Ted McGinley wife Gigi Rice is the Ohio State graduate he met at a Florida dinner theater in 1988. So how did two working actors turn a backstage crush into a 35-year marriage? This profile answers that in the couple’s own words, then checks those words against reporting.
In brief: Ted McGinley wife Gigi Rice was born on March 13, 1965, and studied theatre at Ohio State University. She met Ted in 1988 at Burt Reynolds’ dinner theater in Jupiter, Florida, and they married in 1991. The couple has two sons, Beau and Quinn, and they live in Los Angeles.
Ted McGinley Wife Gigi Rice: How They Met and Fell in Love
The Ted McGinley wife story starts in 1988. Ted had just turned 30 when he took a role in a play at Burt Reynolds’ dinner theater. It sits in Jupiter, Florida. Gigi was already performing there.
Reynolds picked Ted up at the airport and gave him a warning. Strange things happened at that theater, he said. People fell in love, and some of them divorced.
Years later, Ted told the Palm Beach Post it was “almost as if he was fortunetelling.” MeTV dates that interview to 1991.
Ted noticed Gigi right away. Even so, he waited two weeks before he spoke to her. Meanwhile, he watched her play the same emotional scene week after week.
Gigi’s side comes from a 1995 Gannett News Service interview. She said she felt a spark the moment he walked in. Then she said she knew almost at once that she wanted to marry him.
Jupiter helped, too. In her words, it was “the most romantic place in the world.”
When Ted finally walked over, Gigi blanked. She complimented his tan, and that started the conversation. Their first date was casual, at a mall restaurant called Chuck & Harold’s.
Later, Ted said it became their favorite restaurant. So the romance began without a fancy dinner.
They didn’t marry right away. MeTV’s retelling of the 1991 coverage says about three years passed. Then, one day in summer 1991, they skipped the big wedding plans and married at a church.
The Palm Beach Post’s wedding notice called the match heaven-made. IMDb’s biography lists the date as June 21, 1991. That fits the summer timing, though we couldn’t confirm it in a primary source.
What This Relationship Means to Them, In Their Own Words
Ted’s fullest remarks on his marriage come from a May 2012 interview with Your Teen. The magazine asked whether his kids had always come first. His answer started with Gigi instead.
He said he’d wanted her to see Europe with him because she’d never traveled. Travel meant everything to him, so he needed a future wife who could handle hard moments. After they traveled together, “she was great so I knew I could marry her.”
Then the boys came. In the same interview, he said the couple hadn’t traveled since. He told that story again in March 2024, with a laugh.
The Love Boat gave him the travel bug, he told Fox News Digital. After that, “we never went anywhere again.”
Also, Ted said the house would feel hugely empty once the boys left for college. He called the kids the center of his and Gigi’s life.
He praised his wife in a lighter moment, too. Asked about Dancing with the Stars, he said she’d love to be on the show. He called her a great dancer and stunning.
Fox News Digital also caught him talking about shared work. Ted said he and Gigi produced a Western in 2023. He called it a hard film to watch in some ways.
Next came the friendships. Ted said he and Gigi have become friends with Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. Downey is his Baxters co-star, and Burnett is her husband. Ted said he and Gigi have visited their home.
Still, the Ted McGinley wife has said less on the record. We found no recent long interview with her about the marriage. Ted doesn’t use social media, he told Fox, so there’s no running commentary from him either.
Where the record is thin, we’ve left it thin.
What Reporters Found That Wasn’t in the Interview
Reporting adds a few facts the couple didn’t state. Fox News Digital wrote in March 2024 that they’d been married more than 32 years. It listed their sons as Beau, 29, and Quinn, 27.
Wikipedia adds detail about the Ted McGinley wife’s early work. After college, she apprenticed at the Jupiter theater. She appeared in Mame, directed by Charles Nelson Reilly, and in I’m Not Rappaport, directed by Reynolds.
MeTV reports a career bump around their wedding year. Harry and the Hendersons cut her episodes in 1991, it says. So she left the show rather than accept fewer episodes.
A few years later, she joined The John Larroquette Show. By 1993, she was a series regular again.
One point doesn’t match. Several profile sites say the pair dated only five months before the wedding. That conflicts with the 1988 meeting and the three-year gap in the 1991 account.
We found no primary source for the five-month claim. So we’ve used the version that traces back to Ted’s own interview.
Ted McGinley Wife Gigi Rice: Her Life and Career
Gigi was born Georgeanne Marie Rice on March 13, 1965. She’s 61 as of October 2026. Sources split on her birthplace.
IMDb says Columbus, Ohio. Wikipedia says Westerville, a Columbus suburb. Either way, it’s central Ohio.
Her father, Thomas Rice, worked as a law enforcement administrator, per Encyclopedia.com. As a teenager, she danced at an amusement park in Cincinnati. Then she studied theatre at Ohio State University.
Wikipedia lists a bachelor of fine arts in musical theatre. She also attended Burt Reynolds’ theatre institute, per Encyclopedia.com.
Her TV career began in 1989 with B.L. Stryker. Then she played Samantha Glick on Harry and the Hendersons in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, she played Lavonne Overton on Delta.
Her best-known role came next. From 1993 to 1996, she played Carly Watkins on The John Larroquette Show. She appeared in 84 episodes.
Later, she played Charlotte Lerner on Significant Others in 1998. That year, she also appeared in A Night at the Roxbury. In 2002, she had a recurring part on Do Over.
In 2012, Ted said she was playing a grandmother on Army Wives. Then a 2013 See Dad Run episode credited her as Gigi McGinley. Her credits span more than two decades.
Ted McGinley’s Early Life and Career Before He Met Gigi
Theodore Martin McGinley was born on May 30, 1958, in Newport Beach, California. He turned 68 in May 2026. A water polo scholarship took him to the University of Southern California.
