Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer.
Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chelsea, and Queens Park Rangers. He also played for and captained the Welsh national team, having qualified through a Welsh grandparent. Best remembered for his time at Wimbledon as a pivotal member of the famous "Crazy Gang", he won the 1988 FA Cup final with the London side, a club for which he played over 200 games during two spells between 1986 and 1998. He played 184 games in the Premier League, in which he scored 13 goals. Jones gained a reputation for being one of the hardest footballers in history, with his highly aggressive and physically uncompromising style of play, an image which has often led to him being typecast in his film career as violent criminals and thugs.
As an actor, his film and television career began with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), for which he won an Empire Award for Best Newcomer. Then for Snatch (2000), he won the Empire Award for Best British Actor. Other notable credits include Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Mean Machine (2001), EuroTrip (2004), Extras (2005), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), The Riddle (2007), The Midnight Meat Train (2008), Year One (2009), The Cape (2011), Fire with Fire (2012), The Musketeers (2014), MacGyver (2016), NCIS: Los Angeles (2019), The Big Ugly (2020) and The Gentlemen (2024).
Early life
Vincent Peter Jones was born on 5 January 1965, One of his grandmothers was Irish from Dublin, and the other was Welsh, which later qualified him to play for Wales. A young addition to the experienced Wealdstone team,
Loan to IFK Holmsund
He played one season on loan with Swedish club IFK Holmsund in 1986, helping to lead the team to the Division 3 Mellersta Norrland title.
Wimbledon
In the autumn of 1986, a 21-year-old Jones became a full-time professional footballer when he was signed by Wimbledon of the First Division, who paid Wealdstone £10,000 for him. He scored in only his second appearance for Wimbledon on 29 November 1986, in a 1–0 win over Manchester United. He was a member of the Wimbledon team which won the FA Cup in 1988, beating league champions Liverpool 1–0 in the final.
Leeds United
Jones was transferred from Wimbledon to Leeds United for a fee of £650,000 in June 1989, and played in all but one league game as Leeds finished as champions of the Second Division, winning promotion to the First Division in 1990. His former Wimbledon manager Dave Bassett signed him for Sheffield United in September 1990 for a transfer fee of £700,000. He played 35 matches for The Blades in the First Division, scoring two goals.
Chelsea
Jones was then sold to Chelsea a year later on 30 August 1991, for a fee of £575,000. Jones made his Chelsea debut one day after his signing in the 4–1 win against Luton.
Queens Park Rangers
His second exit from Wimbledon came when he became player/coach of QPR in early 1998, scoring on his debut against Huddersfield Town. He announced his retirement from football in early 1999 at the age of 34.
International career
In December 1994 Jones was named in the Welsh national squad, qualifying under FIFA rules via his Ruthin-born maternal grandfather. He had previously sought to play for the Republic of Ireland due to eligibility through a grandparent. He made his international debut under Mike Smith for Wales on 14 December 1994, in a 3–0 home defeat to Bulgaria in the Euro 96 qualifiers. the last of which came on 29 March 1997 in a 2–1 defeat to Belgium in a World Cup qualifier, also at Cardiff Arms Park.
Playing style
Jones was renowned for his "hard man" persona and his very tough, uncompromising style of play on the pitch. He was sent off a total of 12 times in his career, in an era when referees generally took a much more lenient view of overly aggressive play and mistimed tackles than would be the case today.
He holds the record for the quickest ever booking in a football match, being cautioned just five seconds after kick-off for a foul on the opposition player Dane Whitehouse, in an FA Cup tie between Chelsea and Sheffield United in 1992. In his autobiography, he recalls: "I must have been too high, too wild, too strong or too early, because, after three seconds, I could hardly have been too bloody late!"
Controversies
He also was the presenter of the Soccer's Hard Men video released in 1992, which featured archived footage of him and many other "hard men" of the game, and included advice for budding "hard men". After the release of the video, Jones was fined £20,000 and given a six-month ban (suspended for three years) for "bringing the game into disrepute". Wimbledon chairman Sam Hammam branded Jones a "mosquito brain". After this incident, Jones failed to stay out of trouble. After exceeding 40 disciplinary points that season, he was once again summoned to Lancaster Gate, the headquarters of The Football Association, but failed to appear. The FA banned Jones indefinitely. Jones explained that he had "mixed up" the date of the hearing, for which he received a four-match ban and was told by Football Association officials to "grow up". Jones commented later: "The FA have given me a pat on the back. I've taken violence off the terracing and onto the pitch" – an obvious reference to the football hooliganism problem which had blighted the English game during the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1995, Jones was accused of biting the nose of a journalist in a hotel following the abandoned Republic of Ireland–England match in Dublin. Jones later apologised and was fined and suspended by Wimbledon FC.
