Ray Liotta

Raymond Allen Liotta (Italian: [liˈɔtta]; born December 18, 1954) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for playing Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990). His other roles include Ray Sinclair in Something Wild (1986), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, as well as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams (1989), Officer Pete Davis in Unlawful Entry (1992), Officer Gary Figgis in Cop Land (1997), Paul Krendler in Hannibal (2001), Fred Jung in Blow (2001), the voice of Tommy Vercetti in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002), Chief Gus Monroe in John Q (2002), Samuel Rhodes in Identity (2003), Detective Harrison in Observe and Report (2009), Markie Trattman in Killing Them Softly (2012), Peter Deluca in The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Lieutenant Matt Wozniak in the drama series Shades of Blue (2016–2018) and Jay Marotta in Marriage Story (2019).

Ray Liotta
Liotta in September 2014
Born	Raymond Allen Liotta December 18, 1954 Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Michelle Grace ​ ​ (m. 1997; div. 2004)​
Children	1

Early life

Raymond Allen Liotta was born in Newark, New Jersey, on December 18, 1954.[1] Having been abandoned at an orphanage, he was adopted at the age of six months by township clerk Mary and auto-parts store owner Alfred Liotta.[2][3][4] Alfred, the son of Italian immigrants, was also a personnel director and president of a local Democratic Party club.[2][5] His adoptive parents each unsuccessfully ran for local office; he recalls attending parades to hand out flyers for his father's run.[6][7] Liotta has a sister, Linda, who is also adopted. He has said that he knew he was adopted as a young child and presented a show-and-tell report on it for kindergarten.[6] He hired a private detective to locate his biological mother in the 2000s, and subsequently learned from her that he is mostly of Scottish descent.[8][9] He has one biological sister, one biological half-brother, and five biological half-sisters.[6][10] He grew up in a Roman Catholic household in Union, New Jersey,[11] although his family was not very religious.[12] They went to church and he received first communion and was confirmed, but the family did not pray much. He occasionally uses prayer in his daily life.[12] He graduated from Union High School in 1973.[8] He graduated from the University of Miami, where he studied acting and received a BFA in 1978.[13] He performed in musicals such as Cabaret, Dames at Sea, Oklahoma, and Sound of Music during his time there.[14]

Career

Liotta at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival

After college, Liotta moved to New York City. He got a job as a bartender at the Shubert Organization and landed an agent within six months.[8] One of his earliest roles was as Joey Perrini on the soap opera Another World, on which he appeared from 1978 to 1981. He quit the show so he could try his luck in the film industry and moved to Los Angeles. He made his film debut in 1983's The Lonely Lady. His first major acting role was Something Wild (1986),[6][15] which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination.[16] In 1989, Liotta portrayed the ghost of famed baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson in the fantasy/drama film Field of Dreams.[17]

In 1990, Liotta portrayed real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's critically acclaimed and commercially successful film Goodfellas.[8] In 1992, he starred as a psychopathic cop in the thriller Unlawful Entry. He appeared in a leading role in the science-fiction/action film No Escape. In 1996, he starred in the sci-fi/thriller Unforgettable. Liotta earned critical praise for his turn in James Mangold's 1997 film Cop Land, and he received critical praise in 1998 for his performance as a compulsive gambler in Phoenix.[18]

In addition to his film roles, Liotta portrayed singer Frank Sinatra in the 1998 TV movie The Rat Pack (for which he received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination), starred as himself in the sitcom Just Shoot Me in December 2001 & January 2002, provided the voice of Tommy Vercetti for the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and appeared in the television drama ER in 2004, playing Charlie Metcalf in the episode "Time of Death". The ER role earned Liotta an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Liotta later spoofed himself and his Emmy win in Bee Movie). Liotta starred in the 2006 CBS television series Smith, which was pulled from the schedule after three episodes, and in 2012 Liotta appeared as himself in a purely vocal role for the "What a Croc!" episode of the Disney Channel comedy series Phineas & Ferb.[19]

