Ray Liotta's Real Name: Raymond Allen Liotta

Quick answer: Ray Liotta's full name was Raymond Allen Liotta. He was born on December 18, 1954, in Newark, New Jersey, and was adopted as a baby. Ray is the short form of Raymond. He was best known as mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990) and as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams (1989). He died in his sleep on May 26, 2022, in the Dominican Republic, at 67 (Biography.com; AP News).

Real name and early life

Biography.com states that "Raymond Allen Liotta, generally known as Ray Liotta, was born on December 18, 1954, in Newark, New Jersey." The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Liotta, Ray," with the same birth date and city, and notes that he "died May 26, 2022 in the Dominican Republic."

AP reported that Liotta was adopted at six months old from an orphanage by a township clerk and an auto parts owner. Biography.com names his adoptive parents as Alfred and Mary Liotta. AP said he long assumed he was mostly Italian but learned later in life, while searching for his birth parents, that he was actually of Scottish descent. He grew up focused on sports, tried a high school play on a lark, and studied acting at the University of Miami.

Career highlights

Liotta's first big break was the soap opera Another World, where he played Joey Perrini from 1978 to 1981. His first major film role came as Melanie Griffith's character's volatile ex-convict husband in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild (1986). The role earned him a Golden Globe nomination. He then played the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams (1989).

AP reported that Liotta and Scorsese had to fight to cast him as Henry Hill in Goodfellas (1990). Scorsese later called him "so uniquely gifted, so adventurous, so courageous as an actor." Liotta went on to play police and federal agents in Unlawful Entry, Cop Land, and Narc. He was Johnny Depp's father in Blow (2001) and a divorce lawyer in Marriage Story (2019). He played Frank Sinatra in TV's The Rat Pack and voiced Tommy Vercetti in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Biography.com notes he won an Emmy for a 2005 guest role on ER. He also appeared in The Many Saints of Newark (2021).

Death

AP reported that Liotta was in the Dominican Republic filming a new movie and died in his sleep. His publicist said he did not wake up on the morning of May 26, 2022. He was 67 and was survived by his daughter, Karsen, and his fiancée, Jacy Nittolo.

Name notes for searchers

Raymond was his given first name, and Ray the short form he always used professionally. Allen was his middle name. Liotta was the surname of his adoptive family.