35 Facts About Ray Liotta

Ray Liotta first gained attention for his role in the film Something Wild, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination.

Ray Liotta was best known for his portrayals of Shoeless Joe Jackson in the film Field of Dreams and Henry Hill in the film Goodfellas.

Ray Liotta won a Primetime Emmy Award for his guest role in the television series ER in 2005.

Ray Liotta starred as Frank Sinatra in the television film The Rat Pack and Lorca in the miniseries Texas Rising, both of which earned him Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and starred in the series Shades of Blue and Black Bird.

Ray Liotta had a prominent voice acting role as Tommy Vercetti in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Ray Liotta said that he knew that he was adopted as a young child, and presented a show-and-tell report.

Ray Liotta hired a private detective to locate his biological Irish mother in the 2000s, from whom he learned his family was mostly of Scottish descent.

Ray Liotta had one biological sister, one biological half-brother, and five biological half-sisters.

Ray Liotta grew up in a Roman Catholic household in Union, New Jersey, although his family was not especially religious.

Ray Liotta attended the University of Miami, where he studied acting and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1978.

Ray Liotta performed in plays and musicals, including Cabaret, Dames at Sea, Oklahoma, and The Sound of Music, at the University of Miami's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.

Ray Liotta made his film debut in 1983's The Lonely Lady.

In 1990, Liotta portrayed real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's universally praised and commercially successful Academy Award winning film Goodfellas.

Ray 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.

Ray Liotta starred as himself in the sitcom Just Shoot Me in December 2001.

Ray Liotta appeared in the television drama ER in 2004, playing Charlie Metcalf in the episode "Time of Death".

Ray Liotta starred in the 2006 CBS television series Smith, which was pulled from the schedule after three episodes.

Ray Liotta played the Justice Department official Paul Krendler in the 2001 film Hannibal opposite Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore.

Ray Liotta reunited with director James Mangold in 2003, alongside John Cusack and Alfred Molina, in the dark horror-thriller Identity.

In 2004, Ray Liotta made his Broadway debut opposite Frank Langella in the Stephen Belber play Match.

In 2007 Ray Liotta appeared with John Travolta in the film Wild Hogs, and in Battle in Seattle as the city's mayor.

Ray Liotta played Detective Harrison in the 2009 Jody Hill comedy Observe and Report as Seth Rogen's nemesis from the local police.

Ray Liotta starred alongside Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini in the 2012 Andrew Dominik film Killing Them Softly and the 2012 Ariel Vromen film The Iceman features Liotta as the character of Roy DeMeo.

Ray Liotta had a supporting role in Muppets Most Wanted.

Ray Liotta starred in the Western miniseries Texas Rising for The History Channel in 2015.

Ray Liotta starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in Shades of Blue between 2016 and 2018.

Ray Liotta appeared as Charlie Barber's second divorce attorney, Jay Marotta in the 2019 Noah Baumbach film Marriage Story.

Ray Liotta received praise for his performance with Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian declaring, "what a thrill to hear his syrupy-gravelly voice again".

The Hollywood Reporter described Ray Liotta as being in "in fine, mischievous form".

Ray Liotta appeared in Cocaine Bear, a thriller film based on the true story of an American black bear that ingested a duffel bag full of cocaine in 1985.

Ray Liotta married Michelle Grace, an actress and producer, in February 1997 after they met at a baseball game, where her former husband Mark Grace was playing for the Chicago Cubs.

The joke was in response to Ray Liotta's declining to play their father in a miniseries they were working on, only to see Ray Liotta play him in the 1998 HBO television film The Rat Pack.

In 2018, while discussing his role alongside Jennifer Lopez as a corrupt cop targeted by the FBI in the NBC crime drama Shades of Blue, Ray Liotta told a reporter for Long Island Weekly:.

Ray Liotta died in his sleep on May 26,2022, at age 67, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, during the filming of Dangerous Waters.

Ray Liotta was posthumously recognized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 24,2023, with his daughter Karsen collecting the recognition on his behalf.