Ray Liotta’s daughter, Karsen Liotta, is following in her late father’s acting footsteps — and she hopes to one day do a project in the genre that made him famous.
Karsen, 25, exclusively told Us Weekly that she would “for sure” like to star in a mafia movie one day. “That’s got to be in my blood somewhere,” she quipped at the Tuesday, August 27, premiere of 1992 at Regal LA Live in Los Angeles.
1992 marks Ray’s final screen appearance following his death in May 2022 at age 67. An autopsy report released nearly one year later revealed that he died from heart and respiratory issues including respiratory insufficiency, pulmonary edema and acute heart failure.
Karsen, whom Ray shared with ex-wife Michelle Grace, was on hand at the 1992 premiere to honor her dad’s memory. While her father appeared in tons of films and TV shows over the years, his best-known role was as Henry Hill in the 1990 classic GoodFellas, which was directed by Martin Scorsese. Before his death, he acted alongside his daughter in projects including Shades of Blue and Hubie Halloween.
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Karsen told Us it was “bittersweet” to stand in for her dad on Tuesday, but she was proud to introduce his final film to audiences.
“It’s a weird thing to be representing somebody that’s not here, but I feel honored, and I’m glad to be here on behalf of him and his legacy in general,” she explained. “He was amazing, truly. This sounds obviously biased. He was truly an amazing person, friend, father, the most ride-or-die, trustworthy, honest, loyal, kind, sweet-hearted person, and definitely the funniest person you’ll ever meet.”
The actress wasn’t the only person to gush over Ray at the premiere of 1992, which also stars Tyrese Gibson, Dylan Arnold and Scott Eastwood.
“Ray Liotta is a giant,” Christopher Ammanuel, who stars in the film, told Us of Ray on Tuesday. “He’s the most beautiful soul that you will ever meet, which is so opposite of these gangsters that he plays. If he wasn’t in that role, I don’t know how this film would turn out. I just love Ray. Rest in peace, Ray. Thank you to his beautiful family for loaning him to us.”
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Ariel Vromen, who directed 1992, said that Ray was a “great partner” on the project. “The guy never left the set,” Vromen recalled to Us. “He comes in the morning and he stays on set until everybody leaves. He has a little chair with a little lamp, and he learns his lines on the day. And that was Ray Liotta, coming in, and literally, you have no idea what he’s going to bring. And he was a great actor. I wish he was here.”
Though Ray didn’t get to see the final version of 1992, Vromen believes he “would be proud” of the completed film.
“He asked me when I gave him the script, he said to me, ‘You know, I feel like I did a lot of romantic comedies and a cop show with Jennifer Lopez. I think I’m ready [to get] down and dirty again,’” Vromen said. “And I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’”
1992 premieres in theaters on Friday, August 30.
With reporting by Mariel Turner