Modeling led to his first acting job. Some accounts credit a talent agent, while others credit a casting director who saw a photo in GQ. Either way, he landed Happy Days.
His credits before and after the marriage line up like this:
- Happy Days (1980 to 1984): He played Roger Phillips. Fox News Digital gives 1982 as his start, which differs from most references.
- Film work: He appeared in Young Doctors in Love in 1982. He played Stan Gable in Revenge of the Nerds in 1984.
- The Love Boat (1984 to about 1986): He played the ship’s photographer.
- Dynasty (1986 to 1987): Encyclopedia.com lists this run.
- Married… with Children (1991 to 1997): He played Jefferson D’Arcy. Fox gives 1989, but Wikipedia and Encyclopedia.com say 1991.
- Hope & Faith (from 2003): He played Charley Shanowski.
- Dancing with the Stars (2008): He competed on season seven.
- The Baxters (2024) and Shrinking: He plays John Baxter on Prime Video and appears on Apple TV+.
The timing stands out. His Married… with Children run began in 1991. That’s also the year he married Gigi.
Fox says he replaced David Garrison after the show’s fourth season. Jefferson D’Arcy became Marcy’s second husband.
Working Together on Screen
Ted McGinley wife Gigi Rice has shared a screen with him before. In 1996, NBC aired Deadly Web, with Ted starring and Gigi co-starring. Encyclopedia.com lists her role as Terri Lawrence.
Their 2023 Western was a producing partnership instead. Ted mentioned it to Fox News Digital in 2024 and gave few other details.
Raising Beau and Quinn
Beau was born in 1994, according to Wikipedia. IMDb lists his birthday as May 25. That fits Fox’s age of 29 for him in March 2024.
So Beau is 31 or 32 as of October 2026. Quinn is about two years younger, based on Fox’s ages. Profile sites disagree on his birth date, so we haven’t given one.
Ted has said the family lived in West Los Angeles in 2012. So many neighbors worked in entertainment that his fame barely registered with the boys.
The boys never watched Married… with Children, he said. When they were small, it wasn’t suitable. Later, they just weren’t interested.
He coached a baseball team, and kids sometimes quoted his old episodes. His sons had no idea what they meant.
Fame brought friction at times. Strangers asked for photos or autographs in public, and the family grew impatient. Still, Ted chose to stay gracious, and he said the boys learned patience.
On careers, he said neither son planned to act, though both led their eighth-grade musical. He called his younger son an amazing dancer and a good actor. He’d prefer steadier work for them, and he’d back them after college.
He also said one son is very good at science and might like medicine. He didn’t say which son. Beau’s own path isn’t documented in any source we trust.
In 2008, his younger son was with him on Dancing with the Stars. That son saw a vulnerable father, Ted said, and he’d still do the show again.
Ted also took his oldest son on a college trip in 2012. He said they rarely get time alone, and he called the trip magic.
Ted McGinley Wife in 2026: Where the Family Stands
Ted is 68 and still working. He’s on Apple TV+’s Shrinking, and he played John Baxter in The Baxters on Prime Video. Gigi is 61.
The couple marked 35 years of marriage in 2026. Every source we checked still lists them as married. They live in Los Angeles, according to Wikipedia.
For the money side of Ted’s career, see [INTERNAL LINK: Ted McGinley net worth → Ted McGinley net worth article]. It puts his estimated net worth at about $5 million, built from career benchmarks. That figure isn’t a verified disclosure, and nothing documents Gigi’s finances.
Why the Ted McGinley Wife Story Holds Up
The Ted McGinley wife story has no scandal to sort through. It has a theater, a warning from Burt Reynolds, and a quick wedding. It also has a husband who says he knew he’d marry her after a trip abroad.
What’s left is a steady partnership across 35 years and two careers. We’ll update this page if Ted, Gigi, or their sons say more.
More on This Topic: Who Is Beau Martin McGinley? The Quiet Eldest Son of Ted McGinley and Gigi Rice
FAQ
Who is Ted McGinley’s wife?
Ted McGinley wife Gigi Rice is an actress and Ohio State graduate. She’s best known as Carly Watkins on The John Larroquette Show. She was born on March 13, 1965.
When did Ted McGinley marry Gigi Rice?
They married in summer 1991. IMDb lists June 21, 1991, which fits that timing. We couldn’t confirm the exact date in a primary source.
How did Ted McGinley meet his wife?
They met in 1988 at Burt Reynolds’ dinner theater in Jupiter, Florida. Ted had taken a role in a play there. Gigi was already performing at the theater.
Do Ted McGinley and his wife have children?
Yes, they have two sons, Beau and Quinn. Beau was born in 1994. Fox News Digital listed Quinn as 27 in March 2024.
How old is the Ted McGinley wife?
Gigi Rice was born on March 13, 1965. She’s 61 as of October 2026. Ted is 68.
Are Ted McGinley and Gigi Rice still married?
Every source we checked lists them as married. Fox News Digital said in March 2024 that they’d been together more than 32 years. They marked 35 years in 2026.
Disclaimer: The biographical timeline and relationship details in this profile were compiled by our team using historical press coverage, broadcast interviews, and public entertainment databases. While every fact is cited, this is an independent editorial piece and has not been directly reviewed, contributed to, or verified by Ted McGinley, Gigi Rice, or their representatives.
Sources: Ted McGinley interview, Your Teen, May 9, 2012 Fox News Digital interview with Ted McGinley, March 22, 2024 MeTV, “Ted McGinley found his true love…” Also consulted, unlinked: Wikipedia entries for Ted McGinley and Gigi Rice; Encyclopedia.com entries for both; IMDb biography for Gigi Rice
