He was portrayed by Dan Aykroyd in five live action films, and voiced by Frank Welker in the animated series.

Ray, along with Egon, is responsible for pioneering the Ghostbusters' theories and designing and building the equipment used for catching and containing ghosts.

In the second film, revealed that they are fond with takeout foods like pizzas and of Asian, Greek, and Mexican cuisine.

When the guys were let go by Dean Yager, he was initially crushed, primarily concerned with his academic integrity, financial stability, etc.

He has one older brother Carl (who is an Air Force officer with two sons) and a younger sister Jean (a journalist living in California with one daughter).

In addition, he rummaged through used car lots and purchased a dilapidated 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel which was restored to make the Ecto-1.

After reversing the particle flow to force Gozer back into his realm, during which Ray used himself to shield Winston from the explosion and melted marshmallow, and they both survived.

In the second film, following the decline of the Ghostbusters' business, Stantz and Winston were entertainers for parties, where they were repeatedly debased by children.

Ray also briefly becomes the host for Vigo himself, but a liberal dousing of the positively charged mood slime quickly cures him of that.

After he fails to capture the Ghostly Trio, he runs out of the manor in fear, and says to Carrigan and Dibs: "Who you gonna call?

In order to make a profit, Stantz has to expand his inventory to compete with other booksellers and metaphysical supply stores.

However, unable to match the services of large bookstore chains, Stantz leases a back room to a palm reader.

Stantz is revealed to be one of Phoebe's friend Podcast's subscribers on his vlogs about paranormal and conspiracies, and he is impressed after discovering that the person he followed is a 12-year-old.

In the film, Ray is now semi-retired from ghostbusting, remain running his bookstore while taking Podcast as his protégé, who lives in his store during summer from Summerville.

During the show's run he was the closest member of the team to being a pilot, having won a free flying lesson in 1976, as mentioned in You Can't Take It With You.

Ray is shown to possess skill in operating nautical vessels (i.e. migrant sponge observation, mentioned earlier) as he is the primary navigator on Marine Ecto-8.

Aykroyd again reprised his role of Ray Stantz in 2022's asymmetrical 4v1 game Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed created by Illfonic.