Ray Romano: All Around Nice Guy

"Everybody Loves Raymond". That's Ray Romano to you. He's hilarious whether in his long-lived t.v. show or as the voice of grumpy Manny the Mammoth in the popular animated film Ice Age. Ray, originally a stand-up comedian, has made a career out of playing down-to-earth, humble dudes just happy that somebody likes them. He's good at it so why mess with success? Ray used to deliver futons for a living for gosh sakes! His Welcome to Mooseport director calls him "Jimmy Stewart for the 21st Century. He's always wholesome and trustworthy. Ray's a guy you want to have a beer with".

In his latest comedy film Welcome to Mooseport, Ray is a sweet guy who runs the local small town hardware store and is too shy to ask his animal doctor galpal [played by "E.R."'s Maura Tierney] to marry him. When a Clinton-like President [Gene Hackman] retires in town, Ray must struggle to keep his girl and beat the popular ex-Pres in a local election for town mayor. We last chatted with Ray when he was the voice of a mammoth. The guy is just funny. There were several journalists in the L.A. hotel room when Ray entered and his cell phone rang. It was his wife. "Hey, I'm talking to nine people here. I gotta call you back. Oh, I love you". We all say "awwwwww" and I start the interview.

TeenHollywood: Your "Mooseport" character is a nice, average guy. Were you kind of an average Joe?

Ray: I'm flattered because that's saying I'm not one now. I mean, I, as far as dating and all that, yeah. I was. It was funny because it's almost ironic because you get a TV show and you get a little popularity, and you probably could be a little more successful in that area, and that boat has passed by already.

TeenHollywood: But you did win your wife. [Ray married wife Anna in the mid 1980's].

Ray: Yes, I won my wife. I give my wife credit. I say this to my wife when we're flying to Hawaii on a private jet, I say, 'I gotta give you credit, you stuck it out. I was a super nobody, and you made an investment and there you go, yeah.'

TeenHollywood: Were you still a bank teller or a futon salesman when you met her?

Ray: We were both tellers, yeah. Well, we worked together for two years and then I left, and that's when I got the courage up to ask her out, because this way if she said no I didn't have to go to work and see her the next day.

TeenHollywood: You were a teller who wanted to be an accountant?

Ray: I studied accounting for like a year and a half at Queens College. I was always good with numbers and math and then I gave it up. I hadn't even started standup then.

TeenHollywood: We heard you were robbed at work once?

Ray: Not as a teller, I was robbed as a gas station attendant. Yeah, I was robbed twice at gunpoint. In Queens. I never did a [comedy] routine on that. I wasn't crazily fearing for my life at that moment. It was two incidents where one guy came in and was pretending to use the phone. He was funny, we were talking. I was pumping gas. He had a gun, he just said, 'Lay down, I don't want to hurt you' whatever. We kind of didn't feel that threatened, but it was still a guy with a gun. Took the money and ran. Then another guy in a car just stuck the gun out the window, said like 'gimme all your money'. As scared as I was, I still didn't want to have to go the Motor Vehicle Bureau, you know? So I just showed him, here's the money, can you just take the money [not the whole wallet]? He let me keep it. I was like 18 or 19. I remember my mother kind of pressured me to give it up, yeah. 'Go to a bank, this way when you're robbed it'll make the news.'

TeenHollywood: Okay, on to "Mooseport". What interested you in this part?

Ray: There was a quirkiness to the story. It was a character that I liked, the idea of this character going up against this President. And also not being married with kids. Now it's this guy who's afraid to commit. There was that. I just thought it was a well written script. It just all felt right to me.

TeenHollywood: You shot in Fort Perry up in Canada during the SARS outbreak?

Ray: Hey, I wanted to go to Toronto during SARS, during the height of it. It was literally the day that the World Health Organization said 'Toronto is restricted.' We were flying there.

TeenHollywood: Did you grow up in a small town?

