Ray Romano Admits To Being An Overprotective Dad

Funny father-of-four Ray Romano will be back on the big screen this summer, lending his voice once again to Manny the mammoth in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. The 51-year-old Everybody Loves Raymond star, who has kids Alexandra, 19, Matthew and Gregory, 16, and Joseph Raymond, 11, with his wife Anna, recently chatted to Parade magazine about kids, marriage and, of course, mammoths.

On identifying with his Ice Age character: "Manny is still struggling with his relationship. That was no problem for me because I just rely on my own lack of understanding about talking to women. Marriage made me harder. Parenthood made me softer. I was kind of like Manny when my first kid was born. I didn't know how I was going to react and then once I had this new daughter, I was amazed at how I became like the overprotective father."

On his first fatherhood mishap: "When I went to pick up my wife and baby and take them home from the hospital, I parked in a tow away zone. We came out and the car was gone and we had to take a taxi home to Queens. So on my daughter's first trip, she heard a lot of Indian music."

On preparing to revise his Ice Age character: "I put on the weight. I stopped shaving. My genitals got much bigger. Actually, I have one line that I say to get into Manny's character and that's from the first Ice Age. He says, 'I'm not going.' So I do that line and his voice kind of comes back."

On Everybody Loves Raymond episodes: "I don't watch them. But now my 10-year-old son, who didn't really grow up with the show, will say, 'I'd like to see some.' So I'll sit down with him and watch a couple of episodes. It's weird because I laugh a little and then, when it's over, I get that odd feeling of emptiness that I had to get over after we wrapped the series. So I'm like, 'Why am I doing this to myself?'"