Ray Winston is a British film, theater and television actor, producer and boxer. He became famous in the UK in the eighties due to his work on television. Spectators around the world became known after roles in blockbusters "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "Beowulf", as well as thanks to the work in the Oscar-winning crime drama Martin Scorsese "The Departed".
Childhood and youth
Ray Winston was born on February 19, 1957 in London. Full name is Andrew Raymond Winston. From childhood he was fond of cinema, constantly visited the local cinema with his parents. At the age of twelve, he became interested in boxing and joined the boxing club Rpton. Over the next ten years he spent 88 fights, of which he won 80. Three times he won the London championship among schoolchildren, was part of the national team.
Ray attended the prestigious acting school Corona, where he stood out among his wealthy classmates and often came into conflict with them. In addition, he did not find a common language with the parents of other students who considered the natives of the working class a bad company for their children. This led to the fact that Ray Winston was expelled from school after a year of study, as he struck the tires on the director’s car.
Carier start
After being expelled from acting school, Winston decided to make a joke to audition for the UK-famous Dregs play, where almost all his classmates went. The young actor impressed the director Alan Clark and got the main role, despite the fact that it was originally written for a native of Glasgow.
The prison drama was filmed in the style of a television play, however, due to the acts of violence depicted on the screen, the channels for a long time refused to show the footage. In 1983, the play was re-shot with the same actors as a full-length film and became popular in Britain. Ray Winston began to receive many offers, mainly - the roles of criminals, but also tried himself in comedies and in melodramas.
From 1984 to 1986 the actor played one of the main roles in the series "Robin from Sherwood", which was popular outside the United Kingdom. In the eighties and early nineties, Ray Winston played in the theater and television series.
Most Notable Roles
In 1997, Winston got the main role in the directorial debut of the famous actor Gary Oldman "Do not swallow." This work was largely a breakthrough film for Ray Winston - he received a BAFTA nomination and became famous in the United States.
In the next ten years, the actor began to appear in Hollywood projects much more often, playing prominent roles in such films as “Sexual Creature”, “Cold Mountain”, “King Arthur”, “The Departed”, “Proposal”, “Beowulf” and “Indiana” Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. " In 2006, the famous film critic Roger Ebert named Winston one of the best actors of our time.
Recent work
In recent years, the actor began to appear less often in large-budget projects. His most notable roles in recent years are the thriller Retribution, the Western Pathfinder, the police drama The Flying Squad of Scotland Yard, and the remake of The Wave Crest.
Ray Winston again began to work actively on television, starring in the mini-series Moonflit, The Trial of Jimmy Rose and The Kings and Prophets. The actor also founded his own film production company and produced several feature films.
Personal life
Since 1979, Ray Winston has been married to a woman named Elaine. Three daughters were born in the marriage, two of whom also became actresses.
The actor is a dedicated fan of West Ham Football Club. He fell into scandals several times, declared bankrupt twice, and in 2015, while appearing on a television show, he unsuccessfully joked about the Scots, after which a photo of Ray Winston appeared on the front pages of Scottish newspapers, and viewers began to complain about the actor’s statements to the control authorities television.