Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957)
Besides playing gangster roles, Winstone has also worked in comedy (Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence) and as the romantic lead (Fanny and Elvis). He starred as Henry VIII in the 2003 TV serial of the same name. He has appeared in many TV shows, including Robin of Sherwood (1984 to 1986), The Bill, He first lived in Caistor Park Road, Stratford E15, which had changed from a grammar school to a comprehensive upon his arrival.
Winstone had an early affinity for acting; his father would take him to the cinema every Wednesday afternoon. Later, he viewed Albert Finney in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, and said: "I thought, 'I could be that geezer'." His other major influences included John Wayne, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. After borrowing extra tuition money from a friend's mother, a drama teacher, Winstone took to the stage, appearing as a Cockney newspaper seller in a production of Emil and the Detectives.
Winstone was also a boxer. He was London schoolboy champion at welterweight on three occasions, and fought twice for England.
Deciding to pursue drama, Winstone enrolled at the Corona Stage Academy in Hammersmith, aged about 17. One of his first TV appearances came in the 1976 "Loving Arms" episode of the popular police series The Sweeney, where he was credited as "Raymond Winstone" (as he was in What a Crazy World
After a short run in the TV series Fox (1980), he scored a role in Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1982),
A complete change of pace for Winstone occurred when he provided the voice for the cheeky-chappy Mr. Beaver in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, also in 2005. Winstone appeared in Martin Scorsese's 2006 film The Departed as Mr. French, an enforcer to Jack Nicholson's Irish mob boss. Critic Roger Ebert singled out Winstone for praise among the ensemble cast of The Departed, writing that the actor "invests every line with the authority of God dictating to Moses". He provided motion capture movements and voice-over work for the title character in the Robert Zemeckis' film Beowulf. He then co-starred in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was released on 22 May 2008. He returned to television drama in The Changeling-inspired Compulsion, originally shown in May 2009. Since 2009, Winstone has fronted the advertising for betting firm Bet365. He also co-founded a sports-management business, Integral Sports Management, in 2020.
Winstone has mixed work in Hollywood productions with work in lower-budget, independent films. In 2010, Winstone starred as Arjan van Diemen in the film Tracker with Temuera Morrison He had a role as CIA agent Darius Jedburgh in the Edge of Darkness remake, replacing Robert De Niro. Winstone starred in British independent film The Hot Potato in 2011, and the following year in a big-screen remake of popular 1970s show The Sweeney (2012). In 2015, he played the role of ex-criminal Jimmy Rose in The Trials of Jimmy Rose, a three-part drama for ITV. In 2006, Winstone appeared as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car during series 8 of BBC's Top Gear.
In 2015, he starred in The Gunman with Sean Penn; the film was a box-office failure. That same year, Winstone also featured in remake Point Break, In 2017, the actor starred in the critically acclaimed British independent film Jawbone, before 2018's critical and box-office failure King of Thieves. In 2019, Winstone starred in critical disaster The Queen's Corgi, and critical and box-office bomb Cats. Winstone then starred in Marvel's Black Widow in 2021. In 2025, Winstone was honoured with Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival.
Personal life
Winstone met his wife, Elaine McCausland, while filming That Summer in 1979. Winstone lives with his wife in Roydon, Essex. Winstone was declared bankrupt on 4 October 1988, and again on 19 March 1993.
In 2019, in the context of Brexit, Winstone expressed a preference for leaving the European Union without a deal and argued against holding a second referendum, stating that it would lead to "rebellion" and that "the country voted to leave. Then that's democracy, you leave."
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| rowspan="3" |1979
| That Summer
| Steve Brodie
|
|-
| Scum
| Carlin
|
|-
| Quadrophenia
| Kevin Herriot
|
|-
| 1981
| Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains
| Billy
|
|-
| 1989
| Tank Malling
| John 'Tank' Malling
|
|-
| 1994
| Ladybird, Ladybird
| Simon
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1997
| Nil by Mouth
| Ray
|
|-
| Face
| Dave
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1998
| Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence
| Pederesen
|
|-
| Final Cut
| Ray
|
|-
|Brand New World
| Colonel
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1999
| Darkness Falls
| John Barrett
|
|-
| The War Zone
| Dad
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2000
| There's Only One Jimmy Grimble
| Harry
|
|-
| Sexy Beast
| Gary 'Gal' Dove
|
|-
| Love, Honour and Obey
| Ray Kreed
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2001
| Last Orders
| Vince Dodds
|
|-
| The Martins
| Mr. Marvel
|
|-
| 2002
| Ripley's Game
| Reeves
|
|-
| 2003
| Cold Mountain
| Teague
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2004
| Everything
| Richard
|
|-
| King Arthur
| Bors
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2005
| The Proposition
| Captain Stanley
|
|-
| The Magic Roundabout
| Soldier Sam
| Voice role
|-
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
| Mr. Beaver
| Voice role
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| The Departed
| Arnold French
|
|-
| Breaking and Entering
| Bruno Fella
|
|-
| 2007
| Beowulf
| Beowulf / Dragon
| Voice; motion capture
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2008
| Fool's Gold
| Moe Fitch
|
|-
| Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
| George 'Mac' McHale
|
|-
| Compulsion
| Don Flowers
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2009
| The Devil's Tomb
| Blakely
| Direct-to-Video
|-
| 44 Inch Chest
| Colin Diamond
|
|-
| Fathers of Girls
| Frank Horner
|
|-
| rowspan="6" | 2010
| Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
| William Dury
|
|-
|Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
| Ares
| Uncredited
|-
| Edge of Darkness
| Captain Darius Jedburgh
|
|-
| 13
| Ronald Lynn
|
|-
| London Boulevard
| Gant
|
|-
| Tracker
| Arjan Van Diemen
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2011
| Rango
| Bad Bill
| Voice role
|-
| Hugo
| Uncle Claude
|
|-
| The Hot Potato
| Kenny Smith
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2012
| Elfie Hopkins
| Butcher Bryn
|
|-
| Snow White and the Huntsman
| Gort
|
|-
| The Sweeney
| Jack Regan
|
|-
| Ashes
| Frank
|
|-
| 2014
| Noah
| Tubal-cain
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2015
| The Gunman
| Stanley
|
|-
| The Legend of Barney Thomson
| Holdall
|
|-
| Point Break
| FBI Agent Angelo Pappas
|
|-
| Zipper
| Nigel Coaker
|
|-
| 2017
| Jawbone
| William Carney
|
|-
| 2018
| King of Thieves
| Danny Jones
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2019
| The Queen's Corgi
| Tyson
| Voice role
|-
| Cats
| Growltiger
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2021
| (K)nox: The Rob Knox Story
| Himself
| Interviewee
|-
| Black Widow
| Dreykov
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2022
| Prizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher
| Bill Warr
|
|-
|Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
| Papa Bear
| Voice role
|-
| 2024
| Damsel
| Lord Bayford
|
|-
| 2022 - Present
| West Ham United F.C.
