Raymond Albert "Ray" Romano
(born December 21, 1957) is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian, best known for his role on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond
.
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RAY ROMANO TICKETS
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Early life
Romano was born in
Queens, New York of Italian ancestry (his father's family was originally from the
commune-
town of
Trenta, in the
Province of Cosenza, in the
Calabria region of Italy). His mother, Lucie, was a piano teacher, and his father, Albert Romano, was a realtor and an engineer.
[1] He grew up in the Queens neighborhood of
Forest Hills.
[2] Romano attended
elementary and
middle school at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Forest Hills. After transferring from
Archbishop Molloy High School, Romano graduated from
Hillcrest High School in 1975.
[3] He was in the same high school class as
Fran Drescher and later appeared on Drescher's sitcom
The Nanny
as an old classmate. Before breaking into show business, Romano briefly attended
Queens College, in
Flushing, New York, where he had majored in
accounting. Romano quit going to Queens College after gaining only 15 credits in three years. However, he would later return, making it to the Dean's List for three years while studying accounting.
Career
His early comedy career included many outlets such as
Comedy Central, where he had been a recurring guest voice on the show
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
. He also was a contestant on
Star Search in the stand-up comedy category. He was originally cast to play "Joe" on the American
television sitcom NewsRadio
, but was fired, to be replaced by
Joe Rogan. He then appeared on the
Late Show with David Letterman
doing his stand up routine which formed his ties with
CBS. Shortly thereafter, he became the star of his own show,
Everybody Loves Raymond
on
CBS, that featured a cast and format more suitable to Romano's brand of humor.
Romano and his comedian friend
Kevin James starred in the salesman comedy
Grilled
, as two guys of the same profession who are both very desperate to land a big sale. Romano was featured on a 2000 episode of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
, on which he won US$125,000 for the
NYPD's
D.A.R.E. Unit. His older brother, Richard Romano (born in 1956) is a sergeant with the NYPD. He also has a younger brother, Robert Romano (born 1965).
In 2001, Romano was named one of
E!'s top twenty entertainers of the year. In the same year, he was featured with his brother (a teacher at a school in Long Island) on a New York Police Department recruiting poster. In 2004, he became the highest paid
television actor in history for his role of Raymond on
CBS's
Everybody Loves Raymond.
It was later revealed on E! that he had broken another record by his show having the highest revenue, at US$3.9
billion.
On December 13, 2003, Romano was featured as a special guest star, sending a birthday card to
Bob Barker in his eightieth-birthday bash on the seventh "Million Dollar Spectacular" special of the long-running daytime CBS series
The Price Is Right
.
Romano was the subject of the documentary film
95 Miles to Go
. The film documents Romano's road-trip for a series of gigs across the south of the United States. The film was released in theaters on April 7, 2006 by
ThinkFilm.
[4] In August 2006, Romano was interviewed in front of a live audience at
UCLA by fellow stand-up veteran,
David Steinberg, for an episode of
Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg
. The program first aired on the
TV Land network in March 2007.
Personal life
Romano married his wife
Anna in 1987. They met while working at a bank. He had asked out two other co-workers before Anna agreed to go on a date with him. Together, they have four children: one daughter Alexandra (born 1990), and three sons: twins Matthew and Gregory (born 1993) and Joseph Raymond (born February 16, 1998).
Romano's on-screen daughter for
Everybody Loves Raymond
was named after his real-life daughter. Also, in the series pilot, Ray and Debra's twin boys were named after Gregory and Matthew, Romano's real twin sons, but Romano felt it was too weird to have all his TV kids have the same names as his real kids, so they changed the twins' names to Geoffrey and Michael on screen. Romano's real-life daughter Alexandra "Ally" Romano made several appearances on
Everybody Loves Raymond
as Molly, the best friend of his on-screen daughter Ally, and the daughter of Ray Barone's arch-nemesis, Peggy the Cookie Lady. Romano's father, Albert Romano, also appears on the show as "Albert", one of Frank Barone's lodge buddies in the episodes "Debra at the Lodge", and "Boys' Therapy".
Romano is an avid fan of both baseball's
New York Mets [5] and football's
New York Jets. He and his sons are often seen at the games.
Romano competed in the
2007,
2008 and
2009 World Series of Poker.
Filmography
Year
| Film
| Role
| Notes
|
1996–2005
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Raymond Barone
| 210 Episodes
|
1997
| Cosby
| 1 Episode
|
1998-2005
| The King of Queens
| 4 Episodes
|
1998
| The Nanny
| 1 Episode
|
1999
| Becker
| 1 Episode
|
2002
| Ice Age
| Manfred "Manny"
| Voice Only
|
2004
| Welcome to Mooseport
| Handy Harrison
|
|
Eulogy
| Skip Collins
|
|
95 Miles to Go
| Himself
|
|
2005
| The Simpsons
| Ray Magini
| In episode Don't Fear the Roofer
|
2006
| Ice Age: The Meltdown
| Manfred "Manny"
| Voice Only
|
Grilled
| Maurice
|
|
2007
| The Grand
| Fred Marsh
|
|
2008
| The Last Word
| Abel
|
|
Hannah Montana
| Guest star
| In episode: We're All On This Date Together
|
2009
| Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
| Manfred "Manny"
| Voice
|
2009
| Funny People
| Cameo
|
|
2010
| Men of a Certain Age
| Joe
|
|
Writing
- Everybody Loves Raymond
(1996–2005)
- Men of a Certain Age
(2010)
Awards
Year
| Category
| For...
| Result
|
Emmy Awards
|
1999
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Nominated
|
2000
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Nominated
|
2000
| Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond w/ Philip Rosenthal
| Nominated
|
2002
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
2005
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Nominated
|
Screen Actors Guild
|
1999
| Best Male Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
2001
| Best Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
2002
| Best Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
Golden Globes
|
2000
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Nominated
|
2000
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Nominated
|
People's Choice Awards
|
2002
| Favorite Male Television Performer
| Everybody Loves Raymond tie w/ Kelsy Grammer
| Won
|
2003
| Favorite Male Television Performer
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
2004
| Favorite Male Television Performer
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
2006
| Favorite Male Television Star
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
Kid's Choice Awards
|
2003
| Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
| Ice Age
| Nominated
|
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
|
2002
| Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
American Film Institute
|
2001
| Best Male Actor in a Television Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
|
2005
| Best Writing for a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
2005
| Best Actor in a Comedy Series
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
American Comedy Awards
|
2002
| Funniest Male Performer in a Television Series (Leading Role)
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Won
|
AFI Awards
|
2002
| Male Actor of the Year (in a TV series)
| Everybody Loves Raymond
| Nominated
|
Bibliography
- (1999) Everything and a Kite
(non-fiction)
- (2005) Raymie, Dickie and the Bean
(children's)
- (2004) Everybody Loves Raymond: Our Family Album
(fiction)
References
- Ray Romano Biography (1957-)
- Strickland, Carol. "Can Sitcom Make It With L.I. Setting?", ''The New York Times'', December 1, 1996. Accessed November 12, 2007. "For ''Everybody Loves Raymond,'' the route to Hollywood Hills began in Forest Hills, where Ray Romano, a standup comedian and the star of the show, grew up."
- Yahoo Movies - Ray Romano
- 95 Miles to Go (2004)
- TMZ NBA Finals (2008)