Ray Romano 12.21.12 Thought of the Day

“I’ve always wondered, what am I going to do that’s important with these stupid jokes that I tell,”
—Ray Romano

Raymond Albert Romano was born on this day in Queens, New York, USA in 1957. He is 55 years old.

Son of a piano teacher and a real estate agent/engineer, Romano and his brothers grew up in the Forest Hills area of Queens. The Romano boys attended Our Lady Queen of Martyrs until high school. Ray went to Archbishop Molloy High School before transferring to Hillcrest High School from which he graduated in 1975. He briefly attended Queens College as an Accounting major before dropping out to start his stand up comedian career.

After working for years in stand up he made the move to TV. His first gigs came in the form of guest roles on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Cosby, The Nanny and  Becker.

In 1996 he got his big break, the starring role in a national television comedy, Everybody Loves Raymond. The show, which drew loosely from Romano’s real-life Italian American family stories, won 2 Emmy Awards and Romano won an Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy in 2002. It ran for nine seasons.

The five principal characters during an argument. Episode: “The Can Opener” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Romano voiced the part of Manfred, the depressed Wooly Mammoth in Ice Age in 2002 (a role he would revise in countless sequels.) He played the local hardware store guy who runs against the former President of the United States for mayor of Mooseport in Welcome to Mooseport in 2004.

More guest spots followed, both on television and on the big screen.

In 2009 he joined Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula for the comedy-drama series Men of a Certain Age. Romano played Joe Tranelli, he is also one of the shows creators. While the show only lasted two years it garnered critical acclaim for both its writing and acting.

[Image courtesy: Men of Certain Age/ TNT]

Ray Romano (Photo credit: Wikipedia)