Ray began his career in 1984 as a stand-up comedian in New York, which led to appearances on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, and later with Jay Leno. After his first appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman," Ray was offered a development deal with Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, which led to the creation of "Everybody Loves Raymond" for CBS.
The show ran from 1996 to 2006 and is still one of the most popular and respected sitcoms in television history. Ray won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in 2002 and as one of the show's executive producers, he also received Emmys in 2003 and 2005 for Outstanding Comedy Series, and shared a 2003 Screen Actors Guild Award with the show's cast.
Ray made his feature film debut in 2003 as the voice of Manny the wooly mammoth in 20th Century Fox's animated hit, "Ice Age," and reprised the role in four sequels. He was also the subject of a 2006 documentary, "95 Miles to Go."
In 1998, he wrote the New York Times bestseller, "Everything And A Kite," and his comedy album, "Live at Carnegie Hall," was nominated for a Grammy in 2002.
Ray teamed with Mike Royce in 2009 to create and star in "Men of a Certain Age" with Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher. The TNT comedy-drama ran for two seasons and won the Peabody Award in 2011. Ray also appeared in three seasons of NBC's "Parenthood" as photographer Hank Rizzoli.
In 2016 he starred with Bobby Cannavale and Olivia Wilde in the HBO drama series "Vinyl" for creator Terence Winter ("Boardwalk Empire") and executive producers Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger. The following year, he appeared with Kumail Nanjiani and Holly Hunter in "The Big Sick," which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 2018. Ray was also recently seen in the EPIX series "Get Shorty" opposite Chris O'Dowd.
2019 saw the release of his stand-up special, "Right Here, Around the Corner," the indie film "Paddleton" with Mark Duplass, and Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated "The Irishman," with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, all for Netflix. Ray was also seen in HBO's "Bad Education," with Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney. His latest series "Made for Love," was released on HBOMax in April 2021 and ran for two seasons. Upcoming projects include the Jim Valvano biopic, where Romano will star as the legendary college hoops coach and also produce the film. Romano's directorial debut, "Somewhere in Queens," premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released in theatres April 2023.
He also wrote, produced and starred in the dramedy about an Italian-American family navigating life and family dynamics around their son's success on his high school basketball team. The film can now be streamed on Hulu. He was also featured in episodes of the new Pete Davidson Peacock comedy series "Bupkis."
Next up, he stars in "Project Artemis," an Apple Original Film, that focuses on a 1960s space race. Romano will work alongside Scarlett Johansson, Woody Harrelson and Channing Tatum, with Greg Berlanti set to direct.
