Ray Romano

Ray Romano
File:RayRomano Wikipedia.jpg
Born	Raymond Romano

Raymond Romano (born December 21, 1957 in Queens, New York) is an Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated, American actor and comedian best known for his starring role on the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.” His other notable roles include Manfred "Manny" the Mammoth (“Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: A New Beginning”) and Handy Harrison (Welcome to Mooseport).

Early life

Romano, an Italian American, was born in Queens, New York to Albert and Lucie Romano. Romano attended elementary and middle school in Forest Hills, Queens, at Our Lady of Mercy School. After transferring from Archbishop Molloy High School, Romano graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1975. 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, and had planned to become an accountant.

Career

Romano started his career appearing on many outlets including Comedy Central, where he had been a recurring guest voice on the show Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. His material on that series was considerably more risqué than in his own series. He also was a contestant on Star Search in the stand-up comedy category. He was originally cast to play "Joe" on the now-canceled American television sitcom NewsRadio, but was fired, to be replaced by Joe Rogan. It was revealed that his particular brand of verbal comedy did not mix well with the fast-paced wit of the rest of the cast. Shortly thereafter, he would become the star of his own show, Everybody Loves Raymond, that featured a cast and format more suitable to Romano's brand of humor.

Romano also helped close friend and fellow comedian Kevin James get into show business. In 1998, James received his own hit sitcom,The King of Queens. The two would later reunite 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.

In 2001, he was named one of E!'s top twenty entertainers of the year. In the same year, he was featured with his brother (a sergeant in the NYPD) 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; his salary in 2004 was $50,000,000. 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, he 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 return to stand up comedy as he hits the road for a series of gigs across the South. The film was released in theaters on April 7, 2006 by ThinkFILM [1].

In August of 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, who left home at 29, has been married to Anna Scarpulla since 1987, with whom he has four children, Alexandra (born 1990), twins Matthew and Gregory (born 1993), and Joseph Raymond (born 1998). Alexandra appeared in several Everybody Loves Raymond episodes. Ray's father also appeared in his show.

Romano, like his character Ray Barone, is an avid New York Mets fan. He is an active if not expert golfer, and has contributed as a columnist to Golf Digest [2] and regularly plays in celebrity golf tournaments for charity.

Filmography

Acting

• Ice Age: A New Beginning (2009) (voice) movie – Manny
• 'Til Death (2007) Man in restaurant that talks to Eddie (Brad Garrett) and his wife
• The Knights of Prosperity (2007)
• The King of Queens (1998-2007) (guest star) TV series – Raymond Barone
• Grilled (2006) movie – Maurice
• Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) (voice) movie – Manny
• Making the Cut (2006) HBO documentary; himself
• Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005) TV Series – Raymond Barone
• The Simpsons (2005) (guest voice) TV series – Ray Magini (appeared in the 351st episode of that show, as Homer Simpson's supposedly imaginary friend)
• 95 Miles to Go (2004) movie – himself
• Eulogy (2004) movie – Skip Collins
• Welcome to Mooseport (2004) movie – Handy Harrison
• Ice Age (2002) (voice) movie – Manny
• The Nanny (guest star) TV Series – Raymond Barone
• Cosby (guest star) TV Series – Raymond Barone

Writing

• Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005)

Bibliography

Everything and a Kite, 1999, Bantam Books.

External links

• Ray Romano at IMDb
• Official Site
• Ray Romano interview