Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta was an American film actor and producer, born on December 18, 1954, in Newark, New Jersey.
He attended Union High School before going on to study at the University of Miami. He later trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, rounding out a formal education that spanned both academic and craft-focused institutions. Over the course of his career, Liotta worked in front of the camera as an actor and also took on the role of film producer. His work in television earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, a recognition that reflected the range he brought to roles across different formats. He was also inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, an honor tied to his roots in the state where he was born and raised.
Liotta died on May 26, 2022, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. His career as both actor and producer kept him working in English-language film and television throughout his life, and his Emmy win for guest dramatic work points to the kind of intense, character-driven performances that defined his screen presence.
Quotes by Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta's insights on:
There are a lot of actors who will watch the monitors. They'll do a scene, and then the director will look back to see if he got whatever he wanted. I just find it odd to sit there and watch yourself.
I was looking to become more proactive with my career because I wasn't crazy with some of the scripts I was getting - this was before Blow and Hannibal - so I decided to start my own production company.
With any mannerisms or dialogue, you have to be careful you're not just serving yourself. What happens with improving is a lot of times, if you're not in the framework of the script, you're just making everything easier so it fits you.
I’m not a proponent of people watching a movie, and then going out and doing something bad. People have been doing bad things, well before movies.
I think that if you can achieve a balance, then you appease a lot of yourself and your career and what it takes to maintain in this business for a while.
I would like to do a lot more of it, I feel comfortable with it and basically it’s all in the writing. I’m not a personality type actor, I need a good script in order to be funny, but it’s definitely something that I like doing.
I’ve done a few movies where I really liked the project, but I wasn’t sure about the director, and I still did it and my instinct was right, in the beginning. Even though it was a good story, the guy still didn’t really know what he was doing.