 A former amateur boxer of some renown with a flair for playing vividly menacing Cockney hard men. Thick-set and physically imposing, Ray Winstone studied drama at the Corona School without much success and decided to quit acting altogether when he was cast by director Alan Clarke in BBC TV's Scum (1977). Unfortunately, its harsh content caused it to be shelved before being remade theatrically.
Winstone toiled throughout the 1980s with minor film and television work before gaining attention for his violent role in Ken Loach's Ladybird Ladybird (1994). His international reputation was confirmed when Gary Oldman and Tim Roth cast him as unforgettably abusive patriarchs in their respective directorial debuts, Nil by Mouth (1997) and The War Zone (UK/Italy, 1999).
These attracted a variety of offers, including roles in Antonia Bird's crime thriller, Face (1997), the romantic comedy Martha - Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence (d. Nick Hamm, 1998), and the excellent television series Births, Marriages and Deaths (BBC, 1999).
In 2000, Winstone co-starred with Jude Law, Jonny Lee Miller and Sadie Frost in the hip but failed gangster film Love, Honour and Obey (d. Dominic Anciano & Ray Burdis) and was brilliant in Sexy Beast (UK/Spain/US, d. Jonathan Glazer) as the oiled, sun-bronzed ex-crim lured back to rainy England for one last job. He went to the US for Ripley's Game (UK/US/Italy, d. Liliana Cavani, 2002).
Melinda Hildebrandt, Encyclopedia of British Cinema
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FILM & TV CREDITS
