Ray Winstone Biography

RAY WINSTONE

Date of Birth: February 19, 1957

Ray Winstone was born in Hackney, London. At seven, he moved to Enfield, where his father and mother had a fruit and vegetable business, and he attended school at Edmonton County.

At the age of twelve, he started boxing at the famous Repton Amateur Boxing Club, and was three times London Schoolboy Champion and fought twice for England. In ten years of boxing, he won over 80 medals and trophies. He was therefore a natural for the role of boxer Kenny Fox in the TV series Fox.

Ray studied acting at the Corona School before being cast by director Alan Clarke as Carlin in the BBC Play production of Scum, his acting debut. Ray was involved in some very grueling and violent scenes, and due to the uncompromising nature of the subject matter, Scum was shelved by the BBC.

Disillusioned, Ray left acting completely for a couple of years and worked at anything he could find from running fruit stalls to being a sales rep. A phone call from a producer about the making of a commercial film version of Scum became the long awaited breakthrough, and led to a long career of major parts both in film and television. He has appeared in numerous TV series over the past 20 years including Robin of Sherwood, Palmer, Birds of a Feather, Between The Lines, The Ghostbusters of East Finchley and Births, Marriages and Deaths.

His film career has burgeoned since his award-winning role in Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth (1997). Roles in films such as Quadrophenia (1979), Tank Malling (1989), Agnes Brown (1999) and The War Zone(1999) followed.

Married since 1979, Ray is also the owner and proprietor of a restaurant, aptly named Winstone's and located in his hometown of Enfield, outside of London. He and his wife have three children and his eldest, Lois, played his on-screen daughter in the feature Last Orders (2001), also starring Michael Caine and Helen Mirren.

At one time, Ray was offered a starring role in an American TV police drama, but he turned it down because the contract was for five years. At the time, his youngest child was a baby and he didn't want her to grow up with an American accent. Ray learned to ride horses in his spare time several years ago, which came in handy when he landed a role in the big budget feature King Arthur (2004). Ray has since been keeping busy with a long list of film titles under his belt. He played one of the dwarves in the 2012 release Snow White & the Huntsman. He also starred in Noah (2014) alongside Russell Crowe and in The Gunman (2015).

In 2015, moviegoers enjoyed his presence on the big screen in two action movies: The Gunman and the remake Point Break (2015).

Next up he'll play the role of Growltiger in Cats (2019), the film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name.

Filmography:

The Legend of Barney Thomson (2016)
The Gunman (2015)
Noah (2014)
The Sweeney (2013)
Snow White & the Huntsman (2012)
Elfie Hopkins (2012)
Hugo (2011)
Lost in Italy (2011)
Rango (2011) (voice)
The Hot Potato (2011)
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) (uncredited)
London Boulevard (2010)
Tracker (2010)
Edge of Darkness (2010)
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010)
44 Inch Chest (2009)
Fathers of Girls (2009)
The Devil's Tomb (2009)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Fool's Gold (2008)
Beowulf (2007)
The Departed (2006)
Breaking and Entering (2006)
The Proposition (2006)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) (voice)
The Magic Roundabout (2005)
Everything (2004)
King Arthur (2004)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Ripley's Game (2002)
Last Orders (2002)
Sexy Beast (2001)
There's Only One Jimmy Grimble (2000)
Fanny and Elvis (1999)
Agnes Browne (1999)
The War Zone (1999)
Five Seconds to Spare (1999)
Love, Honour and Obey (1999)
Final Cut (1998)
Woundings (1998)
Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence (1998)
Darkness Falls (1998)
The Sea Change (1998)
Our Boy (1997)
Face (1997)
Nil by Mouth (1997)
Ladybird Ladybird (1994)
Tank Malling (1989)
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1981)
Quadrophenia (1979)
Scum (1979)
That Summer (1979)