Ray Winstone Biography
Born: February 19, 1957
Frequently cast as a working-class hard man, British actor Ray Winstone gained his first dose of international recognition for his brutal portrayal of an abusive, alcoholic family patriarch in Gary_Oldman's Nil by Mouth (1997).
Born in Hackney, London, on February 19, 1957, Winstone spent much of his youth as an amateur boxer. He first stepped into the ring at the age of 12 and over the course of the next several years won over 80 medals and trophies. Reportedly deciding to give acting a try because he was tired of getting hit, Winstone studied drama for a couple of years at the Corona School. He got his first break when director Alan_Clarke cast him in the BBC's televised production of Scum (1977), a harsh depiction of life in a Borstal for young offenders. Due to its content, the film was banned before being released theatrically two years later. Winstone began appearing in other films that same year, notably the Who's Quadrophenia.
Winstone continued to work in both film and television throughout the next decade, doing most of his work in countless TV series. In 1994, he earned strong notices for his starring role in Ken_Loach's Ladybird,_Ladybird. Three years later, Winstone's harrowing performance in Oldman's Nil by Mouth garnered him a Best Actor BAFTA nomination, as well as recognition on both sides of the Atlantic. He subsequently could be seen in a number of diverse projects, ranging from Face, Antonia_Bird's 1997 crime drama, to the romantic comedy Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence (1998) to Tim_Roth's The_War_Zone (1999), in which Winstone earned further acclaim as the abusive patriarch of a wildly dysfunctional family. Also in 1999, he could be seen playing a loan shark who gives Anjelica_Huston a hard time in Huston's Agnes_Browne.
Winstone gained wide international notice for his starring role in 2000's Sexy_Beast, holding his own opposite Ben_Kingsley, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance. He followed that up with a well-received part in 2001's Last_Orders and parlayed his success into a supporting role in Anthony_Minghella's 2003 star-studded Civil War drama Cold_Mountain. Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
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