Rick Bynes spent his working life as a dentist in Thousand Oaks, California. He also did stand-up on the side, and sometime in the early 1990s he mailed a joke to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. It aired. At the time, his youngest child was still in preschool.
That child was Amanda Bynes, who grew up to become one of the biggest child stars in the country, while her father stayed in the background of her very public life. Most coverage remembers him as the supportive dad who drove her to auditions. The rest of the story is less tidy.
Table of Contents
Who Is Rick Bynes?
Rick Bynes, born Richard Bynes, is a retired American dentist best known as the father of former Nickelodeon star Amanda Bynes. He and his wife, Lynn Organ, raised three children in Thousand Oaks, California, and he was the one who first pointed Amanda toward comedy as a child.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Richard “Rick” Bynes |
| Known for | Father of actress Amanda Bynes |
| Occupation | Dentist (retired) |
| Born | Chicago, Illinois |
| Education | University of Southern California |
| Spouse | Lynn Organ (married 1967) |
Rick and Lynn married in 1967 and had three children:
- Tommy, born 1973, who became a chiropractor
- Jillian, born 1983, a former actress now working as a kindergarten teacher
- Amanda, born 1986, the youngest
Lynn worked beside Rick as a dental assistant in his office, so the practice and the household ran as one.
A Dentist With a Comedian’s Streak
Comedy ran through the house long before Amanda was famous. Rick did stand-up routines on his own time, and he passed the habit to his kids. Amanda described him on The Howie Mandel Show in 1999: “He likes to do comedy. He makes everybody laugh so they don’t mind going to the dentist.”
The Leno joke from the early ’90s eventually came full circle. When Amanda appeared as a guest on the show on September 17, 2007, an NBC producer brought Rick out of the audience to deliver it himself, with Lynn laughing nearby. Getty Images photographed the moment.
How Rick Helped Launch Amanda’s Career
When Amanda was around 10, Rick enrolled her in a kids’ comedy camp at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, where she got coaching from Richard Pryor and Arsenio Hall. A cast member from Nickelodeon’s All That saw her perform and recommended her to producer Dan Schneider. Amanda joined All That in 1996 and landed her own spinoff, The Amanda Show, in 1999, when she was 13.
Former colleagues who appear in the 2024 documentary Quiet on Set said Rick and Schneider “carefully crafted Amanda’s career” together.
He was also willing to turn down money. A producer once offered Amanda a job that would have kept her in Florida five months a year, and Rick said no. He explained the decision to the Los Angeles Times in 1999: “The reason everybody likes Amanda is who she is. The minute you take her away from here, from her brother and her sister and house, well, you might not have Amanda anymore.”
When Amanda Tried to Leave
Around the ages of 16 and 17, Amanda filed for emancipation from her parents. Schneider has since said she phoned him late one night after a fight, he believes with her father, and asked for help getting out. He arranged for someone to collect her, and she ended up at a police station.
The emancipation request failed in court. It also opened a rift between Schneider and Amanda’s parents, according to journalists who appear in Quiet on Set. Amanda has never described that night publicly. When she wanted out, she called her producer, not her father.
The Conservatorship Begins
Amanda retired from acting in 2010, at 24, and her life came apart in public soon after. The family had spent years in Texas, but by 2012 Rick and Lynn had moved back to California to be near her. In July 2013, Amanda was hospitalized on a psychiatric hold, and her parents went to court.
Here is how the arrangement actually worked. In August 2013, Lynn, not Rick, was granted a temporary conservatorship over Amanda. Lynn held authority over her daughter’s personal and medical decisions, a role she would keep for years.
The 2014 Abuse Allegations
Partway through the conservatorship, in October 2014, Amanda accused Rick of abuse in a series of posts on Twitter, then took the claims back days later, writing that “the microchip in my brain made me say those things.” She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around the same time.
The family answered on the record. Through their attorney, Tamar Arminak, Lynn said Rick “has been the best father and husband a family can ask for” and “has never abused Amanda or our other children physically or sexually.” Amanda’s brother and sister released their own statement rejecting the accusation. In 2018, Amanda apologized for the posts, said she was “ashamed and embarrassed,” and credited her parents with helping her get sober.
How the Conservatorship Ended
In 2017, the financial side of the conservatorship was restructured into a trust, with Rick named as trustee while Lynn kept control of Amanda’s personal care. The arrangement stayed in place for close to nine years in all.
On March 22, 2022, Ventura County Judge Roger L. Lund ended it. Amanda’s parents supported the decision, and in her statement that day she thanked her fans, her lawyer, and her parents.
Where Is Rick Bynes Now?
Rick Bynes has stayed out of public view. His last notable interview ran in the Los Angeles Times in 1999, and his Thousand Oaks dental practice has since closed.
Amanda, meanwhile, has shown her artwork at a Los Angeles pop-up, released music, and spoken openly about her surgeries, her medication, and her weight. Her father has not come up once since the conservatorship ended.
Rick once mailed a joke to a late-night show, and years later he stood on that stage to tell it himself because his daughter was the guest. Today he says nothing about her at all. Whatever happened between them, neither one talks about it in public.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Rick Bynes?
Rick Bynes is a retired dentist from Thousand Oaks, California, and the father of former child actress Amanda Bynes. He and his wife, Lynn Organ, raised three children, and he encouraged Amanda’s early interest in comedy.
What does Rick Bynes do for a living?
He worked as a dentist in Thousand Oaks for decades and performed stand-up comedy on the side. He is now retired, and his dental practice has closed.
Did Rick Bynes abuse Amanda Bynes?
In October 2014, Amanda accused her father of abuse in a series of social media posts, then retracted the claims days later. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around the same time. Her mother and siblings publicly denied the accusations, and in 2018 Amanda apologized for what she had posted.
