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

Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American mystery teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. Developed by I. Marlene King, the series was broadcast on Freeform between June 8, 2010, and June ...

'' as

Charlotte Drake Charlotte Drake (also known as Charlotte DiLaurentis) is a fictional character created by I. Marlene King for the American television series ''Pretty Little Liars (TV series), Pretty Little Liars'' and its spin-off web series ''Pretty Dirty Sec ...

; and also for her roles as Jenny on the legal drama series '' Suits'', Teri Ciccone on the 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 soa ...

'', Officer Eddie Janko-Reagan on long-running family-police drama '' Blue Bloods'', and Maggie "Rocker" Sheldon on '' White Collar''.

Acting career

Ray earned her

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a boo ...

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 computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...

: 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, based on a book by Rachel Sheinkin, conceived by Rebecca Feldman with additional material by Jay Reiss. The show centers on a fictional spe ...

''. 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 f ...

'' 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 Charlotte Drake (also known as Charlotte DiLaurentis) is a fictional character created by I. Marlene King for the American television series ''Pretty Little Liars'' and its spin-off web series '' Pretty Dirty Secrets''. Introduced in the thi ...

, 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, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

police procedural drama '' Blue Bloods'' as Officer Edit "Eddie" Janko, a role she has continued through the show's 12th season.

Personal life

Ray now lives and works between

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. 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 pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, appr ...

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

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. 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 in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{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