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.
'Once Upon A Time In America' is one of the cleverest films of all time, because you can get out of it whatever you want to get out of it.
We don't have nannies and all that, we look after our own kids. It's just what you do. If you want a big family that's just what you do, isn't it?
I just love westerns. One of my favourite actors is John Wayne, probably one of the most underrated actors there's ever been. He's quite an incredible actor.
I think TV is all about caring, and if you don't care about a character in a drama or a person when they get voted out of a reality show, it's bad TV. I wouldn't care if you dropped a bomb on the 'Big Brother' house.
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.
I remember years ago I was an extra, just an extra, and instead of asking me to move - he was a big fella - the director just picked me up and moved me. And I headbutted him. You know, he shouldn't have done that, but I shouldn't have done that either. I just done it.
The thing about villains is most people play them with the shifty eyes and all that, whereas I play them as good guys. 'Cos everyone thinks they're a goodie, don't they?
I was kicked out of drama school in 1976, aged 18, for vandalising the headmistress's tyres, after being there for less than a year.
Hollywood don't always pay a lot of money. Because we're English they think we're cheap!
I'm quite happy with the body of work that I've done, and I've done some really good work over the years that I'm proud of. I'm proud of some of the people that I've worked with, been lucky to have worked with.
If they didn't call you a tough guy, then what else would they call you? Something worse than that? I'm playing parts, and if they call you that, it's because I played the part right.
I'm dying to play a nice guy! No one's willing to cast me. They know I'm all right at bashing people up, but they don't know if I can do the other stuff. And I can.
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.