Raye Birk was born in Flint, Michigan in 1943. He grew up there and graduated from Southwestern High school in 1961. He attended Northwestern University in Evanston Illinois and graduated with a degree in theater in 1965. He received an MFA in theater from the University of Minnesota in 1967. He then taught acting and performed at Southern Methodist University in Dallas from 1967 to 1970. In 1970, and for the next 13 years, he acted and directed professionally in regional theaters in Oregon, Milwaukee and San Francisco. Birk moved to Los Angles in 1983 to pursue work in television and film. Despite and active career in TV and film, he continued to find time for his first love, the theater, doing at least one stage production a year during the 20 years he live and worked in LA. He moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota in 2003. Since that time he has appeared in 12 productions at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, including "Pride and Prejudice", "Pygmalion", "Hamlet", "The Great Gatsby" and the musical "1776". He has played Ebenezer Scrooge in the Guthrie production of "A Christmas Carol" since 2005. Raye has been married to his wife Candace Barrett for 41 years. They have one son, Joshua, who is a professor of medieval history.

Appeared with his wife Candace Barrett in a 1998 production of "A Christmas Carol" at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.