Vanessa Ray Liptak (born June 24, 1981) is an American actress. She is known for her roles on ''

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery teen drama television series created by I. Marlene King, which aired on Freeform (TV channel), Freeform from June 8, 2010 to June 27, 2017, based on the novel series Pretty Little L ...

'' as Charlotte Drake, on legal drama '' Suits'' as Jenny, on soap opera ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other so ...

'' as Teri Ciccone, and on police drama ''

Blue Bloods ''Blue Bloods'' is an American police procedural drama (film and television), drama television series that aired on CBS from September 24, 2010, to December 13, 2024, across 14 seasons and 293 episodes. Its main characters were members of the fi ...

'' as Officer

Edit Edward Ma, known professionally as edIT, is an American electronic music producer and DJ based in Los Angeles. He is a member of the Glitch Mob. History After growing up in Boston, Edward Ma began his career as a DJ and got into music produ ...

"Eddie" Janko-Reagan.

Acting career

Ray earned her

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly called Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American trade union, labor union representing those who work in Theatre, live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions w ...

card while performing the role of Rusty and singing "Let's Hear It for the Boy" in the musical ''Footloose''. She played the role of Nemo in Robert and Kristin Lopez's ''

Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...

: The Musical'' at Orlando's Disney World. Ray played the character Olive Ostrovsky in the national tour of ''

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee ''The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee'' is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by William Finn, with a book written by Rachel Sheinkin, created by Rebecca Feldman with additional material by Jay Reiss. The show centers on a fictional ...

''. She joined the Broadway cast of ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'' in its final year as Crissy, and sang the song "Frank Mills". She made her on-screen debut as Chris in the youth-oriented video short feature ''The Sparky Chronicles: The Map'' (2003). Between 2012 and 2017, Ray appeared as CeCe Drake, a "beyond-charismatic twenty-something blonde stylist at a boutique that has one heel in the present, one in the past", in the television series ''Pretty Little Liars''. Ray was announced to start filming again for ''PLL'', and spoke about returning, saying, "It's so fun to do, and what a crazy character I get to play. She's sort of a sociopath. I think she's so weird because she's, like, 22 but hangs out with high-schoolers. It's like, 'Hey, girl! Get a life! In 2013, Ray joined the Season 4 cast of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

police procedural drama ''

'' as Officer Edit "Eddie" Janko, a role she continued throughout the show's run until its cancellation in December 2024.

Personal life

Ray now lives and works between

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She married actor Derek James Baynham on January 8, 2003. In 2007, the first season of the

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...

series ''Marriage Under Construction'' covered their purchase, renovation and eventual sale of a house in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. The couple divorced in 2009. In March 2015, Ray announced on Instagram and Twitter that she was engaged to her boyfriend of six years, Landon Beard. On June 14, 2015, they married at the Condor's Nest Ranch in eastern

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

. In December 2020, while being interviewed in ''The Pink Lemonade'' podcast, Ray revealed she has bipolar disorder. She was first diagnosed while spending three months in a mental health facility. On March 1, 2024, it was revealed that Ray and her husband welcomed a baby boy via adoption.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music Video

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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Vanessa Ray
on Instagram {{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Vanessa Living people Actresses from Washington (state) People from Livermore, California American television actresses Place of birth missing (living people) American film actresses Actresses from New York City 1981 births 21st-century American actresses People from Vancouver, Washington People with bipolar disorder