Background

Ray Aranha was born on May 1, 1939, in Miami, Florida, United States. He was the son of the late Charles Douglass Aranha.

Education

Ray became interested in drama in the fifth grade. He earned a B.A. in drama from Florida A&M University in 1961, studying summers with the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. With the FAMU Playmakers, he toured nine African countries as part of President Eisenhower’s International Cultural Exchange Program in 1958; meeting Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia during this tour was a highlight he always remembered.

Career

After graduation, Ray Aranha taught drama at Mays High School and then worked as a Dade County, Florida juvenile probation officer. Ray continued to teach, nurture and inspire young people throughout his life. In 1968, determined to pursue a full time career in professional theater, Ray moved to New York City. For the next forty-two years, he worked as professional actor, playwright and director in theater, film and television.

Ray moved to Stamford in 1976. Over four decades, he took a wide array of roles, from the title characters in classics such as Othello, Macbeth, and Athol Fugard’s Master Harold And The Boys, to creating new characters at theaters around the country, including the Yale Repertory Theatre, Playwrights’ Horizons, the Negro Ensemble Company, Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, and many others, large and small.

Ray also worked in film, playing featured roles in City Hall (1994), Dead Man Walking (1995) and City of Hope (1990). He was a starring player in the ABC television series Married People which aired in the 1990-1991 season and in the FOX television series The Heights which aired in the 1992-1993 season. He made numerous appearances in a variety of other television series, including Law and Order, Ed, and New York Undercover.

Perhaps Ray’s greatest love was the creation of new plays. His play My Sister, My Sister was first produced at the Hartford Stage Company and then on Broadway in 1974, to critical acclaim. The play earned a Drama Desk Award and continues to be performed by theater companies across the country. Other plays include The Estate, which premiered at the Hartford Stage Company in 1976, and Remington which premiered at the Actors' Theatre of Louisville in 1980. Two of his plays were developed at Eugene O'Neill Theatre Centre: SnowPressings in 1980 which was then produced at Virginia Tech University in 1981; and Sons and Fathers of Sons in 1981 which was then produced by the Negro Ensemble Company in 1983. Ray wrote many other plays, and was always either writing, researching or thinking about future works.

Achievements

• Ray Aranha is best remembered for founding the professional nonprofit theatrical producing entity Prometheus’ Fire in 2003. The result over seven seasons was the production of dozens of new plays, by Ray and by others, as well as a Best Play Series showcasing great works not often produced. Shows were produced at the Stamford Center for the Arts, the Playhouse on the Green in Bridgeport, the Stratford Theatre, and most recently at St. Francis Church in Stamford.

Works

More photos

• book

  • My Sister, My Sister

• movie

  • Dead Man Walking

    (Scheduled to be put to death for brutally slaying two tee...)

    1994
  • Watch Die Hard: With a Vengeance

    (John McClane and a store owner must play a bomber's deadl...)

    1995
  • Watch Deconstructing Harry

    (Woody Allen comedy about a misogynistic author suffering ...)

    1997

• Other Work

  • Maid in Manhattan 2003

Membership

Aranha was a proud member of three unions – Actors’ Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Connections

Ray Aranha met his wife, Jean Mills Aranha, then a theatrical costumer at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. in 1979. They journeyed together for the next thirty-two years, marrying in 1985.

Father:

Charles Douglass Aranha

Spouse:

Jean Mills Aranha

Son:

Delanie Aranha

Son:

Marc Aranha

Daughter:

Teri Aranha

References

• Contemporary Authors A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields
  2008