Ray Liotta is an American actor who has appeared in many films and television shows. He is perhaps best known for his role as Henry Hill in the film Goodfellas (1990).
Liotta was born in Newark, New Jersey on December 18, 1954. He began his acting career in the 1970s, appearing in a number of television shows. His first film role was in Something Wild (1986).
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Liotta has since appeared in many films, including Field of Dreams (1989), Unforgettable (1996), Hannibal (2001), and Smokin’ Aces (2006). He has also had roles in several television shows, such as ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
In addition to his acting career, Liotta is also a producer and director. He has directed two short films, These Guys (2003) and The Forgotten One (2008).
Ray Liotta sadly passed away on May 26, 2022 at the age of 67.
Liotta told Rolling Stone about typecasting, turning down projects, and how a part on a soap opera early in his career helped him progress as an actor.
Luotta said that he’s “had meetings” with numerous directors who didn’t result in being cast in any film. He revealed, “You know what? A lot. I don’t have pride like that. If I want something — you know, a lot of people have set ways that they think you are. They typecast you. If I want a job, I don’t say, ‘Oh, f*** you, I won’t do that.’ It doesn’t bother me if it gets you where you want to get. This business, it’s always a hustle. And if you really want to do it, then you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Liotta knew that his renowned for performing in films like Goodfellas gave him a “tough guy” reputation. He said, however, that he attempted to avoid doing similar movies in a row in order to minimize typecasting – although he didn’t always have that option. He said, “Yeah, totally. But that’s what f***ed things up for me. I just waited too long. Some of the movies didn’t work, and then I said, ‘Well, I’m not gonna do two bad guys in a row.’ You have this idealistic view of how you want it to happen, and when it’s not [going that way], then you have to adjust.”
In addition, Liotta notes that in the aftermath of the release of Something Wild in 1986, he was given similar parts. He recalled, “I got a lot of bad-guy scripts right after Something Wild. I said, “No, I’m not going to do it,” but I should have done it and capitalized on what was going on, because it could have been really successful. But at that time, I just had a different mentality.”
Liotta stated that he doesn’t remember any of the projects he was offered and declined. He explained that he has a poor attitude towards the business side of acting. He explains, “I played sports my whole life, in high school and after, and sometimes I look at this as a one-on-one competition, which it’s not. But it can be crazy. I had people calling me up when they heard that Marty was circling around me for Goodfellas. Like, an actor I barely knew called me. I don’t know if he was trying to psych me out or what. But they’re all f****ed up. We’re all competitive.”
By studying the screenplay and his training as an actor, Liotta was able to play Hollywood Dick in The Many Saints of Newark. He said, “It showed itself. Once I saw the story that I tell in the movie about a donkey at a party, and it cracks me the f*** up? That showed me a looseness. I’m bragging about this young girl I picked up and married in Rome, and showing pictures of her to a priest. So the information is there. And I got all of that from my acting teacher, Harry Mastrogeorge. I was on a soap opera, I quit the soap after three and a half years and moved to L.A., and Steven Bauer and Melanie Griffith told me about this acting teacher. I went to see him and just really liked this guy, and his method worked for me. I got Something Wild, and then after I did a movie, I would go back to class. I did that for 12 years. The biggest thing is, he teaches you self-reliance.”
Liotta worked on the soap opera Another World for almost four years, which he didn’t want to take at first, but which he later called “an incredible education with enough flexibility that I was able to work on other things.” He continued, “I remember when I got offered it, I was like, ‘I don’t want to do a soap opera. I want to go and do a Scorsese movie.’ But I got Another World six months out of graduating. It happened really fast. It just so happened it was really, really good training. These were unbelievable people I was working with, these great stage actors, really seasoned, and our producer made sure they would be free to go and do plays when they wanted to. So I learned a lot being around them. I really liked it. It didn’t bother me at all.”
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