Ray Romano

Ray Romano
Romano in April 2011
Birth name	Raymond Albert Romano
Born	December 21, 1957 (1957-12-21) (age 54) Queens, New York, U.S.
Medium	Film, stand-up, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Observational comedy, satire
Subject(s)	Everyday life, marriage, parenting, family, friends, self-deprecation
Influences	Bob Newhart[1]
Spouse	Anna Romano (1987–present)
Notable works and roles	Raymond Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond Manfred "Manny" in Ice Age film series Joe Tranelli in Men of a Certain Age
Website	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 roles on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond and in the Ice Age film series. He recently starred in the TNT comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age.

Early life

Romano was born in Queens, New York to Italian American parents. His mother Lucie was a piano teacher, and his father, Albert Romano (1926–March 2010), was a real estate agent and an engineer.^[2] He has a brother, Richard A. Romano. He grew up in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens.^[3] 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.^[4] 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 studied accounting. Romano quit after gaining only 15 credits in three years. However, he would later return, making it to the Dean's List for three years.

Career

His early comedy career started when he competed in the Johnnie Walker Comedy Search in 1989 and 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 (originally named Rick) on the American television sitcom NewsRadio, but was fired, to be replaced by Joe Rogan. He then appeared on 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 twenty-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 rides across the south of the United States. The film was released in theaters on April 7, 2010 by ThinkFilm.^[5] 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 returned to television with a new dramedy for TNT in 2008, called Men of a Certain Age and co-starring Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher, which he co-created with former Everybody Loves Raymond writer Mike Royce.

Romano made an appearance in the seventh season of NBC show The Office as Merv Bronte, an anxious job applicant interviewing for the job left vacant by Michael Scott.

Romano made an appearance in the third season premiere of ABC sitcom The Middle as Nicky, a friend of Mike, who ruined his and Frankie's honeymoon. Romano was the second actor from Everybody Loves Raymond to be reunited with Patricia Heaton on The Middle. Doris Roberts (who played his mom Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond) guest starred in three episodes in the second season as Ms. Rinsky, Brick Heck's third grade teacher, who dislikes Frankie.

Personal life

Romano at the 2010 World Series of Poker main event

Romano married his wife, Anna, on October 11, 1987. They met while working at a bank 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 family has made various appearances in the show. 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 has made various appearances as "Albert", one of Frank Barone's lodge buddies in various episodes such as "Debra at the Lodge", and "Boys' Therapy". Romano's brother Richard Romano has appeared in the episodes "Golf For It", "Just a Formality" and "The Toaster".

Romano competed in the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 World Series of Poker.

In early 2010, Romano starred in the second season of The Golf Channel's original series The Haney Project, in which Tiger Woods' former coach Hank Haney attempts to improve the golf games of different celebrities and athletes. Charles Barkley starred in the first season. Romano's goals are to finish the show being able to break 80.^[6] Romano took time off from the show to be with his father, Albert Romano, who died in March 2010. The show resumed on May 24. Romano is also a regular competitor in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am; where he finished fifth in 2012 with partner, Australian professional Steven Bowditch. It was the first time Romano had qualified for the final round after failing to on 11 successive ocassions previously.

In February 2012, Romano revealed that his wife, Anna, had successfully battled stage one breast cancer in 2010. Romano told People magazine that "the reason we're going public is to share our experience, yeah, but to have an effect. Our goal is to help people."^[7]

Filmography

Writing credits

Everybody Loves Raymond

In addition to his roles as star and producer of Everybody Loves Raymond, Romano also co-wrote the following episodes:

Season One

• "Why Are We Here?" (with Tom Paris)

Season Two

• "Golf" (with Tom Caltabiano and Kevin James)
• "The Wedding" (with Philip Rosenthal)

Season Three

• "Ray Home Alone" (with Tucker Cawley)
• "How They Met" (with Philip Rosenthal)

Season Four

• "Debra's Workout" (with Tom Caltabiano and Mike Royce)
• "Bad Moon Rising" (with Philip Rosenthal)

Season Five

• "Super Bowl" (with Mike Royce)

Season Six

• "Jealous Robert" (with Tom Caltabiano)
• "Talk to Your Daughter" (with Tucker Cawley)
• "The First Time" (with Tom Caltabiano and Mike Royce)

Season Seven

• "She's the One" (with Philip Rosenthal)
• "The Bachelor Party" (with Mike Royce and Tom Caltabiano)

Season Nine

• "Angry Sex" (with Lew Schneider and Mike Scully)
• "The Finale" (with Philip Rosenthal, Tucker Cawley, Lew Schneider, Steve Skrovan, Jeremy Stevens, Mike Royce, Aaron Shure, Tom Caltabiano and Leslie Caveny)

Men of a Certain Age

Season One

• "Pilot" (with Mike Royce)
• "Let It Go" (with Mike Royce)
• "Back in the Shit" (teleplay) with Mike Royce

Season Two

• "If I Could, I Surely Would" (with Mike Royce)

Awards

Bibliography

• (1999) Everything and a Kite (non-fiction)
• (2005) Raymie, Dickie and the Bean (children's)
• (2004) Everybody Loves Raymond: Our Family Album

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ray Romano

• Official website
• Ray Romano at the Internet Movie Database