Ratray started acting at the age of nine in the movie
Where Are the Children? (1986). He starred as a
child actor in various other programs and movies until his acting pinnacle in 1990 as Buzz McCallister, the mean older brother of
Macaulay Culkin's character Kevin in
Home Alone and
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), a role he later reprised in
Home Sweet Home Alone (2021). Ratray landed minor roles in
Little Monsters (as Ronnie Coleman, the bully),
Dennis the Menace (as Mickey, the boyfriend of one of Dennis's babysitters) and an episode as Martin in
The Enforcers (1996). Another film role was
The Prince and Me as the computer-obsessed roommate of Eddy, the royal Prince of
Denmark. He was a regular improv actor on MTV's
Damage Control, notably as a director of an erotic film called
Crazy Motor Hos, in which he was dressed as a naval captain. Ratray appeared in the September 29, 2006 episode of
Law & Order, "Avatar", as the mentally ill murderer Richard Elam. He later portrayed an antagonist in an episode of
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He was a lisping doctor in the movie
Slippery Slope (2006). He performed as Jimmy Link in
Serial (2007). Ratray appeared in the 2009 film
Surrogates as Bobby Saunders.
Variety said "Ratray gets good mileage out of his role as a computer whiz too proud of his corpulent geekiness to consider a more glamorous substitute." In 2009, he was also a guest star on the fifth season of
Supernatural in the episode "The Real Ghost Busters". In late 2007, a documentary film crew followed Ratray's attempts to win the heart of US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice. He used 'love disks' – love letters set to music and images – to serenade her, and traveled from New York, to Alabama, Denver, Palo Alto and Washington, DC to court her. The resulting film,
Courting Condi, was due for international release in fall 2008. In 2012, Ratray played a mutual funds manager trapped in a Wall Street elevator with eight strangers, in the suspense thriller
Elevator. In 2013, Ratray played Cole in the film
Nebraska, Ben Gaffney in the film
Blue Ruin, and made an appearance in the film
R.I.P.D. Ratray also appeared in the 2019 film
Hustlers, alongside
Jennifer Lopez and in 2022, he appeared in the
Steven Soderbergh film
Kimi, alongside
Zoe Kravitz. He played Alfred Hawthorne Hill in the
Better Call Saul episode
Breaking Bad. ==Personal life==