STAR SELECTION
We have a whole host of Hollywood stars and big names on Movies 24. Now's your chance to find out a bit more about them in our Star Selection.
RAY WINSTONE
You won’t see Ray Winstone in the lead role of a glossy romantic-comedy anytime soon, but when it comes to straight talking English tough-guys he’s the leading man of choice. A man’s man who’s no nonsense demeanor is far from just an on-screen performance.
Born in Hackney, East London, in 1957 Ray was quick to follow in his father’s footsteps by taking up boxing, and soon became the London Schoolboys Champion and fought twice for England. A die-hard West Ham United and England fan, it’s not hard to see why Winstone is cinema’s favourite cockney hard-man.
Winstone starred in Scrum (1977) and played Carlin, a young offender who’s destined to become the ‘Daddy’ of the borstal. Thirty years later and the immortal line “I’m the Daddy now” has become a catchphrase amongst film-going males all over the country. But despite a brilliantly raw performance Winstone ended up spending the next twenty years in a combination of sitcoms, soap operas, crime dramas and Robin of Sherwood. He even did his duty as an aspiring British actor by appearing in The Bill… twice.
In the late nineties he finally got the role which would spare him a life of TV bit parts. His terrifying BAFTA nominated performance as an alcoholic wife-beater in Gary Oldman’s Nil by Mouth was a master-class in acting. A similar role in Tim Roth’s The War Zone and a turn as a cockney bank-robber in Face paved the way for things to come.
Hollywood took note and soon Winstone had racked up roles in Cold Mountain, King Arthur and The Departed, while at the same time staying true to his British TV roots by playing Henry VIII, murderous London barber Sweeney Todd and cockney private investigator Vincent.
• Winstone has three daughters; Lois, Jaime and Ellie. Louis and Jaime are both actresses. Lois played Ray’s screen daughter in Last Orders, and Jaime appeared in the London based Kidulthood.
• Lives in Essex with his family.
• Attended the Corona stage school in Hammersmith.
• Received a best newcomer BAFTA award for his performance in That Summer, on the set of which he met his wife.
• Won over 80 medals in his boxing career.
• His favourite building is St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
Movie 24 filmes that Ray Winstone stars in
The Sea Change
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