Ray Romano's 4 Children: Alexandra, Matthew, Gregory, and Joseph
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- UPDATED OCTOBER 05, 2024
by Tasha Mayberry
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Everyone loves Ray Romano, and that includes his children: Alexandra, Matthew, Gregory, and Joseph. Ray is a family man, both on and off the screen. While he played the role of father to daughter Ally and twin sons, Michael and Geoffrey, for nine seasons on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, in real life, the actor has four kids of his own with his wife of over 30 years, Anna Romano. “I think they like that I get creative inspiration from them,” the Primetime Emmy Award-winning actor shared about his family. “They read rough drafts of the script. My wife, not as much as my kids.”
The stand-up comedian doesn’t shy away from making jokes about his loved ones, and they all appeared at the end of his 2019 Netflix comedy special, Ray Romano: Right Here, Around the Corner. “I do know that a lot of my material now is me taking on the voice of either my kids or my wife,” Ray said on an episode of Good One: A Podcast About Jokes in 2021. He shared how he’s watched his children grow into individuals with relatable opinions.
Alexandra Romano, 34
Ray and Anna welcomed their first child, Alexandra “Ally” Romano, on August 26, 1990, at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City. During an appearance on the Today show, the Get Shorty star admitted he “got real nervous after the baby was born” and didn’t quite get things right at first.
“I went to pick them up, my wife and child, and [with my] newborn baby in my arms, [I] go outside [and say], ‘Where’s my minivan?’ I parked in a tow-away zone so we had to go to Queens in a yellow cab,” Ray recalled. “My daughter came home in a yellow cab.” Ally was also the name of the actor’s on-screen daughter in Everybody Loves Raymond, played by Madylin Sweeten. Ray has said his real-life daughter takes after him, sharing in 2020 that “it’s actually kind of enjoyable.” In his Netflix special, he humorously revealed that Alexandra’s nickname is “the good one.
Matthew and Gregory Romano, 31
Ray got his wish for a son — twice — when his identical twin boys, Matthew and Gregory, were born on January 12, 1993. The Welcome to Mooseport star confessed in 1996 that he had hoped for a son when Anna announced she was pregnant again. “Anna called me after a sonogram,” Ray recalled. “She said, ‘Well, we’re having twins.’ I was like, ‘Come on!’ Then she said, ‘Yes, twin girls.’ I tried to sound happy, saying, ‘Oh. Good. Good.’ Finally, she told me, ‘They’re boys, you jerk!’ That’s when I knew I loved her.”
Interestingly, Ray’s Everybody Loves Raymond character also had twin boys named Matthew and Gregory in the first episode. However, Ray became concerned that his work was imitating his life too much, and he decided to change the boys’ names to Michael and Geoffrey. While Ray’s real twins aren’t sitcom stars, they aren’t strangers to the limelight. In 2002, Matthew and Gregory joined their dad on stage when he accepted his People’s Choice Award for Favourite Male Television Performer. When he won again the following year, they delivered his acceptance speech on their birthday.
Joseph Romano, 26
Joseph “Joe” Romano, the youngest of Ray and Anna’s children, was born in February 1998. Ray has shared several humorous stories about Joseph. While on The Tonight Show in 2017, he said, “I never knew what this phrase meant, but I think it applies to him — he thinks he’s the s—.” Ray revealed to Jimmy Fallon that Joseph had become an ordained minister online, and when he asked his son about it, Joseph replied, “Pretty much.”
Ray often jokes about Joseph in his stand-up, sharing with Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy Kimmel that he’s not sure whether Joseph is the “stupidest kid or maybe the deepest.” Ray explained that his youngest might actually be quite deep, saying things that leave him unsure how to respond. On his Netflix special, Ray joked, “He brags about things you shouldn’t admit to.” One memorable moment was when Joseph walked through the kitchen and said, “Haven’t showered in four days.
Who Is Ray Romano's Wife? All About Anna Romano
Ray Romano knows the secret to a lasting marriage. The comedian has been married to his wife, Anna Romano, since 1987. Three years later, they welcomed their first child, daughter Alexandra. Ray and Anna went on to have three more children: twins Matthew and Gregory, and their youngest, Joseph. As a devoted husband and father of four, Ray often drew inspiration from his own life for his hit sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond in the 1990s and early 2000s.
“My wife, on occasion, when our TV show was on, and we’d have an argument, she’d turn to me and say, ‘I don’t want to see this on the show,’ ” Ray recalled to in 2023. “And I would say, ‘We already did that episode. Ray’s latest project, Somewhere in Queens, also incorporates elements from his real life, including his son’s battle with anxiety and Anna’s journey through breast cancer.