Ray: No, I grew up in Forest Hills, Queens. I grew up in a neighborhood. Now I live here [in L.A.] where there's no neighborhood. You don't know your neighbors, you know? So I guess in relation to here I grew up in a small town, but nothing like that, no. But I like it, yeah, I like the charm of it.

TeenHollywood: We hear you're a fan of reality t.v.

Ray: Yeah. I watched "Survivor", you know, the superstars one. I like that, I like "American Idol" and I just got hooked on "Average Joe". I can't not watch it. I just happened to click on it, I'm like what's this? Then I saw these 18 guys getting off a bus, and this beautiful woman thought they were all gonna be studs, and I just saw these guys trying to impress her just by saying hello. You just see this real self-consciousness, and I just know, I've been there, you know.

TeenHollywood: Why not make the move to movies earlier?

Ray: Is that saying 'you're old to be starting?' I mean I guess the answer can be, 'because I finally got offered', you know? I never had an opportunity until I had a TV show. I was doing standup and then I got the TV show, and then the TV show became popular and then I had an opportunity to do film. I didn't say, 'Well, I'm gonna hold off on film for a while.' But I got offered stuff starting in about the third or fourth year of "Raymond''. Then I thought we gotta really think carefully and pick the right thing. I believe I got offered Cheaper by the Dozen last year, and I knew it was a good movie but that seemed too close to my character on t.v. I only had from April, every year till we started filming in the beginning of August. Certain movies came along that were filming in September, so it just had to be the right mix of everything coming together

TeenHollywood: What do you think about "Friends" finally going off the air?

Ray: They are a very good show. Best comedy of all time, who knows? I like "Friends". I watched it, and they're leaving their impact. They've been on for 10 years and they deserve to go out with all the attention they're getting. That's what we're trying to make sure with our show, that we don't pass our [audience interest] point.

TeenHollywood: How do you think your t.v. show has changed your life?

Ray: You mean just the notoriety of it, the fame of it? Well, some of it is obvious. It's hard to do some of the things that you used to do. There's different pressures now, you know? You get asked to do a lot of things. You have to say no a lot more, which is hard for me. I had to realize that you can't please everybody all the time, and that's a hard thing for me. That's what my whole thing is, trying to please everybody. It's almost like sad that you've gotta isolate yourself a little. But I'm not complaining. It's also great to be in a position where you can help people. You sign a script and send it to a charity, and they're ecstatic that you've helped children. So I'm very fortunate but I think I'm just as neurotic as I was before. It's just at different levels. Before, like I would think my cab driver hates me, now I think my limo driver hates me. It's the same thing.

TeenHollywood: Have you guys figured out a season finale?

Ray: We already have the season finale. It's already outlined. It's not written yet. I'm writing it with Phil Rosenthal. It will either be the season finale or the series finale, you know? We're still making that decision.

TeenHollywood: You might call it quits on the series?

Ray: Well, I don't want to say call it quits. We're at the point where we feel the end coming, you know? We want the end to be just out of our reach before we leave. So yeah, we're asking ourselves if this is it or not. CBS won't say it's official till May when they announce the fall schedule.

TeenHollywood: Was it intimidating working with Gene Hackman as the President?

Ray: I was on the movie first and then we were looking for who was going to play the President. I really truly thought Gene Hackman was the best choice for the role. You just see him and he's the President. And he's also funny. I met him and he didn't say much at first, but then he was very nice and very generous to me. He commented on one scene. He said, 'Hey, I really like what you did there, and he shook my hand.' Later that night I was on the Internet telling all my friends, you know? I was on email. We bonded over "American Idol". We were both fans. Once during one scene, there was a long break, and we ended up just standing next to each other. I thought, 'I gotta think of something to say'. And I said to him, 'so how often do you watch your movies?' And he said, 'Ah, I never watch them. I can't look. I look at myself and I just wonder who would pay for this guy?' He's Gene Hackman for gosh sakes.

TeenHollywood: Okay, fans of animated films want to know. Are you doing Ice Age 2?

Ray: I heard talk of Ice Age 2. Yeah, sure. I'd come back.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.