LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ray Liotta
built 273 days ago
These days Ray Liotta is doing so well he could even turn down a 2-year contract with The Sopranos (he figured he'd already covered the Mob with GoodFellas). Now capable of convincing onscreen exhibitions of sorrow, remorse, longing, joy and hangdog effort, he's become one of his generation's most versatile actors. Not bad for a guy labelled as a looney-toon for 15 years.
Source:
Actor Ray Liotta's intense demeanor and fondness for edgy roles quickly established him as one of the most interesting and respected supporting players of his generation. Born Raymond Julian Vicimarli in Newark, NJ, on December 18, 1955, to an Italian dad and a Scottish-Irish mom (further details about his biological parents are unclear), he was adopted at the age of six months, by Alfred and Mary Liotta, and raised in Union Township, New Jersey. (His parents adopted another child, Linda, three years later.) As a gifted high school athlete, Liotta played varsity basketball and soccer, while working a side job in his father's auto supply shop. After graduation, he left home to attend the University of Miami, where he cultivated an interest in acting and majored in Drama. Liotta appeared in a number of collegiate productions, including a surprising number of musicals (Cabaret, The Sound of Music). Within a year of graduation, Liotta scored a one-shot commercial and a recurring three-year role as Joey Perrini on the daytime soap opera Another World; he ... joined the cast of several short-lived prime-time network TV series, including Crazy Times (1981) - with David Caruso and Amy Madigan - and Casablanca (1983) - featuring David Soul in the role Humphrey Bogart made famous, and Liotta as Sacha.
Source:
In the new film, Wild Hogs, Ray Liotta plays a "bad guy" character, although this one does reform at the end. This movie follows a group of four suburban middle aged men (John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy) who want a little excitement in their lives and take off for an adventure on their Harleys. Along the way they meet a tough motorcycle gang headed by Liotta, and the docile suburbanites must face the rough bikers in a showdown.
Source:
Actor Ray Liotta is best known for playing Henry Hill, the central "wiseguy" in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990). Liotta began his acting career in New York, where he had early good fortune with a regular gig on the daytime soap opera Another World from 1978 to 1981. He then relocated to Hollywood, but it was another five years before he broke out as Melanie Griffith's abusive husband in Something Wild (1986). A leading man with unconventional looks and steely blue eyes, Liotta excels at playing charming characters with a dark side, despite his occasional turns as a good guy in films such as Field of Dreams (1990, starring Kevin Costner) and Corrina, Corrina (1994, with Whoopi Goldberg). His other feature films include Cop Land (1997, with Sylvester Stallone), Narc (2002) and Identity (2003, with John Cusack). On TV Liotta played Frank Sinatra in The Rat Pack (1998), and he won an Emmy in 2005 for a guest appearance on ER.
Source:
Actor Ray Liotta has been placed on three years' probation after pleading no contest to reckless driving. The Goodfellas star admitted he was at fault in a Los Angeles court on Thursday (06Dec07). The 52-year-old was arrested in February (07) after his car struck two parked vehicles on a Los Angeles street - police reports suggest he was under the influence of prescription medication.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Ray Liotta