| West Ham Legend
| Voice at Stadium
|-
| TBA
| Yeti
|
| Filming
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1976
| The Sweeney
| 2nd Youth
| 1 episode
|-
| 1977
| Scum
| Carlin
| Unscreened Play for Today
|-
|1980
|Fox
|Kenny Fox
|13 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1983
| Auf Wiedersehen, Pet
| Colin
| 1 episode
|-
|Bergerac
|Tully
|1 episode
|-
|1984
|Fairly Secret Army
|Stubby Collins
|3 episodes
|-
| 1984–1986
| Robin of Sherwood
| Will Scarlet
| Main role, 24 episodes
|-
| 1984–1989
| Minder
| Arnie
| 4 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1986
| C.A.T.S. Eyes
| Geoff
| 1 episode
|-
|Ever Decreasing Circles
|Harold
|1 episode
|-
| rowspan="3" |1987
|Boon
|Billy
|1 episode
|-
|Father Matthew's Daughter
|Father Charlie
|6 episodes
|-
|Pulaski
|DS Ford
|2 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" |1990
|Birds of a Feather
|Malcolm/ Prison Warder
|2 episodes
|-
|Home to Roost
|Bill Bateman
|1 episode
|-
|1991
|Palmer
|Eddie Palmer
|Television film
|-
|1992
|Between the Lines
|Sgt. Godley
|1 episode
|-
| 1992–1993
| Get Back
| Martin Sweet
| Main role, 15 episodes
|-
|1994
|Murder Most Horrid
|Terry
|1 episode
|-
| rowspan="2" |1995
|The Ghostbusters of East Finchley
|Thane
|6 episodes
|-
|Kavanagh QC
|CPO Evans
|1 episode
|-
| 1996
| One Foot in the Grave
| Vagrant / Millichope
| 1 episode
|-
| rowspan="2" |1999
| Births, Marriages and Deaths
| Alan
| Miniseries, 4 episodes
|-
|Last Christmas
|Neville
|TV movie
|-
| 2000–2002
| Lenny Blue
| DC Lenny Milton
| Main role, 4 episodes
|-
|2002
|At Home with the Braithwaites
|Steve Searle
|1 episode
|-
| 2003
| Henry VIII
| King Henry VIII
| 2 episodes
|-
| 2004
| She's Gone
| Harry Sands
| Television film
|-
| 2005–2006
| Vincent
| Vincent Gallagher
| Main role, 8 episodes
|-
| rowspan=2 |2006
| All in the Game
| Frankie
| Television film
|-
| Sweeney Todd
| Sweeney Todd
| Television film
|-
| 2010
| Ben Hur
| Quintus Arrius
| Miniseries, 2 episodes
|-
| 2011
| Great Expectations
| Abel Magwitch
| Miniseries, 3 episodes
|-
| 2013
| Moonfleet
| Elzevir Block
|Miniseries, 2 episodes
|-
| 2015
| The Trials of Jimmy Rose
| Jimmy Rose
| Main role, 3 episodes
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2016
| The Nightmare Worlds of H.G. Wells
| H.G. Wells
| Introducer and narrator, 4 episodes
|-
| Of Kings and Prophets
| Saul
| Main role, 9 episodes
|-
| 2016–2018
| Ice
| Cam Rose
| Main role, 20 episodes
|-
| 2020
| Ray Winstone in Sicily
| Himself
| Travel mini-series
|-
|2024
|The Gentlemen
|Bobby Glass
|
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 2007
| Beowulf: The Game
| Beowulf
|-
| 2011
| Killzone 3
| Admiral Orlock
| Also motion capture performance
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Association
! Category
! Project
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1979
| BAFTA Award
| Best Newcomer
| That Summer
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1997
| BAFTA Award
| Best Actor in a Leading Role
| rowspan=2|Nil by Mouth
|
|-
| British Independent Film Award
| Best Actor
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1999
| British Independent Film Award
| Best Actor
| rowspan=2|The War Zone
|
|-
|European Film Award
| Best Actor
|
|-
| 2001
| British Independent Film Award
| Best Actor
| Last Orders
|
|-
| 2005
| San Diego Film Critics Society
| Best Supporting Actor
| The Proposition
|
|-
| 2006
| Screen Actors Guild Award
| Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture
| The Departed
|
|-
|}
References
External links
<!-- Please read Wikipedia:External links before adding any website here. Unofficial fansites are not suitable external links either. -->
- Three-page biography from Tiscali Film & TV
- BBC Drama Faces – Ray Winstone