Santa Ray (Ray Buffer)

Ray will customize the performance to the needs of the event.

Ray Buffer is an American actor and singer. He was born and raised in Greenacres, Florida. Buffer discovered his talent first in music, playing violin at an early age and the progressing to other instruments. The theatre became his passion when he reached high school. Beginning in 1988, he attended Palm Beach State College and Florida Atlantic University earning his BFA in musical theatre.

During the 1990's Buffer produced and directed theatre as well as appearing in regional and dinner theater productions. In 1999 Buffer moved from Orlando, Florida where he had been working as an actor, in various theaters and theme parks across the country into Huntington Beach, CA. He co-produced and directed, Rats & Bullies, a documentary film about relational aggression centered on the suicide of Dawn-Marie Wesley following incidents of bullying in Mission, British Columbia - Canada. The film went on to win awards at film festivals and led to a speaking tour of schools and organizations throughout the United States and Canada.

In 2004 Buffer began to appear in guest-starring roles on TV and film, including a stint playing a Stage Manager on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In 2007, Buffer left a position as general manager of Long Beach Opera to start his own theatre company in San Pedro, CA: The Relevant Stage which produced mostly musical theatre works until 2011.

In 2014, Buffer again launched a new theatre company called Art-In-Relation. The company was initially based out of Long Beach, CA but also produces works in Los Angeles and Hollywood.

In recent years, Buffer has played many different versions of Santa Claus in lots of television, video, film and live event productions.

Buffer continues to work in television, film and theatre, but with a deep, resonate and powerful voice, is also a busy concert soloist (bass-baritone) and voice-over artist.

He now lives in Long Beach, CA.

When possible, Ray prefers to arrive and change into costume on site, especially for multi-hour events. This helps avoid children seeing Santa exit a particular vehicle.