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Ray's middle-class background couldn't be farther from the street-wise tough guys he has played on screen. He was born December 18, 1955, in Newark, New Jersey of Italian and Scotch-Irish parents. Six months later he was adopted by Alfred and Mary Liotta (also Italian and Scotch-Irish), owners of a chain of auto-supply stores. Three years later they also adopted his younger sister Linda. His parents were up front from the start about his adoption, and even let him help pick out his younger sister. "I've never felt like an outsider. My mother was the president of the PTA and a den mother in Cub Scouts. It was never me alone in a dark room listening to Jimi Hendrix. ... Anything that happens that early in your life [colors your outlook] . You have abandonment issues. And curiosity - obviously my [birth] mother had a reason. But, I believe that what happens in the beginning won't necessarily cement the way things are going to be forever. You go though things, work them out. The older you get the more understanding you have." Us Magazine, March 1996. The Liottas enjoyed a comfortable suburban life in Union New Jersey. His parents were both active in local Democratic party and in the PTA. They also took the family on trips abroad to Japan, Europe and Hawaii. But not nearby New York City. "People would go, but it would scare the shit out of me. I just liked staying home and playing sports and hanging out with my friends." GQ, November 1991 He discovered acting at the University of Miami when a lovely female co-ed asked him if he was auditioning for the play. Before he knew it he was a singing waiter in Cabaret . He graduated with a BA in Fine Arts in 1978, but he didn't take acting very seriously at first. "I was just looking for a way to breeze through. And since I didn't have a do-or-die attitude about it, I felt free to enjoy myself trying all kinds of things I might now have done if I'd been taking it seriously." Satellite Entertainment Guide, April 1996
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