Liotta played the father of drug dealer George Jung in the 2001 Johnny Depp film Blow and, in the following year, appeared as Detective Lieutenant Henry Oak in the Joe Carnahan-directed film Narc, a role that led to an Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards nomination for Best Supporting Male.[20][21]

He then reunited with director James Mangold in 2003, alongside John Cusack and Alfred Molina, in the dark horror-thriller Identity. In 2005, he narrated Inside the Mafia for the National Geographic Channel. He later appeared in Smokin' Aces—reuniting with Narc director Carnahan, in which he portrayed an FBI agent named Donald Carruthers in one of the lead roles.[22]

Liotta appeared with John Travolta in the movie Wild Hogs, in Battle in Seattle as the city's mayor, and in 2008, starred in Hero Wanted as a detective alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. Also in 2008, he made a guest appearance on the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?"; in the episode, he voices the leader of a gang called the Bubble Poppin’ Boys, who try to kill an amnesiac SpongeBob (voiced by Tom Kenny).[23][24][25] He also appeared in Crossing Over, co-starring Harrison Ford. Liotta played Detective Harrison in the 2009 Jody Hill comedy Observe and Report as Seth Rogen's nemesis from the local police. In 2011, he starred in The Son of No One, opposite Channing Tatum, and for the first time in his career, Al Pacino.[26]

In 2004, Liotta made his Broadway debut opposite Frank Langella[27] in the Stephen Belber play, Match.[28][29]

In the 2010s, Liotta appeared in Date Night, with Steve Carell, Charlie St. Cloud with Zac Efron, the independent drama Snowmen, and The River Sorrow, which stars Liotta as a detective alongside Christian Slater and Ving Rhames. He starred alongside Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini in the 2012 Andrew Dominik film Killing Them Softly[30] and the 2013 Ariel Vromen film The Iceman features Liotta as the character of Roy DeMeo.[31] He had a supporting role in Muppets Most Wanted (2014).[32]

In 2014, Liotta played a preacher in the faith-based film The Identical.[14][33]

Liotta starred in the Western miniseries Texas Rising for The History Channel in 2015. Other projects include Kill the Messenger with Jeremy Renner, Stretch with Chris Pine and a David Guetta video.[33]

Since June 2015, Liotta narrates the AMC docu-series The Making of the Mob.[34]

Liotta starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in Shades of Blue between 2016 and 2018.[35]

In 2018, Liotta became a spokesperson for Pfizer's Chantix advertising campaign.[36]

Personal life

Liotta married actress Michelle Grace in February 1997 after they had met at a baseball game, where her former husband Mark Grace was playing for the Chicago Cubs.[37] They had a daughter together before divorcing in 2004.[2][8]

From his experience shooting the Western Texas Rising, Liotta continued horseback riding and said in September 2014, "I was obsessed with riding horses [on the show]. I love it now. I've never had a hobby. It might be my new hobby."[6]

