American comedian and actor who was perhaps best known as the bumbling well-intentioned father in the television show Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005), a witty and insightful portrayal of the quotidian travails of family life.

Romano's upbringing in the middle-class Forest Hills section of Queens, N.Y., would later prove a rich mine for the wholesome family-friendly humour that became the comedian's trademark. In the early 1980s, while studying to be an accountant and holding down a series of part-time jobs, Romano began performing stand-up comedy in New York clubs. In 1987 he decided to pursue stand-up as a career. Winning a citywide comedy contest in 1989 brought him valuable exposure, and in 1990 Romano made his first national television appearance on MTV's Half-Hour Comedy Hour.

It was an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman (Letterman, David) in 1995, however, that marked a turning point for Romano. Letterman was so impressed with his guest that he had his production company, Worldwide Pants Inc., develop a situation comedy around Romano's humour. The first episode of Everybody Loves Raymond aired on Sept. 13, 1996, and by the following year it was consistently among the most-watched shows on American television. The sitcom was frequently nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding comedy series and won the honour in 2003 and 2005. For his role, Romano received the 2002 Emmy for best actor in a comedy series. After nine seasons, Everybody Loves Raymond ended its run in 2005.

Romano extended his humour to roles in film, beginning in 2002 as the voice of Manfred, a woolly mammoth that helps return a human baby to its father, in the animated feature Ice Age. In the dark comedy Eulogy (2004), he was cast as the maladjusted eldest son mourning the death of the family patriarch. Romano also appeared in Welcome to Mooseport (2004), a comedy about a small-town political race in which Romano costarred with Gene Hackman (Hackman, Gene), and he voiced Manfred in Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006). In addition to his acting, Romano wrote Everything and a Kite (1998) and released the album Ray Romano: Live at Carnegie Hall (2001).