Det. Ray Kowalski
From Canonwars
Detective Ray Kowalski hails from the Canadian TV series Due South. He is a Chicago PD detective who specializes in undercover work.
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Information
History
Ray Kowalski was born in the late 1960s on Chicago's South Side. His family -- father, mother and one older brother -- was poor, and between their lack of money and a certain natural awkwardness that got him picked on in school, Ray had kind of a rough childhood. As a kid he was kind of a nerd, more of the "comic books" and "Star Wars" kind than the "bookish" kind; totally unmotivated by school, he nearly failed out, ultimately graduating with a 62% average.
As a teenager, Ray loved two things: the vintage cars he worked on with his dad, and his best friend Stella. Ray met Stella at the age of 13 when the two were both involved in a bank robbery and held at gunpoint. Ray was terrified and wound up humiliating himself, distracting the robber. Stella took advantage of this to escape. She assumed that Ray had done it on purpose to let her get away; he never told her the truth. The two were inseperable since and eventually fell in love and got married.
Ray dropped out of college after two years and instead decided to go into the Police Academy. He went on to be an excellent cop, earning multiple citations for bravery, and was quickly promoted to detective.
Unfortunately, at the same time, his marriage to Stella was falling apart. Ray wanted kids -- Stella wanted to focus on her career as a district attorney. Eventually, they divorced, although Ray was still deeply in love with her and had an incredibly hard time accepting the breakup.
It was at this time that Ray was offered an undercover job impersonating another detective, Ray Vecchio, who had gone deep undercover with the Mafia. Devastated by the divorce, Ray jumped at the chance for a fresh start. Posing as Vecchio, he transferred to Chicago's District 27. In addition to Vecchio's job and family, he also "adopted" Vecchio's unofficial partner, an eccentric Mountie named Benton Fraser. Although the two had a rocky start, they quickly became friends and eventually developed an extremely close relationship. Fraser helped Ray through many things, including his reunion with his father (with whom Ray had fallen out after dropping out of college).
After one year, the real Vecchio's cover was blown and he returned to his old job, ousting Ray in the process. However, Vecchio was soon wounded in a firefight and wound up leaving Chicago and running off to Florida with Stella to open up a bowling alley. Ray, who also nearly died on the same case, decided that he wanted to go on an adventure. Fraser invited Ray to stay in Canada with him, and the two set off on a quest to the Northwest Passage to search for the Hand of John Franklin.
In Purgatory
Upon his arrival in Purgatory, Ray immediately decided to pick up where he'd left off -- that is, as a detective. Despite no longer being a cop, he started unofficially investigating the case of several people on the island who had recently gone missing. Ray is now partnered with Carmen Sandiego and L on the case and also works with Jill Valentine of the Purgatory Police Department.
Though he no longer has his GTO, he's bought and restored a classic Chevy Impala, which he uses as a sort of a safety zone to talk to his contacts in. He's considered buying a dog, possibly because he misses Benton Fraser's half-wolf companion Diefenbaker.
Most recently, fed up with his lack of progress on the missing persons case, Ray devised an elaborate undercover operation to get to the bottom of things. Carmen, L, and Warren Mears are the only three people who know the details of the operation.
Miscellany/Random facts
--Ray's real name is actually Stanley Raymond Kowalski -- his father was a fan of Marlon Brando, who played Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. He prefers to go by Ray.
--He has several odd quirks and unexpected talents. He is rather nearsighted and has an astigmatism; he has glasses, but he rarely wears them, which makes him a poor shot. However, with his glasses on, he is an expert marksman. He also loves to dance and is actually a very good dancer, having learned with Stella years ago.
--Before becoming a cop, Ray was an amateur boxer. He was never very good at it, but has managed to keep in good shape since those days, despite the fact that he eats absolutely terribly and has a bit of a sweet tooth (he even puts M&Ms in his morning coffee).
--Ray has at least one tattoo: the Champion spark plug logo on his right bicep. He has others too, but they're a little less obvious.
Mun Info
Ray is played by Rah. His PB is Callum Keith Rennie. Ray's journal can be found at badguysshake.
