| Birth Name: | Constance Ray |
| Birth Date: | 10 July 1956 |
| Birth Place: | Hillsborough, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Occupation: | 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).
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]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | A Very Brady Sequel | Flight Attendant | ||
| Space Jam | Owner's Girlfriend | |||
| My Fellow Americans | Genny | |||
| 1997 | Fran Fisher | |||
| 1998 | Hope Floats | Bobbi-Claire Patterson | ||
| 1999 | Idle Hands | Mrs. Tobias | ||
| Stuart Little | Aunt Tina | |||
| 2000 | Lost Souls | Mother | ||
| 2002 | The Time Machine | Teacher | ||
| About Schmidt | Vicki Rusk | |||
| 2003 | How to Deal | Marion Smith | ||
| 2004 | Clara Jones | |||
| 2005 | Ice Princess | Mrs. Fletcher | ||
| Thank You for Smoking | Pearl | |||
| 2006 | Flourish | Wendy Covner | ||
| Flags of Our Fathers | Mrs. Sousley | |||
| 2007 | Welcome to Paradise | Patsy Nellis | ||
| 2022 | American Reject | Bonnie |
| 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" | |
| Never Say Never: The Deirdre Hall Story | Shane | TV movie | ||
| 1996 | Coach | Mary Luba | Episode: "Nice Guys Get Cut" | |
| 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" | |
| 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" | |
| Worst Week | Sheila | Episodes: "The Cake", "The Wedding" | ||
| 2011 | Justified | Mrs. Reasoner | Episode: "Blaze of Glory" | |
| 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" | |
| 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 |
| 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 |