Other football activities
Jones made an appearance for Carlisle United, coming on as a second-half substitute in 2001 in a friendly against Irish team Shelbourne, teaming up with friend Roddy Collins who was manager at the time. In June 2010, he released a press statement stating that he was donating his 1988 FA Cup winners medal to the fans of AFC Wimbledon, wishing the club the best for the future. The medal is displayed at the club's stadium. He briefly served as club president of non-league Soham Town Rangers.
In 2020, Jones appeared on the ITV show Harry's Heroes, It featured former football manager Harry Redknapp attempting get a squad of former England international footballers back fit and healthy for one last game, vs a Germany Legends team. Despite playing for Wales during his professional career, Jones briefly took part in Season Two and played for the England legends in one of their warm up games against San Marino veterans.
Acting career
thumb|Jones with [[Keith David in 2010]]
In 1998, Jones made his film debut in Guy Ritchie's crime comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, in which he played a mob enforcer named Big Chris. For his performance, he won the Empire Award for Best Newcomer in 1999.
He has since been typecast in similar roles as criminals or villains, including the dapper gun-for-hire "Bullet-Tooth Tony" in Guy Ritchie's 2000 follow up Snatch, for which Jones won the Best British Actor at the 6th Empire Awards in 2001. in which he played one of John Travolta's henchmen. The same year, he was featured in another football film, She's the Man, as the coach of the Illyria team. In 2007,
Jones was a housemate on the reality television show Celebrity Big Brother 7 in 2010, and celebrated his 45th birthday while he participated. He received loud cheers as he entered the house and was the favourite to win going into the house, but he did not maintain popularity with the public; the crowd chanted "get Vinnie out" on the final night and booed him as he left the house after he finished in third place. Speaking of his experience on the show, he said: "It was like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in there – and I was Jack Nicholson."
Jones played a professional killer in the Kazakhstani film Liquidator in 2011.
Pro wrestling
In December 1998, Jones appeared at WWF Capital Carnage, a UK exclusive pro wrestling pay-per-view promoted by the WWF where he served as a special guest enforcer during the show's main event, being noted for his "hard man" image. Jones performed a live interview earlier in the show regarding his role in the main event, when asked if he was ready to get physical with any of the four wrestlers, Jones said "Us British mix it with anybody!" Jones got into a fight with fellow enforcer the Big Boss Man at the beginning of the main event, which saw him get ejected by referee Gerald Brisco, showing him a red card in reference to Jones' time as a footballer.
Personal life
Jones was born in Watford and raised in Garston, having played football as a child on the same local team as Bradley Walsh.
Having met Tanya Terry when they were both 12 years old and next-door neighbours in Watford, Jones later married her in 1994. Many years prior, his wife was also diagnosed with skin cancer, which then spread to her brain by 2018. Jones and their daughter Kaley were with at her bedside during her death from cancer on 6 July 2019. He discussed her death during an appearance on Piers Morgan's Life Stories in September 2020, and said that he does not plan to remarry.
Jones penned an autobiography called Vinnie: The Autobiography, which was later revised and reprinted to include information on his first film appearance.
Since 2021, he has divided his time between Los Angeles and Petworth, West Sussex.
In 2015, he described himself as a supporter of the Conservative Party, saying that he was "very proud of being British, very pro the monarchy, and very Conservative".
Criminal charges
Jones was convicted in June 1998 of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage against a neighbour in November 1997.
Jones was convicted in December 2003 of assault and threatening behaviour on an aircraft for an air rage incident, during which he slapped a passenger in the face and threatened to murder the cabin crew while drunk on an aircraft. He was fined £1,100 () and ordered to perform 80 hours of community service. As a result of the conviction, Hertfordshire Constabulary revoked Jones' firearms licence and seized the weapons listed on the licence.
