Connie Ray

American actress and playwright (born 1956)

Connie Ray
Born	Constance Ray (1956-07-10) July 10, 1956 (age 67) Hillsborough, North Carolina, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actress, playwright
Years active	1991–present

Constance Ray (born July 10, 1956) is an American actress and playwright. Among her highest-profile appearances are Thank You for Smoking (2006) and Stuart Little (1999), and the television drama ER (1997). She also appeared in Ice Princess (2005) and on George Lopez (2002).

Biography

Constance Ray was one of three children born to Betty Jean (Edmonds) and Shelton Ray and raised on the family's dairy farm in Orange County, North Carolina. At the age of ten, Ray wrote a play with her brother Lester for a 4-H club talent show that went on to win at county and district competitions.^[1] She went on to study dance at East Carolina University and earned a Master of Fine Arts at Ohio University.^[2]

Ray wrote the bluegrass gospel musicals Smoke On The Mountain, which opened off-Broadway in 1990, Sanders Family Christmas (1999),^[3] and Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming (2006), three of the most produced musicals in the United States for the last 20 years.^[4]^[5]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1996	A Very Brady Sequel	Flight Attendant
	Space Jam	Owner's Girlfriend
	My Fellow Americans	Genny
1997	Speed 2: Cruise Control	Fran Fisher
1998	Hope Floats	Bobbi-Claire Patterson
1999	Idle Hands	Mrs. Tobias
1999	Stuart Little	Aunt Tina
2000	Lost Souls	Mother
2002	The Time Machine	Teacher
2002	About Schmidt	Vicki Rusk
2003	How to Deal	Marion Smith
2004	Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius	Clara Jones
2005	Ice Princess	Mrs. Fletcher
2005	Thank You for Smoking	Pearl
2006	Flourish	Wendy Covner
2006	Flags of Our Fathers	Mrs. Sousley
2007	Welcome to Paradise	Patsy Nellis
2022	American Reject	Bonnie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Harry and the Hendersons	Ginger Higgs	Episode: "Harry Goes Ape"
1991–1993	The Torkelsons/Almost Home	Millicent Torkelson	Main role
1992	Quantum Leap	Carol Pruitt	Episode: "Killin' Time"
1993	L.A. Law	Philomena Bannister	Episode: "Leap of Faith"
1995	Murphy Brown	Ms. Howard	Episode: "Murphy's Law"
1995	Never Say Never: The Deirdre Hall Story	Shane	TV movie
1996	Coach	Mary Luba	Episode: "Nice Guys Get Cut"
1996	Dream On	Mandy	Episode: "Second Time Aground"
1997	Touched by an Angel	Sandra Mills	Episode: "The Road Home: Part 1"
	Promised Land	Sandra Mills	Episode: "The Road Home: Part 2"
	ER	Glenda	Episode: "Friendly Fire"
1998	The Pretender	Episode: "Red Rock Jarod"	Marilyn Miller
1999	Veronica's Closet	Jan Schaefer	Episode: "Veronica's Big Homecoming"
1999	It's Like, You Know...	Beverly	Episode: "Two Days in the Valley"
2000	Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane	Betty	Episode: "The Feud"
2002	Andy Richter Controls the Universe	Lorie	Episode: "Wedding"
	Providence	Hazel	Episodes: "All the King's Men", "Gotcha", "Out of Control"
	George Lopez	Debbie	Episode: "No Free Launch"
2003	Less than Perfect	Nona	Episode: "High Maintenance"
2005–2006	Still Standing	Joy	Episodes: "Still Bill Vol. 1", "Still Deceitful"
2006	Twenty Good Years	Susan	Episode: "John's Old Lady"
2007	My Name Is Earl	Mrs. Clevenger	Episode: "Burn Victim"
2008	Greek	Norma	Episode: "47 Hours and 11 Minutes"
2008	Worst Week	Sheila	Episodes: "The Cake", "The Wedding"
2011	Justified	Mrs. Reasoner	Episode: "Blaze of Glory"
2011	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Biological Mother	Episode; "Double Strands"
2011–2013	The Big C	Connie Schuler	Episodes: "The Little c", "What's Your Story?", "Quality of Life", "The Finale"
2012	Hart of Dixie	Mrs. Beaudry	Episode: "Walkin' After Midnight"
2013 & 2017	Blue Bloods	Ruth / Ann Harris	Episodes: "Lost and Found" & "Ghosts of the Past"
2014–2015	Grey's Anatomy	Karen Kepner	Episodes: "Don't Let's Start" & "The Bed's Too Big Without You"
2017	The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel	Mrs. Winters	Episode: "Mrs. X at the Gaslight"
2017	Kick Me, I'm Christian	Betsy Rafferty	Unsold TV pilot
2018	The Good Fight	Mrs. Honeycutt	Episode: "Day 443"
2019	Kim Possible	Nana Possible	TV movie

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Theater
1988	The Heidi Chronicles
1990	Smoke on the Mountain	June Sanders	Lamb's Theatre
2010	Next Fall	Arlene	Helen Hayes Theatre
2013	Hands on a Hardbody	Cindy Barnes	Brooks Atkinson Theatre

References

^ Broili, Susan (3 Jan 2003). "'About Schmidt' ... he's not a great kisser". Chapel Hill Herald. [Connie] and brother Lester would show cows from their Twin Branch Farm in 4-H shows, but always wanted to be in the 4-H talent show. So one year, they wrote and starred in a play about two old ladies who rode skateboards - "and we won!" Ray recalled. Their performance won in the Orange County 4-H division, and then took the district competition when they performed at Memorial Hall.
^ Buck, Jerry (12 Mar 1993). "Connie Ray Still Great on 'Home'". Chicago Sun-Times. Ray studied dance at East Carolina University and got her master's degree at Ohio University. She also studied dance with Twyla Tharp at American University in Washington and with Merce Cunningham.
^ Holmes, Cecile (4 Dec 1999). "A country kind of Christmas". Houston Chronicle. As a sequel to Smoke On the Mountain, Sanders Family Christmas . . . is currently being produced in about 30 theaters in cities including Nashville, Cincinnati and Seattle.
^ Stein, Jerry (8 Nov 1999). "Gospel-tinged 'Smoke' comes back for a sequel". Cincinnati Post. Since its premiere in 1988, "Smoke on the Mountain" has become one of the most frequently produced musicals in the U.S.
^ Smoke on the Mountain