Ray Liotta

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Ray Liotta
Born Raymond Liotta
December 18, 1954 (1954-12-18) (age 53)
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Years active 1964-present

Raymond Liotta[1] (born December 18, 1954) is an Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American actor. He is well known for his roles in the films Something Wild, Field of Dreams, Goodfellas, Cop Land, Narc, Identity, Smokin' Aces, and as the voice actor of Tommy Vercetti in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Liotta (pronounced lee-OH-ta) was born in Newark, New Jersey and was adopted at the age of six months by Mary, an appointed township clerk, and Alfred Liotta, an auto parts store owner, personnel director, and the president of a local Democratic club.[2] Both of his adoptive parents unsuccessfully ran for local office.[3] Liotta believed his biological parents were of Scottish and Italian descent.[4] But he eventually reunited with his biological mother and discovered he is not Italian.[5][6] In 1973, he graduated from Union High School in Union, New Jersey. In 1992, he was inducted into their Hall of Fame. While living in Union, Ray briefly worked at an A & P supermarket and at Cerami's Pizzeria. Liotta studied acting at the University of Miami, where he performed at the university's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.

[edit] Career

One of Liotta's earliest roles was as Joey Perrini on the daytime program Another World. He appeared on the show from 1978 to 1981. Infamously, he made his film debut sexually assaulting Pia Zadora with a garden hose in the cult classic The Lonely Lady. Come 1987, however, he earned his first Golden Globe nomination[7] for his portrayal of a volatile ex-con in Jonathan Demme's film Something Wild (1986) In 1990, Liotta portrayed real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

In addition to his film roles, Liotta provided the voice of Tommy Vercetti for the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. He also narrated Inside the Mafia for the National Geographic Channel. In 2005, Liotta had a memorable guest appearance on the television drama ER playing Charlie Metcalf in the episode "Time of Death". The role earned him an Emmy for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series". Liotta would later spoof himself and his Emmy win in Bee Movie. He starred in the 2006 CBS television series Smith, which was pulled from the schedule after only three episodes had aired. He later appeared in Smokin' Aces, portraying an FBI agent named Donald Carruthers in one of the lead roles. He told ABC's Good Morning America in 2001 that he was offered the role of Tony Soprano by series creator David Chase but turned it down to focus on movies.

Liotta will appear in Battle in Seattle as the city's mayor and in Hero Wanted playing a detective alongside Cuba Gooding Jr.. He will also be in Crossing Over, co-starring Sean Penn and Harrison Ford. He is currently filming Night Job with Mickey Rourke. He appeared with John Travolta in the movie Wild Hogs and with Johnny Depp in the 2001 film Blow, portraying the father of drug dealer George Jung.

Ray Liotta was about to play a role in proposed third sequel of Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. After Coppola & Mario Puzo decided to go for filming the third sequel in 1998, Ray Liotta showed interest to do a suitable role suggested by both Coppola and Puzo. Coppola & Puzo started the script jointly which also found some other roles approached by Robert De Niro, Andy Garcia and Leonardo DiCaprio. After Mario Puzo died in 1999, Coppola closed all preparations over the film and since then the plan for the third sequel of The Godfather remained officially closed. It's still not confirmed that whether this film will be made or not.[citation needed]

[edit] Personal life

Liotta married actress Michelle Grace in February 1997. They met on the set of the television movie The Rat Pack, in which Liotta played Frank Sinatra and Grace played Judy Campbell. Their daughter, Karsen, was born in December 1998. The couple divorced in 2004. Liotta currently resides in Pacific Palisades, California and is dating actress Catherine Hickland.

A baseball pitcher bearing his name is currently in the Kansas City Royals system. The two Ray Liottas are distant cousins.[8]

On February 17, 2007, Liotta was arrested in the Highlands of Pacific Palisades after crashing his Cadillac Escalade into two parked cars on Palisades Drive, approximately one-half mile from his residence. He was charged with a misdemeanor DUI. Liotta was released on $15,000 bail and a court date was planned for March 2007. Liotta was alone in his car, and no one was injured in the crash.[9][10]

[edit] Quotes

"I’ve only seen Goodfellas three times. The first time I didn’t even feel like I was in it. I was numb and overwhelmed by it all. I was looking at what they did with the camera. By the third time I got a feel for it. But to this day when it’s on TV or something… I don’t watch myself. Some actors can do that, but I cannot. I don’t think you can be objective".
      -Liotta in a March 2007 Interview with Maxim[11]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Upcoming

[edit] References

  1. ^ Film Interview – Ray Liotta / ‘Wild Hogs’ Not Just A Pithy Face
  2. ^ Ray Liotta Biography (1955?-)
  3. ^ Ray Liotta Biography, Yahoo! Movies
  4. ^ SMOKE 09/01 - One-on-one with Ray Liotta
  5. ^ Ray Liotta Is Glad He Met His Biological Mother - Starpulse Entertainment News Blog "he discovered he isn't Italian and that he has a half-brother."
  6. ^ IGN: Interview with Ray Liotta "I myself am adopted, so I'm not Italian"
  7. ^ HFPA - Awards Search
  8. ^ Liotta one of the Sox Goodfellas, accessed 1/16/2008
  9. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070219/ap_en_mo/people_liotta
  10. ^ Ray Liotta arrested - People
  11. ^ "Ray Liotta: American Gangster", Maxim Online, March 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-22. 

[edit] External links

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Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Drama Series

Michael Emerson (2001) · Charles S. Dutton (2002) · Charles S. Dutton (2003) · William Shatner (2004) · Ray Liotta (2005) · Christian Clemenson (2006) · John Goodman (2007)