Background:

Italian American actor Ray Abruzzo is celebrated for his performances on television shows such as “Dynasty” (1988-1989, as police sergeant John Zorelli), “The Practice” (1998-2004, as Detective Michael McGuire) and “The Sopranos” (2002-2007, as “Little” Carmine Lupertazzi). He has also guest starred in a number of series, including “Falcon Crest,” “Night Court,” “Law & Order,” “The Nanny,” “House M.D” and “In Plain Sight.” On the big screen,  Abruzzo is perhaps best known for playing Frank on the Academy Award nominated film “House of Sand and Fog” (2003). Behind the screen, as a floor producer, Abruzzo jointly netted a CableACE nomination for his work in “Weinerville.”  
        

Queens Boy

Childhood and Family:

Ray Abruzzo was born on August 12, 1954, in Queens, New York City, New York. His career began when he was still in high school. He kept on acting through college before heading to Los Angeles to further pursue his career.


House of Sand and Fog

Career:

Ray Abruzzo performed with the Middle Village Summer Theatre Workshop when he was a teenager and later he became a founding member of The Bond Street Theatre Coalition. He made his first television appearance as a hospital security guard in the critically acclaimed true story “Muggable Mary, Street Cop,” starring Karen Valentine. The film aired on CBS on February 25, 1982. Abruzzo then make guest appearances in television shows such as “Paper Dolls” (1984), “Falcon Crest” (1985), “Riptide” (1986), “Trapper John, M.D.” (1986), “Shell Game” (1987) and “21 Jump Street” (1987).     In October 1987, he landed the recurring role of Anthony Gianelli on the hit series “L.A. Law,” for which Abruzzo in three episodes, and later returned to the series as Anthony for an additional episode in January 1988.     

Abruzzo had his first series regular role on the prime time television soap opera “Dynasty,” created by Richard & Esther Shapiro. He portrayed police sergeant John Zorelli from November 1988 to its cancellation in May 1989. Later that same year in October, Abruzzo joined the cast of the popular NBC sitcom “Night Court” in the recurring role of Detective Tony Guiliano, the boyfriend and then husband to Christine (played by Markie Post). He remained with the show until 1991. In 1993,  Abruzzo served as floor producer on an episode of “Weinerville” called “Marc's Mother Visits,” for which he shared a CableACE nomination in 1995 in the category of Short-Form Programming Series. Abruzzo also appeared as a guest star in television series like “Empty Nest” (1990), “Pros and Cons” (1991), “Doogie Howser, M.D” (1992), “Murder, She Wrote” (1993), “Silk Stalkings” (1993), “Diagnosis Murder” (1994), “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” (1994, as Detective Wolfe), “NYPD Blue” (1995), “The Burning Zone” (1996), “Step by Step” (1997) and “The Nanny” (1998).          

In early 1998, Abruzzo was cast as Detective Michael McGuire in the David E. Kelley legal drama series “The Practice,” which premiered in ABC on March 4, 1997. He made his first appearance on the Season 2, Episode 16, “Truth and Consequences” (aired on January 12, 1998) and his last one on the Season 8, Episode 11 titled “Police State” (aired on January 11, 2004).

Meanwhile, in 1999, Abruzzo made his film acting debut as Johnny 'Two Times' in “Scriptfellas,” which was co-written and directed by Sanford Bookstaver. The film, which was released on Internet worldwide on November 24, 1999, was nominated for Pixie Awards in the categories of Best Pixure, Best Director of an i-Feature Film and Best Actor in an i-Feature Film (Jonathan Brent).

Following a guest spot in “Touched by an Angel” (2000), Abruzzo jointed the cast of the hit HBO drama series “The Sopranos” in the recurring role of Carmine “Little Carmine” Lupertazzi, Jr., who is a Capo and the son of Carmine Lupertazzi, the leader of one of New York's Five Families. He appeared in a total of 17 episodes from November 2002 to June 2007.

In 2003, Abruzzo had his first theatrical release with “House of Sand and Fog,” a film adaptation of the Andre Dubus III novel, starring Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley. Released in the United States on December 19, 2003, the drama opened at No. 43 by grossing $45,572 its the opening weekend, and eventually collected over $13 million in North America and about $3.9 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $16,942,795. Its budget was $16.5 million. Despite the commercial failure, “House of Sand and Fog” received good reviews from critics, and was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Actor (Kingsley), Best Supporting Actress (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and Best Original Score (James Horner).  

After leaving “The Practice,” Abruzzo could be seen in episodes of the television series “Law & Order” (2004), “Strong Medicine” (2004), “Listen Up” (2004), “CSI: NY” (2005), “Eyes” (2005), “Living with Fran” (2006), “Bones” (2007), “Shark” (2007), “Boston Legal” (2 episodes, 2007-2008),  “NCIS” (2008) and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (2008). He also appeared with Dick Van Dyke, Barry Van Dyke and Shane Van Dyke in the TV movie mystery “Murder 101: If Wishes Were Horses” (2007), where he played the role of Bernard Alger. In 2009, he appeared on the stage of the Pasadena Playhouse in the play, “Mauritius,” by Theresa Rebeck.

In 2010, Abruzzo was cast as Callias in the biographical movie “The Death of Socrates,” opposite Jayne Anderson and Kilin Aska, and starred in the short film “Telemafia,”  which was directed and co-written by Diane Namm. He also appeared as Lorenzo Wibberly in an episode of “House M.D.” called “Remorse” (2010). In the following year, he teamed up with Andrew McCarthy, Ernest Borgnine and Marcus Lyle Brown for the comedy film “Snatched,” which was directed by Joe Cacaci, with Steven Bauer, Sally Kirkland and Nick Mancuso in Joe E. Goodavage's drama “The Last Gamble,”   which won the Festival Award for Best Actor at the 2011 Hoboken International Film Festival and the Feature Film Award for Best Actor at the 2012 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival (both for Steven Bauer), and with Niko Baur and Kyle Bode in the Diane Namm drama film “Finding Hope.” In April 2011, Abruzzo appeared as Martin in an episode of “QuickBites” called “Faceless.”

In 2012, Abruzzo had as recurring role as A.U.S.A. Perillo in the USA Network drama series “In Plain Sight,” a role he originated in a 2011 episode called “Love in the Time of Colorado.”
    

Awards:

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