Ray Winstone

RAY WINSTONE was born in Hackney in the East End of London. He started boxing at the age of twelve and was three times London Schoolboy champion and fought twice for England. He studied acting at the Corona School before being cast by director Alan Clarke as Carlin (“the Daddy”) in SCUM. This BBC Play production made Winstone’s name and since then he has appeared in numerous TV series and movies.

After playing a starring role in Franc Roddam’s QUADROPHENIA and being cast by Ken Loach in LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD, Gary Oldman gave Winstone the lead role in his gritty biographical drama, NIL BY MOUTH. Winstone was mesmerizing as Ray, an award-winning performance that lead to a succession of challenging roles including Dave in the gangster movie FACE and Dad in Tim Roth’s disturbing drama, THE WAR ZONE. He also played in the comedy drama THE MAMMY and FANNY & ELVIS before delivering one of the finest performances of his career opposite Ben Kingsley in SEXY BEAST.

TV credits include OUR BOY (for which he was awarded an RST award for Best Actor) and BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS - both by writer Tony Grounds. Credits for Granada/ITV have been TOUGH LOVE, it’s sequel LENNY BLUE, the title role in HENRY VIII (which went on to win Best Mini Series/TV Movie at the International Emmy Awards), and the TV film SHE’S GONE which his production company - Size 9 Productions - produced for ITV. He also appeared in the title role of SWEENEY TODD, a Size 9 Productions/Box TV co-production for BBC1, written by Joshua St Johnston.

Film credits include THERE’S ONLY ONE JIMMY GRIMBLE, LAST ORDERS, RIPLEY’S GAME, COLD MOUNTAIN, KING ARTHUR, THE PROPOSITION, and most recently THE DEPARTED, directed by Martin Scorsese (starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo de Caprio - to be released later this year) and the title role of the Robert Zemeckis film, BEOWULF (starring Angelina Jolie, Robin Wright Penn, John Malkovich and Anthony Hopkins).

Earlier this year Ray filmed ALL IN THE GAME (Tightrope Productions for Channel 4, written by Tony Grounds) and has finished filming Series 2 of VINCENT (4 x 90 minute series for Granada Television).

The Weinstein Company