Liotta (pronounced lee-OH-ta) was born in Newark, New Jersey and was adopted at the age of six months by Mary, an appointed township clerk, and Alfred Liotta, an auto parts store owner, personnel director, and the president of a local Democratic club. Both of his adoptive parents unsuccessfully ran for local office. Liotta believed his biological parents were of Scottish and Italian descent, but eventually reunited with his biological mother and discovered he is not Italian. In 1973, he graduated from Union High School in Union, New Jersey. In 1992, he was inducted into their Hall of Fame. While living in Union, Ray briefly worked at an A & P supermarket and at Cerami's Pizzeria. Liotta studied acting at the University of Miami, where he performed at the university's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.