Liotta (pronounced lee-OH-ta) was born in Newark, New Jersey and was adopted at the age of six months by Mary, an appointed township clerk, and Alfred Liotta, an auto parts store owner, personnel director, and the president of a local Democratic club. Both of his adoptive parents unsuccessfully ran for local office. Liotta believed his biological parents were of Scottish and Italian descent, but eventually reunited with his biological mother and discovered he is not Italian. In 1973, he graduated from Union High School in Union, New Jersey. In 1992, he was inducted into their Hall of Fame. While living in Union, Ray briefly worked at an A & P supermarket and at Cerami's Pizzeria. Liotta studied acting at the University of Miami, where he performed at the university's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.
Liotta married actress Michelle Grace in February 1997. They met on the set of the television movie The Rat Pack, in which Liotta played Frank Sinatra and Grace played Judy Campbell. Their daughter, Karsen, was born in December 1998. The couple divorced in 2004. Liotta currently resides in Pacific Palisades, California and is dating actress Catherine Hickland.
A baseball pitcher bearing his name is currently in the Kansas City Royals system. The two Ray Liottas are distant cousins.
On February 17, 2007, Liotta was arrested in the Highlands of Pacific Palisades after crashing his Cadillac Escalade into two parked cars on Palisades Drive, approximately one-half mile from his residence. He was charged with a misdemeanor DUI. Liotta was released on $15,000 bail and a court date was planned for March 2007. Liotta was alone in his car, and no one was injured in the crash. Liotta also supports English football team Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Comments