Ray Romano, an Italian American, was born in Queens, New York to Albert and Lucie Romano. Before breaking into show business, Romano had planned to become an accountant.

He started his career appearing on many outlets including Comedy Central. He was originally cast to play "Joe" on the now-canceled American television sitcom NewsRadio, but was fired to be replaced by Joe Rogan. Shortly thereafter, he would become the star of his own show, Everybody Loves Raymond, that featured a cast and format which was more suitable to Romano's brand of humor.

Romano was featured on a 2000 episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, on which he won $125,000  for the NYPD's D.A.R.E. Unit.

In 2001, he was named one of E!'s top twenty entertainers of the year. In 2004, he became the highest paid television actor in history for his role of Raymond on CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond; his salary in 2004 was $50,000,000.