Gene Anthony Ray

Gene Anthony Ray (May 24, 1962 – November 14, 2003) was an American actor, dancer, and choreographer born in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. He grew up near West 153rd Street in New York City, where he developed an early interest in street dancing at local block parties. Ray attended the High School of Performing Arts — the institution that served as the inspiration for the film Fame — but was expelled after a single year. He also performed in a dance class at Julia Richman High School, and it was by skipping school one day to audition that he first came to the attention of Fame choreographer Louis Falco.

Ray is best known for his portrayal of dancer Leroy Johnson in the 1980 film Fame, directed by Alan Parker. He had little formal professional training at the time of his casting, but his raw physical talent secured him the role. The film's production was complicated by difficult personal circumstances; Ray's mother was involved in drug activity during filming. In 1981, Ray appeared in the French television adventure-comedy Vendredi ou la Vie sauvage, also released under the title Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday, in which he played the role of Friday opposite Michael York as Robinson Crusoe.

Following the success of the film, Ray joined the MGM Television series Fame, which ran from 1982 to 1987 and was syndicated from 1983 to 1987. During this period, he also toured the United Kingdom with fellow cast members billed as The Kids from "Fame," performing at ten venues including a sold-out show at Royal Albert Hall. Ray was removed from the television series in 1984 after his mother was jailed in connection with a drug ring and he had accumulated approximately one hundred unexcused absences from work. He struggled with alcohol and drug addiction throughout this period and worked only intermittently after the series concluded. In 1985, he appeared in The Weather Girls' music video for "Well-A-Wiggy."

In 1987, Ray was cast as Billy Nolan in the stage musical adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie. He originated the role in the production's opening engagement in Stratford-upon-Avon, which closed within less than a month. The production subsequently transferred to Broadway, where Ray continued in the role through the musical's run of twenty-one public performances in 1988. Ray appeared in the 1995 film Out-of-Sync, directed by his Fame co-star Debbie Allen, and in the 1996 comedy Eddie starring Whoopi Goldberg, for which he also received credit as associate choreographer. He additionally appeared in commercials for Dr Pepper and Diet Coke. His final on-screen appearance was in a one-hour BBC documentary titled Fame Remember My Name, a Fame reunion special taped in Los Angeles in April 2003.

Ray was diagnosed HIV positive in 1996. He died on November 14, 2003, at the age of 41, from complications of a stroke he had suffered in June of that year and from complications related to AIDS. He never married.