Arrest Made In Random Attack On Canadian Comedy Legend Rick Moranis

New York police have made an arrest after Canadian actor Rick Moranis was randomly attacked last month. 

The 67-year-old star of “Ghostbusters” and “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” was walking near his Upper West Side apartment near Central Park on the morning of Oct. 1 when a man wearing a “I (heart) NY” sweatshirt sucker punched him, police reported.

Moranis fell to the ground and suffered back, hip, neck and head pain. He took himself to the hospital and then reported the incident to police. 

Surveillance footage was released the next day. On Saturday, police announced the suspect, Marquis Ventura, had been arrested and charged “thanks to an eagle-eyed sergeant” from the transit department.

The accused was recently arrested for an attack a few weeks after Moranis was punched. In that incident, the suspect allegedly assaulted a 61-year-old standing on a subway platform, the New York Post reported . 

Ventura is also charged in relation to another random attack in April, when a young woman on a train was punched in the face.  

Moranis was born in Toronto, and began his career as a radio DJ while still in high school. In the 1980s, he joined the cast of the Canadian sketch comedy series Second City Television, winning an Emmy for writing and playing the character Bob MacKenzie. 

He went on to star in films including “Spaceballs,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Parenthood.”  

When Moranis’s wife died of breast cancer in 1991, he stepped away from acting to take care of his kids. 

In 2020, Moranis came out of semi-retirement to join fellow Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds in a Mint Mobile commercial . 

“We brought in an actor we’ve all gone too long without — Rick Moranis,” Reynolds said in the ad. “I’m a huge fan.” 

After the attack on Moranis, Reynolds was quick to wish him well.