- Born
- Birth nameRaymond Andrew Winstone
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- Ray Winstone was born on February 19, 1957, in Hackney Hospital in London, England, to Margaret (Richardson) and Raymond J. Winstone. He moved to Enfield, at age seven, where his parents had a fruit and vegetable business. He started boxing at the age of twelve at the famous Repton Amateur Boxing Club, was three times London Schoolboy Champion and fought twice for England, UK. In ten years of boxing, he won over 80 medals and trophies.
Ray studied acting at the Corona School before being cast by director Alan Clarke as Carlin in the BBC Play production of Scum (1979). He has appeared in numerous TV series over the past 20 years including Robin of Sherwood (1984), Palmer (1991), Birds of a Feather (1989), Between the Lines (1992), Ghostbusters of East Finchley (1995), Births, Marriages and Deaths (1999), and Vincent (2005). His film career has burgeoned since his award-winning role in Gary Oldman's Nil by Mouth (1997), and he has appeared in multiple films including Fanny and Elvis (1999), Tim Roth's The War Zone (1999), The Departed (2006), Hugo (2011), and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Known for his signature gritty voice, Winstone has also done a number of voiceover roles including Rango (2011), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), as well as the Beowulf (2007) film and video games.
He married Elaine Winstone in 1979, and the couple have three children: Lois Winstone (born 1982), a singer with the London-based hip-hop group "Crack Village" who also played his on-screen daughter in Last Orders (2001) and got a part in four episodes of The Bill (1984), Jaime Winstone (born 1985) also an actress with ambitions to be a director, and Ellie Rae Winstone (born 2001).
- IMDb mini biography by: Alys-2 <acarter@dhac.prestel.co.uk>
- SpouseElaine Winstone(1979 - present) (3 children)
- Children
- ParentsMargaret RichardsonRaymond J. Winstone
- Hard, gritty voice
- A tough guy character
- Working class cockney accent
- Was offered the role of Jimmy McNulty in The Wire (2002), which he turned down because he didn't want to move to Baltimore, away from his family. The role instead went to Dominic West.
- Was the leading actor in the directorial debuts of two Brit actors: in The War Zone (1999) directed by Tim Roth and in Nil by Mouth (1997), directed by Gary Oldman. All three are known for playing villains in many films.
- Has three children: Lois Winstone (born 1982), a singer with the London-based hip-hop group "Crack Village" who also played his on-screen daughter in Last Orders (2001) and got a part in four episodes of The Bill (1984), Jaime Winstone (born 1985) also an actress with ambitions to be a director, and Ellie Rae Winstone (born 2001).
- As a boxer he won 80 out of 88 fights,.
- His interest in the cinema came about through his greengrocer father taking him to the cinema every week.
- All the great Shakespeare plays are about killing. Alas, poor Yorick, that's about death. And in Romeo and Juliet everyone up ends up dying. The greatest dramas in the world are all about sex, violence and death.
- I'm not a successful Hollywood actor. The Hollywood stuff hasn't come out yet. It might come out and I might be shit.
- Hollywood don't always pay a lot of money. Because we're English they think we're cheap! And you haven't got to be the greediest man in the world. If you want to do something, you go and do it. What's the point of you being paid a lot of money if you haven't got the quality of the film? In the long run you're not doing yourself any favors because you're going to end up in a piece of shit.
- On every job you do, you've got to raise your game. My ambition is to just get better and better every job you do - you should never stop trying to get better. You have to teach yourself new things - I don't think you necessarily learn them from other people because you have your own style of doing things, but hopefully you get better.
- Unless it's your business or something, bankrupt just means you can't have a bank account.
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