Ray Liotta was born on December 18, 1954, and died on May 26, 2022. He was an American actor and producer. Liotta was known for playing Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams (1989), Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990), and Tommy Vercetti in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002).
Ray Liotta had an acting career spanning over 40 years. He died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he had been shooting the film “Dangerous Waters.”
Raymond Liotta has other roles on screen, including Ray Sinclair in Something Wild (1986), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He also starred in Unlawful Entry (1992), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Killing Them Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Marriage Story (2019) and The Many Saints of Newark (2021), as well as the drama series Shades of Blue (2016–2018).
Raymond Allen Liotta (Ray Liotta) was born in Newark, New Jersey, on December 18, 1954. Having been abandoned at an orphanage, he was adopted by township clerk Mary (Edgar) and auto-parts store owner Alfred Liotta at six months. Alfred, the son of Italian immigrants, was a personnel director and president of a local Democratic Party club.
Raymond Allen Liotta had one biological sister, half-brother, and five biological half-sisters. His adoptive parents each unsuccessfully ran for local political office; he recalled attending parades to hand out flyers for his father’s run. Liotta had a sister, Linda, who was also adopted. He said that he knew he was adopted as a young child and presented a show-and-tell report on it for kindergarten. Liotta hired a private detective to locate his biological mother in the 2000s and subsequently learned from her that he was mostly of Scottish descent.
Although his family was not especially religious, Liotta grew up in a Roman Catholic household in Union, New Jersey. They attended church, and he received the first communion and was confirmed, but the family did not pray much. He occasionally used prayer in his daily life, telling an interviewer, “… if I’m in a fix I’ll pray … if I’m feeling uncomfortable about something I’ll say “Our Father’s” and “Hail Marys” to this day.”
He graduated from Union High School in 1973. Liotta then graduated from the University of Miami, where he studied acting and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1978. He performed in musicals such as Cabaret, Dames at Sea, Oklahoma, and Sound of Music during his time there.
