Ray Stevenson has Gaelic roots, although he was brought up in the North-East of England. He was born in the north of Ireland. His father was a pilot in the air force, his mother is Irish, and he has two brothers - one older, one younger. Got the acting bug in his youth during his visits to the Saturday Morning Picture Show at the Newcastle Odeon. He kept a lid on his aspirations as an actor for a while, and during that time had a career as an interior designer. He was further inspired to become an actor after seeing John Malkovich in the play Burn This at the Plymouth Theater in the West End. At 27 he studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Ray is married to actress Ruth Gemmell, who he met when they worked together on the Granada TV drama Band of Gold. They later played husband and wife on the series Peak Practice.