It's probably not surprising that the patron saint of shark jumping spent much of his youth at the beach. Born in Orange County, Calif. (he now lives in L.A. with his wife, actress Gigi Rice, and his two sons), McGinley, 45, was a surfer and a lifeguard. While attending USC, McGinley gave modeling a shot, and one of his gigs wound up costing him his water-polo scholarship: The university concluded the money he'd earned appearing in sporting-goods ads constituted an ''endorsement'' that violated NCAA regulations. McGinley decided to dry off and go with modeling full-time. After moving to New York City, he landed an assortment of ads (his sunny face graced boxes of Sun-In hair lightener, alongside a young Sharon Stone) before he was discovered by director Garry Marshall, who cast him in ''Happy Days'' in 1980 and also gave him his big-screen start in 1982's ''Young Doctors in Love.''
''Hope'''s Ford expresses complete confidence in her new costar. ''Kelly and I just sort of looked at each other when they said the thing about jump the shark and we were like, WHAT?'' says Ford. ''I said, 'That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!' You have to laugh at it.''
And at least one former colleague suggests that, far from being a show killer, McGinley may in fact have precisely the opposite effect. ''I don't know about his previous experiences, but on our show he was around for a long time,'' says David Faustino, who played Bundy son Bud on ''Children.'' ''You can't really consider that a show killer. Maybe for us he was actually a good-luck charm.''
A sentiment Ripa seconds. ''If I had 10 shows, I'd make sure he was on all 10 of them,'' she says. ''His record is so good -- I mean look at all the shows he's been on, they've all been hits. He's been associated with every hit. And he's been on the shows for years. So, I mean, if he's a show killer, put him on my show, please, my God!''
Marion Ross, who played ''Happy Days'' matriarch Marion Cunningham, costarred with McGinley during his first three seasons on TV, and Mrs. C has her own take on the McGinley mystique: ''In order to really get ahead in this world, you've got to have a little bit of a killer in you.''
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