in Genest's likeness. He was Tonner's guest at the convention as well. Included with each doll is a certificate of authenticity signed by Genest. The edition was limited to 500 dolls, all of which were sold as of July 27, 2012.
In September 2012, Genest became the face of the Jay-Z music fashion label Roc-A-Wear for its re-launch in Europe.

As an actor and musician

He was cast as the character "Foreman" in the 2013 film 47 Ronin, featuring Keanu Reeves. Genest was featured in the marketing for the film, appearing on posters and in trailers; however, due to various post-process tensions, stemming from the 2011 version of the film in which Universal executives wanted Reeves to become a more integral part of the film, Genest was largely edited out of the final version.
Genest collaborated with British solo artist KAV on the single "Dirty Rejects" released May 21, 2013. They spent the first part of 2013 recording an album project and a video titled "Monsters Versus the World" in Los Angeles. The project was discontinued.
As of January 2015, Genest was working with Riggs, ex-Rob Zombie guitarist, on an upcoming album. Zombie Boy music featuring Riggs. On the horror news site Bloody Disgusting, a "Zombie Boy 666 Medley" video was released featuring samples of six songs to be on the upcoming album.
In June 2017, as part of the TEDx #DISRUPTyou, Genest released a video titled "Normal is an illusion", which recounted his experiences with a brain tumour, among other things.
Unveiled in 2019, an sculpture of Genest called "Self-Conscious Gene" is a new permanent fixture at the Science Museum, London, UK. The statue was created by British artist Marc Quinn.

Death

On August 1, 2018, six days before his 33rd birthday, Genest was found dead after a fall from the fourth floor balcony at his apartment in the Plateau-Mont-Royal district of Montreal. A police source initially told CBC the death was likely a suicide. However, in October 2019 coroner Melissa Gagnon ruled the death was accidental. Her investigation concluded that Genest died from head trauma after landing on the sidewalk and furthermore noted a high level of alcohol in his system with traces of cannabis, with no "unequivocal" evidence of suicidal intent. He left no suicide note, had recently been engaged, and by all accounts found his career fulfilling. Some relatives and friends believed all along it had been an accident. His manager, of a similar height to Genest, noted the balcony railing ends below his hips. He speculated that Genest lost his balance and fell, explaining Genest often leaned against or sat on railings while smoking.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
2009CarnyCarny
2013AquarioZombie BoyShort
201347 RoninForemanA larger role was initially developed
2013In Faustian FashionPhoenix
2014Love at Last SightZombie Boy
2017Silent WitnessEl Buitre

Music

YearAlbumSong
TBATBA"That Terrible Song"
TBATBA"Monster Inside"
TBATBA"Monster Man"
TBATBA"Yeah Bebe Yeah"
TBATBA"Darkness Falls"
TBATBA"Bad to the Bone"