40 Facts About Ray Winstone

1.

Raymond Andrew Winstone is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades.

2.

The first of these was the character Carlin in Scum, the 1979 film remake of a BBC Television play in a role that Ray Winstone had originated, but was not broadcast due to its violent nature.

3.

Ray Winstone was born on 19 February 1957 in Hackney Hospital, London.

4.

Ray Winstone first lived in Caister Park Road, Plaistow E13, and attended Portway infants and junior school.

5.

Ray Winstone moved to Enfield when he was seven and grew up on a council estate just off the A10 road.

6.

Ray Winstone has recounted how, as a child, he used to play with his friends on bomb sites.

7.

Ray Winstone did not take to school, eventually leaving with a single CSE in Drama.

8.

Ray Winstone recounted an early encounter with a notorious gangster:.

9.

Ray Winstone had a new mac on, which had probably cost a few bob, and I absolutely covered it.

10.

Ray Winstone had an early affinity for acting; his father would take him to the cinema every Wednesday afternoon.

11.

At the age of 12, Ray Winstone joined the Repton Amateur Boxing Club.

12.

Ray Winstone was not popular with the establishment at his secondary school, who considered him a bad influence.

13.

Ray Winstone was cast in the leading role of Carlin, a young offender who struggles against both his captors and his fellow cons to become the "Daddy" of the institution.

14.

Ray Winstone added his London accent to a dance track in 1982 by "Marsha Raven" called "I Like Plastic".

15.

Ray Winstone was asked to appear in Mr Thomas, a play written by his friend and fellow Londoner Kathy Burke.

16.

The reviews were good, and led to Ray Winstone being cast, alongside Burke in Gary Oldman's drama Nil By Mouth.

17.

Ray Winstone was widely lauded for his performance as an alcoholic wife-batterer, receiving a BAFTA nomination.

18.

Ray Winstone did a series of Holsten Pils advertisements where he played upon the phrase "Who's the Daddy", coined in the film Scum.

19.

In 2000, Ray Winstone starred alongside Jude Law in Love, Honour and Obey.

20.

Ray Winstone plays "Gal" Dove, a retired and happily married former thief dragged back into London's underworld by a psychopathic former associate.

21.

Ray Winstone followed up with Lenny Blue, the sequel to Tough Love, and the short The Bouncer.

22.

Now internationally known, Ray Winstone was next chosen by Anthony Minghella to play Teague, a sinister Home Guard boss in the American Civil War drama Cold Mountain.

23.

Ray Winstone followed it up with Jerusalem in which he played poet and visionary William Blake.

24.

Ray Winstone made his action film debut in King Arthur, starring Clive Owen, directed by Antoine Fuqua, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

25.

Ray Winstone provided the voice of Soldier Sam in the screen version of The Magic Roundabout.

26.

Ray Winstone returned to the role in 2006 and was awarded an International Emmy.

27.

Ray Winstone portrayed a 19th-century English policeman trying to tame the Australian outback in The Proposition.

28.

Ray Winstone appeared in Martin Scorsese's 2006 film The Departed as Mr French, an enforcer to Jack Nicholson's Irish mob boss.

29.

Ray Winstone provided motion capture movements and voice-over work for the title character in the Robert Zemeckis' film Beowulf.

30.

Ray Winstone then co-starred in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was released on 22 May 2008.

31.

Ray Winstone returned to television drama in The Changeling-inspired Compulsion, originally shown in May 2009.

32.

Ray Winstone has mixed work in Hollywood productions with work in lower budget, independent films.

33.

In 2010, Ray 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.

34.

In 2012, Ray Winstone starred in big screen remake of popular 70s show The Sweeney.

35.

In 2015, Ray Winstone starred in The Gunman with Sean Penn, the film was a box office failure.

36.

In 2015 Ray Winstone featured in remake Point Break, a relative box office success, though critically panned.

37.

Since 2009, Ray Winstone has fronted the advertising for betting firm Bet365.

38.

Ray Winstone met his wife, Elaine McCausland, while filming That Summer in 1979.

39.

Ray Winstone is an avid fan of West Ham United and promoted their 2009 home kit.

40.

Ray Winstone was declared bankrupt on 4 October 1988 and again on 19 March 1993.