In February 2007, he was charged for driving under the influence after crashing his Cadillac Escalade into two parked vehicles in Pacific Palisades.[38] He pleaded no contest.[39]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	The Lonely Lady	Joe Heron
1986	Something Wild	Ray Sinclair	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (tied with Dennis Hopper for Blue Velvet) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor (3rd place) Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor (3rd place)
1987	Arena Brains	The Artist	Short film
1988	Dominick and Eugene	Eugene "Gino" Luciano
1989	Field of Dreams	"Shoeless" Joe Jackson
1990	Goodfellas	Henry Hill
1992	Article 99	Dr. Richard Sturgess
	Unlawful Entry	Officer Pete Davis	Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Villain
1994	No Escape	Captain J.T. Robbins
	Corrina, Corrina	Manny Singer
1995	Operation Dumbo Drop	Captain T.C. Doyle
1996	Unforgettable	Dr. David Krane
1997	Turbulence	Ryan Weaver
	Cop Land	Detective Gary "Figgsy" Figgis
1998	Phoenix	Harry Collins	Also co-producer
1999	Muppets from Space	Gate Guard # 1	Cameo
	Forever Mine	Mark Brice
2000	Pilgrim	Jack
	A Rumor of Angels	Nathan Neubauer
2001	Hannibal	Paul Krendler
	Heartbreakers	Dean Cummano / Vinny Staggliano
	Blow	Fred Jung
2002	Narc	Detective Lieutenant Henry Oak	Also producer Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male Nominated—Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
	John Q	Chief Gus Monroe
	Ticker	FBI Agent	Segment for the BMW short film series The Hire
2003	Identity	Samuel Rhodes
2004	The Last Shot	Jack Devine
	Control	Lee Ray Oliver	Direct-to-DVD
2005	Revolver	Dorothy Macha
	Slow Burn	Ford Cole	Also co-executive producer
2006	Even Money	Tom Carver
	Take the Lead		Executive producer
	Local Color	John Talia Sr.
	Comeback Season	Walter Pearce
	Smokin' Aces	Donald Carruthers
2007	Wild Hogs	Jack
	In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale	Gallian
	Battle in Seattle	Mayor Jim Tobin
	Bee Movie	Himself (voice)
2008	Hero Wanted	Detective Terry Subcott
	Powder Blue	Jack Doheny
2009	Crossing Over	Cole Frankel
	Observe and Report	Detective Harrison
	La Linea	Mark Shields	Also executive producer
	Youth in Revolt	Lance Wescott
2010	Crazy on the Outside	Gray
	Date Night	Joe Miletto	Uncredited
	Snowmen	Reggie Kirkfield	Also executive producer
	Chasing 3000	Adult Mickey
	Charlie St. Cloud	Florio Ferrente
2011	The Details	Peter Mazzoni
	The Son of No One	Captain Marion Mathers
	All Things Fall Apart	Dr. Brintall
	Street Kings 2: Motor City	Marty Kingston	Direct-to-DVD
	The River Murders	Jack Verdon
	Field of Dreams 2: Lockout	Roger Goodell	Short film
	The Entitled	Richard Nader
2012	Wanderlust	Himself	Cameo
	Killing Them Softly	Markie Trattman
	Breathless	Sheriff Cooley
	The Iceman	Roy DeMeo
	The Place Beyond the Pines	Deluca
	Ticket Out	Jim
	Yellow	Afai
	Bad Karma	Molloy
	Dear Dracula	Count Dracula (voice)	Direct-to-DVD
2013	The Devil's in the Details	Dr. Robert Michaels
