Rico aka “Zombie Boy” was born Rick Genest from La Salle, Quebec, and grew up in Chateauguay. His first appearance as Zombie Boy was in Lady Gaga’s video Born This Way. Over 80 percent of his body is covered in tattoos, including his face. Rick’s tattoos are what he calls his “project.” So, what does one do when one nearly escapes death, obsesses over horror films, and lives for fashion? He covers nearly every inch of his body with tattooed images of bones, rotting flesh, death symbols, and bugs. And this unusual supermodel has been busy appearing in films, recording music, and walking the runways from Paris to Prague.
As a teenager, Rick Genest was diagnosed with a brain tumor. At the age of 15, he underwent a complicated, high-risk surgery with an extremely low chance of survival. Because of the tumor’s position, his options were bleak. He was faced with the choices of possibly dying, blindness, or life on a respirator as a vegetable for the rest of his life. Rick beat the odds and survived surgery unscathed, alive, and ready to begin his new life…