Ray Liotta

**Raymond Allen Liotta** (Italian: [liˈɔtta]; December 18, 1954 - May 26, 2022)[1] was an American actor, film producer, and voice actor.

Liotta was known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime drama *Goodfellas* (1990); other notable roles include Ray Sinclair in Jonathan Demme's *Something Wild* (1986), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, 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), Tommy Vercetti in the video game *Grand Theft Auto: Vice City* (2002), Chief Gus Monroe in *John Q* (2002), Samuel Rhodes in *Identity* (2003), himself (Ray Liotta) in *The Bee Movie* (2007) Markie Trattman in *Killing Them Softly* (2012), and Peter Deluca in *The Place Beyond the Pines* (2012).

He also starred as Lieutenant Matt Wozniak in the television drama *Shades of Blue* (2016–2018).

## Early life

Liotta was born in Newark, New Jersey,[1] and adopted at the age of six months by Mary Liotta, an appointed township clerk,[2] and Alfred Liotta,[3][4] an auto-parts store owner, personnel director, and the president of a local Democratic club.[2][5] His adoptive parents each unsuccessfully ran for local office.[6] He has a sister, Linda Liotta, who is also adopted.

Liotta has said he knew he was adopted as a young child and did a show-and-tell report on it for kindergarten.[7] Liotta located his biological mother in the 2000s and learned he was part both Italian and Scottish.[8][9] He has one half brother, five half sisters, and a full sister.[10][7]

Liotta was raised Roman Catholic, although his family was not very religious.[11] Liotta said the family 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.[11]

Liotta's parents were both Democrats. Liotta recalls attending parades handing out flyers for his father's run for Township Committee.[7]

He graduated from Union High School[12] in 1973 in Union, New Jersey where he grew up.[8]

Liotta graduated from the University of Miami, where he received a degree in fine arts in 1978 and studied acting with Robert "Buckets" Lowery.[13] He performed in musicals such as *Cabaret*, *Dames at Sea*, *Oklahoma*, and *Sound of Music*, during college, especially in his first year of acting studies.[14]

## Career

After college, Liotta moved to New York City. He got a job as a bartender at the Shubert theaters and landed an agent within six months.[8]

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. 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 a sexual assault scene with Pia Zadora and a garden hose in 1983's *The Lonely Lady*. His first major acting role was *Something Wild* (1986),[7][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 film *Goodfellas*.[8]

In 1992, he costarred as a psychopathic cop alongside Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe in the thriller *Unlawful Entry*. He appeared in a leading role in the science-fiction/action film *No Escape*. In 1996, he starred with Linda Fiorentino and Peter Coyote in the sci-fi/thriller *Unforgettable*. Liotta earned critical praise for his turn in James Mangold's 1997 film *Cop Land*, starring alongside Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, and Harvey Keitel. In 1998, he received critical praise for his performance in *Phoenix* playing a compulsive gambler.[18]

Liotta at the 2014 Deauville American Film Festival

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*.[*citation needed*]

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.[*citation needed*]

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.[*citation needed*]

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) because bubble blowing is illegal in New Kelp City, but they get blown away by him, and SpongeBob becomes the new mayor of the city; the episode also had Liotta work with another legendary actor, Clancy Brown, who voices Mr. Krabs on the show, although their characters don’t share any screen credit. 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.[*citation needed*]

In 2004, Liotta made his Broadway debut opposite Frank Langella[19] in the Stephen Belber play, *Match*.[20][21]

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*[22] and the 2013 Ariel Vromen film *The Iceman* features Liotta as the character of Roy DeMeo.[23] He had a supporting role in *Muppets Most Wanted*(2014).[*citation needed*]

In 2014, Liotta played a preacher in the faith-based film *The Identical*.[14][24]

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.[24]

Since June 2015, Liotta narrates the AMC docu-series *The Making of the Mob*.[25]

In 2016, Liotta began starring opposite Jennifer Lopez in *Shades of Blue*.

In 2018, Liotta became a spokesperson for Pfizer's Chantix advertising campaign

## Death

On May 26, 2022, Liotta died at the age of 67 in the Dominican Republic during his sleep.