	Pawn	Man in the Suit
	Suddenly	Todd Shaw
2014	Better Living Through Chemistry	Jack Roberts
	Muppets Most Wanted	Big Papa
	The Identical	Reece Wade	Also executive producer
	Sin City: A Dame to Kill For	Joey
	Revenge of the Green Dragons	Michael Bloom
	Stretch	Himself	Cameo
	Kill the Messenger	John Cullen
2015	Blackway	Blackway
	Campus Code	Bartender
2016	Sticky Notes	Jack
	Flock of Dudes	Uncle Reed
2019	Marriage Story	Jay Marotta
2020	Hubie Halloween[40]	Mr. Landolfa
2021	The Many Saints of Newark		Post-production
TBA	Broken Soldier	Mr. Ancilla	Post-production
	El Tonto		Post-production
	No Sudden Move		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978–1981	Another World	Joey Perrini
1980	Hardhat and Legs	Family	Television film
1981	Crazy Times	Johnny "Wizard" Lazarra	Television film
1983	St. Elsewhere	Murray	Episode: "Rain"
	Casablanca	Sacha	5 episodes
1984	Mike Hammer	Tony Cable	Episode: "Kill Devil"
1985	Our Family Honor	Officer Ed Santini	10 episodes
1991	Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules	Martin Meadows	Television film
1995	Frasier	Bob (voice)	Episode: "Frasier Grinch"
1998	The Rat Pack	Frank Sinatra	Television film Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2001	Family Guy	Zack (voice)	Episode: "Brian Does Hollywood"
2001–2002	Just Shoot Me!	Himself	2 episodes
2002	Point of Origin	John Leonard Orr	Television film
2003	Saturday Night Live	Himself (host)	Episode: "Ray Liotta/The Donnas"
2004	ER	Charlie Metcalf	Episode: "Time of Death" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2006–2007	Smith	Bobby Stevens	7 episodes
2008	SpongeBob SquarePants	Leader of the Bubble Poppin Boys Gang (voice)	Episode: "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?"
2010	Hannah Montana Forever	Principal Luger	Episode: "Hannah Montana to the Principal's Office"
2011	The League	Mr. Hudabega	Episode: "Yobogoya!"
2012	Phineas and Ferb	Himself (voice)	Episode: "What A Croc!"
	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Jason	Episode: "Wasilla Hills Cop"
	Abominable Christmas	Abominable Dad (voice)	Television film
2014	The Money	George Archer	Pilot
2015	Texas Rising	Lorca	5 episodes Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2015–2016	The Making of the Mob	Narrator (voice)	16 episodes
2016–2018	Shades of Blue	Lt. Matt Wozniak	36 episodes
2016	Modern Family	Himself	Episode: "Playdates"
2017	Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt	Paulie Fiuccillo	Episode: "Kimmy Pulls Off a Heist!"
	Young Sheldon	Vincent	Episode: "A Solar Calculator, a Game Ball, and a Cheerleader's Bosom"
2018	Great News	Himself	Episode: "Early Retirement"
	The Simpsons	Morty Szyslak (voice)	Episode: "King Leer"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	Tommy Vercetti	G-Phoria Award for Best Male Voice Performance Spike Video Game Award for Best Performance
2013	Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Zombies)	Billy Handsome	Character featured in the Mob of the Dead zombies map[41]

