Ray Winstone
Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew "Ray" Winstoneis an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "hard man" roles, beginning with his role as Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and Will Scarlet in the television series Robin of Sherwood. He has also become well known as a voice over actor, and has recently branched out into film production. He has appeared in films such as Cold Mountain, Nil By Mouth, King Arthur, The Magic Roundabout, The Departed, Beowulf, Indiana...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth19 February 1957
Sometimes when you're making a film and something happens during a scene that you've just thought of, it can be missed if the wrong lens is on or if you're shooting in the wrong direction but this [performance capture] doesn't miss a thing. So, you might do something that's genius - very rarely, admittedly - but it doesn't miss it.
I pile on the weight when I work. All that location catering's not good for the love handles. I lose a bit when I'm not working, but I love my food and the occasional snifter.
In terms of directors, great actors make directors - Gary Oldman was great to work with, for me; Tim Roth, too. You work with Scorsese and Spielberg and they were wonderful directors, but for me, working with actor/directors is special.
I'm away so much I've had to learn to cook, and I find it relaxing after filming. I make stews and liver and bacon, and an Italian mate taught me how to make a mean puttanesca sauce.
I'm probably not very funny. The scripts just don't come in, or the ones that do aren't that good. I suppose I'm just an old drama queen, really.
All the great Shakespeare plays are about killing. Alas, poor Yorick, thats 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.
At acting school people didn't speak like me. It was all received pronunciation - 'ow now brown cow.'
Working with Scorsese was an absolute dream, and one of my favourite ever jobs was 'Beowulf' because it was just pure acting. Your imagination explodes as you try to imagine you're fighting a dragon or whatever.
I've never met a politician I haven't wanted to walk away from, and I've yet to hear a politician speak and actually believe the words coming out of his mouth.
I'm not the sort of bloke who spends a long time in the bathroom. I've never used a face cream in my life and I don't like it when I go on TV and they offer me make-up. I tell 'em, 'No thanks.'
I love to be the lead, but you can't always be the lead.
The original 'Edge of Darkness' was fantastic, a fabulous series. It was of its time, but this film version shows that times really haven't changed.
I went to the audition for a laugh and got the part for the way I walked down the corridor. There's no justice is there? [on getting a role from an audition
We sometimes get lost in a bubble... when you get to a certain age you're always thinking about the old days and how it wasn't like that then. Well, yeah, that's great and it's very nostalgic and all that, but actually the world has moved on.