Ray Romano

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Ray Romano
Ray Romano in 2006
Birth name Raymond Albert Romano
Born December 21, 1957 (1957-12-21) (age 51)
Queens, New York, U.S.
Medium film, stand-up comedy, television
Nationality American
Years active 1995 – present
Spouse Anna Romano (1987 – present)
Notable works and roles Raymond "Ray" Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond
Manny in Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Website http://www.rayromano.com/
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Comedy Series
2003 Everybody Loves Raymond
2005 Everybody Loves Raymond
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
2002 Everybody Loves Raymond
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
2003 Everybody Loves Raymond
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Male Performer in a Television Series (Leading Role)
2000 Everybody Loves Raymond

Raymond Albert "Ray" Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian, best known for his role in the long running sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. His other acting credits include the role of Manny in Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Contents

[edit] 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).[citation needed] 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.

[edit] 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.

Romano is currently doing internet teasers of a new character Romeo Rose [5]

[edit] 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 Yankees [6] 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.

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role Other 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 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs Manfred "Manny" Voice Only
2010- Men of a Certain Age Joe His first TV Series in four years

[edit] Writing

[edit] Awards

this table is an incomplete list of awards won by Ray Ramano, other won awards & nominations will be added soon

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

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ray Romano Biography (1957-)
  2. ^ 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."
  3. ^ "Yahoo Movies - Ray Romano". http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800257587/bio. Retrieved on 2006-08-23. 
  4. ^ 95 Miles to Go (2004)
  5. ^ I am Romeo Rose teaser site http://www.romeorose.net/
  6. ^ TMZ NBA Finals (2008)

[edit] External links

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