Ray Romano has come a long way since he played Raymond Barone on his hit sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
Romano, who played a lawyer in Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman, told Vanity Fair he wrote a backstory for the character. It’s a device he’s actually used for each dramatic role he’s played since joining NBC dramedy “Parenthood” in 2012. The only difference was that his role in “The Irishman” was based on a real-life mob attorney. Going through that process for a real person with a thorny past was a much more difficult process than he was used to.
“I don’t want to give the impression that I’m this big actor-y guy. But I do remember Denzel Washington saying it in an interview,” Romano said of the practice. “It really helps me, even if I’m making up stuff that the creator and the writer maybe didn’t even intend — it just fills up the blanks. I’ve been doing it ever since. This is weird to say, but writing, I’m sure you know, it’s torture. I get excited: ‘Oh, I got a new gig!’ And then I think, ‘Oh, I’ve got to write three, four pages of a backstory on that.’”
Romano explained that on “The Irishman” specifically, his routine was a little different.
“I took what I knew and everything I could find about him and I filled in the blanks,” he said. “So it’s a little different from making stuff up out through the deep canyons in my stupid head.”
Collaborating with Scorsese has continued to push Romano as an actor. The star added that while appearing in Scorsese’s short-lived series “Vinyl,” which debuted in 2016 and was canceled after one season, he had to “go deep” onscreen.
“The first time I ever had to go deep — and actually, the scene called for me to break down — was during ‘Vinyl.’ My character contemplates killing himself in the car,” Romano said. “I remember calling my agent and saying, ‘I don’t know if I can do this.’ And my agent being very sensitive said to me, and I’m quoting, said, ‘You better do it.’”
Going to those depths was something he didn’t think he was capable of as a performer in his sitcom era.
“I also feel like — and I know this is not true for other actors — but the older I get, the easier it is to tap into emotion,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s because I’ve lived more life and I’ve experienced more ups and downs. I see many young actors who can tear your heart out in a scene, but I don’t think I was capable of that during the ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ days. I’ve grown as a person and as an actor.”
Romano previously said during Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast in 2023 that he actually “surprised” himself by being able to handle that scene. “It turned a corner for me, to attack that kind of scene,” he said at the time.
Romano is continuing to create both emotional arcs and backstories for his characters, most recently with series “No Good Deed.”
“I took all the information I had on that character, and I did what I always do: I made up a whole little backstory for him, with the house and with his brother,” he told Vanity Fair. “I just put that in my own head and that stays in the back. You write it, you read it, and then you put it away.”
Romano is also set to star in “Bookie” Season 2 and will appear in his sons Matt and Greg Romano’s directorial debut documentary. He hopes to work with another auteur like Scorsese next, though, and has his eye on “Anora” writer/director Sean Baker.
“There are a couple of people where I’ve seen their work and said to my agent, ‘Oh my God, I would love to do something with him,’” Romano said before citing Baker. “That guy’s got something there. And I thought, ‘Wow, it’d be cool to work with something he does.’ So put in a word for me.”
