Trikonis began his career as an actor and dancer, notably appearing in the hugely successful 1961 film West Side Story as Indio, one of the "Sharks",[1] as well as dancing with Debbie Reynolds and Grover Dale to the frantic "He's My Friend" in 1964's The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
Although originally unbilled, on December 3, 1968, Trikonis got his second biggest exposure in front of any audience (the first being in the aforementioned West Side Story, seen at US theatres by about 61 million moviegoers) as one of two main (out of five) male dancers who do Elvis Presley's choreography as he sings a Gospel medley as part of a widely watched NBC-TV Special entitled "Elvis".
He directed episodes of television series including Baywatch, Quantum Leap, Hunter, Beauty and the Beast and Wiseguy.
He later married costume designer Barbara Andrews from 1978 till her death in 2012 and they had one child together; a son Nicolas born in 1981.
[3] His sister Gina also appeared in West Side Story as Graziella, Riff's girlfriend,[4] later becoming a costumer and costume/wardrobe supervisor.