Overview
Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He first gained attention for his role in the film Something Wild (1986), which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. He was best known for his portrayals of Shoeless Joe Jackson in the film Field of Dreams (1989) and Henry Hill in the film Goodfellas (1990). Liotta appeared in numerous other films, including Unlawful Entry (1992), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), John Q. (2002), Identity (2003), Killing Them Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), and Marriage Story (2019).
Liotta won a Primetime Emmy Award for his guest role in the television series ER in 2005. He starred as Frank Sinatra in the television film The Rat Pack (1998) and Lorca in the miniseries Texas Rising (2015), both of which earned him Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and starred in the series Shades of Blue (2016–2018) and Black Bird (2022). The latter nominated him a posthumous Primetime Emmy Award for his role as Big Jim Keene at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. He had a prominent voice acting role as Tommy Vercetti in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002).
Early life
Liotta was born in Newark, New Jersey, on December 18, 1954. Having been abandoned at an orphanage, he was adopted at the age of six months by township clerk Mary (née Edgar) and auto-parts store owner Alfred Liotta. His adoptive parents were Scottish and Italian Americans. Alfred was a personnel director and president of a local Democratic Party club. 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 that he was adopted as a young child, and presented a show-and-tell report. He hired a private detective to locate his biological mother in the 2000s, from whom he learned his family was of Scottish descent. He had one biological sister, one biological half-brother also named Ray, and five biological half-sisters.
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