Career statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|FA Cup
!colspan="2"|League Cup
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="3"|Wealdstone
|1984–85
|Alliance Premier League
|12||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||12||0
|-
|1985–86
|Alliance Premier League
|26||2||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||27||2
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!38!!2!!1!!0!!colspan="2"|—!!colspan="2"|—!!39!!2
|-
|IFK Holmsund (loan)
|1986
|Division 3 Mellersta Norrland
|22||1||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||22||1
|-
|rowspan="4"|Wimbledon
|1986–87
|First Division
|22||4||4||1||2||0||colspan="2"|—||28||5
|-
|1987–88
|First Division
|24||2||6||0||4||0||colspan="2"|—||34||2
|-
|1988–89
|First Division
|31||3||4||0||5||0||1||0||41||3
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!77!!9!!14!!1!!11!!0!!1!!0!!103!!10
|-
|rowspan="3"|Leeds United
|1989–90
|Second Division
|45||5||1||0||2||0||4||0||52||5
|-
|1990–91
|First Division
|1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||1||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!46!!5!!1!!0!!2!!0!!4!!0!!53!!5
|-
|rowspan="3"|Sheffield United
|1990–91
|First Division
|31||2||1||0||4||0||1||0||37||2
|-
|1991–92
|First Division
|4||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||4||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!35!!2!!1!!0!!4!!0!!1!!0!!41!!2
|-
|rowspan="3"|Chelsea
|1991–92
|First Division||35||3||4||1||1||0||5||2||45||6
|-
|1992–93
|Premier League
|7||1||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||7||1
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!42!!4!!4!!1!!1!!0!!5!!2!!52!!7
|-
|rowspan="7"|Wimbledon
|1992–93
|Premier League
|27||1||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||27||1
|-
|1993–94
|Premier League
|33||2||0||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||35||2
|-
|1994–95
|Premier League
|33||3||2||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||37||3
|-
|1995–96
|Premier League
|31||3|||3||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||36||3
|-
|1996–97
|Premier League
|29||3||7||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||38||3
|-
|1997–98
|Premier League
|24||0||3||1||1||0||colspan="2"|—||28||1
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!177!!12!!15!!1!!9!!0!!colspan="2"|—!!201!!13
|-
|rowspan="3"|Queens Park Rangers
|1997–98
|First Division
|7||1||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||7||1
|-
|1998–99
|First Division
|2||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||2||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!9||1||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||9||1
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!446||36||36||3||27||0||11||2||520||41
|}
Honours
Wealdstone
- Alliance Premier League: 1984–85
IFK Holmsund
- Division 3 Mellersta Norrland: 1986
Wimbledon
- FA Cup: 1987–88
Leeds United
- Football League Second Division: 1989–90
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Year!!Title!!Role!!class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
| 1998 || Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels || Big Chris |||Winner – Empire Award for Best Newcomer
|-
| I Am Vengeance: Retaliation || Sean Teague ||
|-
| The Big Ugly || Neelyn || Winner – Best Actor at UK Film Festival || Himself ||
|-
| 2023—present || Vinnie Jones in the Country || Himself || 18 episodes
|-
| 2024—present || The Gentlemen || Geoff Seacombe || Main role; 8 episodes
|}
Stage
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 2024–2025
| Only Fools and Horses The Musical
| Danny Driscoll
| At Hammersmith Apollo from 17 December 2024 to 5 January 2025
|}
Video Games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 2023–2024
| World of Tanks
| Vinnie Jones (Himself)
| Was available as a time limited, voiced tank commander in game during Holiday ops 2024
|}
Music videos
- Westlife - "Bop Bop Baby" (2002)
- As Duke Vincent, the vilest man in the kingdom for money. The band members serve as Musketeers who are imprisoned in a dungeon by the Duke.
- Steve Aoki & LOOPERS - "Pika Pika" (2018)
- Originally filmed for Steve Aoki & Knife Party - "Piledriver", but the original video was unreleased and the footage was re-edited and reused
Discography
Studio albums
- 2002: Respect
Singles
- "Wooly Bully" (1993)
Awards and nominations
{| width="95%" class="wikitable"
|-
! width="10" | Year
! width="300" | Awards
! width="400" | Category
! width="430" | Work
! width="30" | Result
! width="20" | Ref.
|-
| 1999
| rowspan="2" |Empire Awards
|Empire Award for Best Newcomer
|Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
|
|
|-
|2008
|Fright Meter Awards
| rowspan="2" |Best Supporting Actor
| rowspan="2" |The Midnight Meat Train
|
|
|-
| 2009
|Fangoria Chainsaw Awards
|
|
|-
| 2020
|UK Film Festival
|Best Actor
|The Big Ugly
|
|
|}