BadBoy

BadBoy was the star of the hit MuchMusic variety show "Badboy's Choice". BadBoy was played by different actors over the course of the show's 2-year run. The first BadBoy actor was Michael Wharton from Scarborough, Ontario. The character of came to a tragic end on 9/11 - while shooting a promo for a show he would be doing in NYC, then-BadBoy actor Rick DeSanto was in Tower 1 and was killed during the terrorist attack. The character would also have a cameo appearance in the music video for Len's "Steal My Sunshine."

Origin
BadBoy was created by Melvin Lastman as a way of having a cool, hip character for the new millennium to promote his furniture company Bad Boy Furniture. The BadBoy character at this time would appear at company meetings and would sometimes appear in store to spin a wheel that would give away prizes and discounts on furniture.

MuchMusic executives loved the character and bought the rights for an undisclosed amount of money with the intention of creating a show based around him. The deal was struck on the condition that Mr. Lastman be executive producer.

Characteristics
While several interns would play the role of BadBoy over the course of the show's run, BadBoy's appearance and overall personality was standardized. BadBoy would typically be a white male in his early 20s, slender figure, with bleached and spiked hair. Clothing was also very important to the character of BadBoy - typically he would wear sunglasses, a tropical or flame-printed button up shirt of some kind, cargo shorts, and a necklace. Despite being portrayed only by white men, BadBoy speaks with a patois accent. The reason for this is unknown but it was likely an attempt to give the character a "tropical" flair.

Portrayed by
Michael Wharton

Joey Selfridge

Chess Henderson

Dave Smith

Armando Ferraro

Rick DeSanto