Ray Bouderau was born on Christmas Eve, 1972, in Rockaway Queens, NYC. He is an entrepreneur, movie producer and philanthropist. Currently, he is the CEO and Founder of both J-Bar Reinforcement Inc. and Living the Dream Films, named after his own lust for life and helping others.
Ray began his career in the hospitality industry, working in the Hamptons, New York City and in South Beach, Florida. After more than 15 years in the business, which included owning his own restaurant, he became involved in the NYC construction trade. After 4 years, Ray realized that he had hit the ceiling working for other people, and so decided to break out on his own. So, in 2006 created J-Bar Reinforcement Inc.
Within his first year in business J-Bar Reinforcement Inc. was contracted to be part of the development of three high-rise buildings in NYC. From there the business grew exponentially, gaining contract after contract. Perhaps most importantly—and according to Bouderau, “one of his greatest honors”—his company was contracted to build the memorial at the World Trade Center.
After having great success in construction, Ray decided to pursue a completely unrelated passion: the entertainment industry. In his twenties Ray dreamed of acting—perhaps being discovered behind a bar and becoming the next Bruce Willis. Ray laughs about having headshots taken but never mailing them out, and signing up for acting classes but rarely attending them. Ray says: “back then I’d rather dream the dream then live the reality”.
In 2015, Ray took a gamble and created Living the dream Films Inc. which specializes in film development, production, and financing. Since 2015, Ray has acted a several films and his company has been involved in nine full-length feature films—several of them with wide theatrical releases. Today, Ray maintains his construction business, while simultaneously running his film production company.
In parallel, he pursues other philanthropic activities believing that helping whenever possible is his duty. Ray has volunteered for the WTC in the days following 9/11, in Haiti after the earthquake, in Big Pine Key Florida after hurricane Irma, and in Rockaway after tropical storm Sandy, to name but a few. An issue particularly close to his heart is youth homelessness. Using the medium at his disposal, the entertainment industry, Ray shines a light on this issue so often considered endemic, if not normal, in many US cities. The Public, a movie written and directed by Emilio Estevez and produced by Ray, addressed this very issue.
You can follow Ray on one of his social media channels including Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or IMDB.
