Ray Liotta

**Raymond Allen Liotta** (December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor and movie producer. He was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He was adopted when he was six months old. His movie roles include: Ray Sinclair in _Something Wild_, Shoeless Joe Jackson in _Field of Dreams_, Henry Hill in _Goodfellas_, Officer Pete Davis in _Unlawful Entry_ and Detective Lieutenant Henry Oak in _Narc_. He won an Emmy Award for his role in _ER_. He is best known for playing villains and tough guys. He has also played sympathetic characters.

## Career

One of Liotta's earliest roles was as Joey Perrini on the soap opera _Another World_. He appeared on the show from 1978 to 1981. In his first movie his character sexually assaulted Pia Zadora's character with a garden hose in the cult classic _The Lonely Lady_. In 1987, he earned his first Golden Globe nomination for _Something Wild_. In 1989, he costarred, along with Kevin Costner, in the fantasy/drama movie, _Field of Dreams_. Liotta was Shoeless Joe Jackson, the ghost of the famed baseball player. In 1990, Liotta was real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's movie _Goodfellas_. In 1992, he costarred, along with Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe, in the thriller _Unlawful Entry_ as a psychopathic cop. He also had a leading role in Sci-Fi/Action movie _No Escape_. Liotta earned more praise for James Mangold's movie _Cop Land_, starring alongside Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. In 1998, he received praise the crime movie _Phoenix_.

In addition to his movie roles, Liotta was singer Frank Sinatra in the 1998 TV movie _The Rat Pack_. He received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for this role. He provided the voice of Tommy Vercetti for the 2002 video game _Grand Theft Auto: Vice City_. He received an Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards nomination for Best Supporting Male for the movie _Narc_. He then reunited with director James Mangold in 2003 alongside John Cusack and Alfred Molina in the dark horror-thriller _Identity_. He also narrated _Inside the Mafia_ for the National Geographic Channel in 2005. He appeared with John Travolta in the movie _Wild Hogs_ and with Johnny Depp in the 2001 movie _Blow_.

In 2011, he starred in The Son of No One, opposite Channing Tatum and Al Pacino. Liotta's recent movies include _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.

## Personal life

Liotta married actress Michelle Grace in February 1997. Their daughter, Karsen, was born in December 1998. The couple divorced in 2004. Liotta lived in Pacific Palisades, California.

Liotta died on May 26, 2022 while filming a movie in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic at the age of 67. The cause of death was heart failure and pulmonary edema.

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Ray Liotta
- **image**: Ray Liotta Deauville 2014 3.jpg
- **caption**: Liotta in September 2014
- **birth name**: Raymond Allen Liotta
- **birth place**: Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
- **death place**: Santo Domingo, video maker
- **death cause**: Heart failure and pulmonary edema
- **years active**: 1978–2022
- **partner**: Jacy Nittolo (2020–2022)
- **children**: 1