Richard Romanus (born Richard Joseph Romanos; February 28, 1945) is an American actor. Among other roles, he has appeared in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and provided voices for Ralph Bakshi's animated films Wizards and Hey Good Lookin'. He played Richard La Penna, Lorraine Bracco's ex-husband, later husband again, in four episodes of The Sopranos from 1999–2002. In 1999 he co-wrote the Christmas film If You Believe along with his wife Anthea Sylbert, which was nominated for a Best Original Screenplay award by the Writers Guild of America.

Biography

Romanus was born in Barre, Vermont, the son of Eileen (née Maloof) and Dr. Raymond Romanos. He lived in West Hartford, Connecticut, and in 1964 graduated from Xavier University with a bachelor's in philosophy, before studying acting with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York. His younger brother Robert is also an actor. They both appeared in some episodes of MacGyver in the 1980s. He is of Lebanese descent.

In 2004 Romanus moved to the Greek island of Skiathos with his wife Anthea and since then he has focused his creative talent on writing prose. In 2011 he published his memoirs, Act III (Aiora Press, Athens, and Armida Publications, Nicosia), and first novel, Chrysalis (Armida Publications). In 2012 Act III was short-listed for the International Rubery Book Award.