Ray Winstone
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Raymond Andrew Winstone (born February 19 1957 in Hackney, London), better known as Ray Winstone, is a British actor. He met his wife, Elaine, while filming That Summer (1979); they have three daughters.
As a boy, Winstone trained as a boxer. He won the London Schoolboy Championship three times, and twice represented England. After leaving school he gave up boxing and studied drama at Corona School in Hammersmith, where he spent one year before being asked to leave. Winstone talked his way into an audition with the BBC for a 1977 play called Scum. He was cast in a leading role, but the play was judged unsuitable by the BBC, and was not shown until 1991. In 1979, the play was turned into a film, with Winstone playing a tough newcomer to a borstal.
Winstone's role in Scum seems to have set a mould for many of his other parts; he is frequently cast as a tough or violent man. His film roles have included parts in Quadrophenia, That Summer (for which he was nominated for the BAFTA for most promising newcomer), Ladybird Ladybird, Nil by Mouth (which gained him his second BAFTA nomination, this time for best actor), Face, Sexy Beast and Ripley's Game.
Winstone has also been cast against type in some films in which he reveals a softer side. He had a comedic part in Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence, and played the romantic lead in Fanny and Elvis. His favourite role was in the television biopic on the life of England's most notorious monarch, King Henry VIII, who ruled from 1509 until 1547 and was famously married six times. Helena Bonham Carter co-starred as Henry's most important queen, wife number two Anne Boleyn. Emilia Fox played Jane Seymour, Charles Dance played the duke of Buckingham Emily Blunt played Catherine Howard and David Suchet played Cardinal Wolsey.
External links
- Template:Imdb name
- Three-page biography from Tiscali Film & TV (http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/ray_winstone_biog.html)
- Ray Winstone fan site (http://www.copperlily.com/AboutRayWinstone/)de:Ray Winstone