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Match	Mike	Broadway

Music videos

Year	Title	Album	Role
2014	"Lovers on the Sun"	Listen by David Guetta	The Villain
2015	"Bloodstream"[42]	× by Ed Sheeran and Rudimental[43]

References

1. "Ray Liotta Biography: Film Actor, Television Actor, Television Personality (1954–)". Biography.com (FYI / A&E Networks). Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
2. "Ray Liotta". Biography. Lifetime TV. Archived from the original on May 20, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
3. "Raymond Liotta - United States Public Records, 1970-2009". FamilySearch. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
4. "Mary E Liotta - United States Public Records, 1970-2009". FamilySearch. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
5. "Ray Liotta profile". Film Reference. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
6. King, Larry (September 3, 2014). "Ray Liotta". Larry King Now. Ora. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
7. "Ray Liotta". Movies.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2006. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
8. Whitty, Stephen (November 25, 2012). "Ray Liotta on 'Goodfellas,' mob movies, Jersey and more". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
9. "Ray Liotta Is Glad He Met His Biological Mother". Star Pulse. October 6, 2006. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
10. Evans, Suzy (September 4, 2014). "Ray Liotta Filmed 'The Identical' Because of His Own Adoption Experience". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
11. Kratch, James (September 1, 2012). "Football previews, 2012: Union". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
12. Nsenduluka, Benge (August 29, 2014). "Ray Liotta on 'The Identical', Being Adopted and Safety Concerns After Playing a Snitch in 'Goodfellas'". Christian Post. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
13. Marr, Madeleine (September 5, 2014). "Ray Liotta dug deep to play a preacher in 'The Identical'". Miami Herald. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
14. Camilleri, Ricky (September 4, 2014). "Ray Liotta LIVE" (Video interview). Huffington Post. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
15. Finke, Nikki (September 16, 1990). "Not Your Typical Wise Guy: Why Ray Liotta had a tough time getting a deal he didn't want to refuse—a leading role in Martin Scorsese's Mafia movie, 'GoodFellas'". Los Angeles Times.
16. "HFPA—Awards Search". Hollywood Foreign Press. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
17. Goldman, Steven (April 23, 2014). "'Field of Dreams': Worst baseball film of all time". SBNation.com.
18. THOMAS, KEVIN (September 4, 1998). "Liotta Arises as a Winner in Hard-Hitting 'Phoenix'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
19. Seemayer, Zach (September 20, 2013). "Exclusive: Remini Cleans Up on 'Phineas and Ferb'". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
20. Hendrix, Steve (January 12, 2003). "Ray Liotta, Hanging Tough". The Washington Times. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
21. "Phoenix Film Festival Announces 2005 Showcase Events; Arizona's Largest Film Festival Celebrates its 5th Anniversary with Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Arnold and More ..." Business Wire. March 23, 2005. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
22. Scott, A. O. (January 26, 2007). "Smokin' Aces". The New York Times. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
23. Moody, Annemary (September 25, 2008). "Ray Liotta To Guest Star In SpongeBob Special Oct. 13". Animation World Network. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
24. "Ray Liotta guesting on Nickelodeon's 'SpongeBob SquarePants'". Media Life Magazine. September 26, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
25. "Ray Liotta Voices Criminal on Spongebob Squarepants". Babble.com. October 4, 2008. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
26. DeFore, John (January 29, 2011). "SUNDANCE REVIEW: 'The Son of No One' Is a Buried-Secret Cop Drama Full of Holes". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
27. Gans, Andrew (November 14, 2003). "Frank Langella to Join Ray Liotta for Broadway's Match". Playbill. Archived from the original on September 14, 2014. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
28. "Match - Stephen Belber". Dramatists Play Service. 2004. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
29. Gardner, Elysa (April 8, 2004). "Langella, Liotta make almost perfect 'Match'". USA Today. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
30. Scott, A. O. (November 29, 2012). "One Bad Turn Deserves Another". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
31. Alex Godfrey (June 6, 2013). "Ray Liotta: 'I like Brad. I admire his whole career'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
32. Zuckerman, Esther (March 19, 2014). "A Guide to the Most Obscure 'Muppets Most Wanted' Cameos". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
33. Richford, Rhonda. "Deauville: Ray Liotta Reflects on Career, Box Office Beating of 'The Identical'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
34. Neale, April (April 10, 2015). "AMC's 8-Part Event 'Making Of The Mob: New York' With Ray Liotta Kicks Off 'Mob Mondays'". Monsters & Critics. Archived from the original on January 3, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
35. Hammond, Pete (June 16, 2016). "Jennifer Lopez & Ray Liotta on Redefining Police Procedurals With 'Shades of Blue' -Emmys". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
36. Bulik, Beth Snyder (July 6, 2018). "Goodfellas star Ray Liotta's new line? A quit-smoking pitch for Pfizer's Chantix". FiercePharma. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
37. Longsdorf, Amy. "Ray Liotta finds intense adrenaline rush in 'Narc'". Pottstown Mercury. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
38. "Under The Influence". CBS News. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
39. Markovitz, Adam. "News Monitor". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
40. N'Duka, Amanda (July 22, 2019). "Adam Sandler Sets Next Netflix Comedy With All-Star Cast Including Kevin James, Julie Bowen, Maya Rudolph & Many More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
41. Lehmkuhl, Corky (April 16, 2013), Mob of the Dead (Action, Horror, Thriller), Craig Houston, Ray Liotta, Michael Madsen, Nolan North, Activision, Treyarch Invention, retrieved November 1, 2020
42. "Ed Sheeran & Rudimental "Bloodstream" [Official Music Video YTMAs]". YouTube. March 23, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
43. Dreps, Daniel (March 23, 2015). "Ray Liotta Plays Washed-Up, Hair-Metal Star in Ed Sheeran's 'Bloodstream' Video". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 10, 2015.

External links

• Ray Liotta at IMDb
• Ray Liotta at the Internet Broadway Database
• Tarshis, Joan (Fall 2001). "One on One with Ray Liotta". Smoke Magazine. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
• Keier, Helen (March 1, 2001). "IGN: Interview with Ray Liotta". IGN.com. Retrieved July 7, 2009.