Winnie Jones is a British actor, professional footballer and singer. He played in the position of a defensive midfielder. Best known for his roles in the films directed by Guy Ritchie "Cards, money, two trunks" and "Big jackpot", as well as for his work in the films "Bonebreaker", "Gone in 60 Seconds" and "Eurotour". In recent years, appeared in the series "Galavant", "Elementary" and "Arrow".
Childhood and youth
Winnie Jones was born on January 5, 1965 in Watford, Hertfordshire. Full name is Vincent Peter Jones. Since childhood, he played football, as a teenager he moved with his family to the city of Hertfordshire, where Winnie was the captain of the football team of all the city’s students.
Sports career
At the age of nineteen, Winnie Jones joined the Uldston football club, playing in the fifth English league. In parallel with the game of football, Jones worked at a construction site. Later, the player spent a year in one of the Swedish clubs with which he won the third division of the country.
In 1986, he moved to the Wimbledon football club, which paid the previous team ten thousand pounds for the transfer of Vinnie Jones. The footballer scored in the second game in the first division of the country, hitting the gates of the world-famous club Manchester United. This goal in the end was victorious.
The team, which was called the Crazy Gang in the British press for their tough playing style, was able to win the FA Cup in 1988, beating the national champion Liverpool in the final. Winnie Jones spent the entire match without replacements and played an important role in winning the trophy.
A year later, however, the footballer was sold to Leeds United. He won the second English division with the team and earned a promotion in the class, showing the most restrained and disciplined football of his career. Over the entire season, Winnie Jones earned only three yellow cards, which is an unusually low indicator for a football player in his position.
In 1990, the player left the club, as he lost his place in the first team to younger players. After that, Jones often changed clubs, playing in “Sheffield United”, “Chelsea” and returning to “Wimbledon” in the end. He graduated from a professional career at the Queens Park Rangers football club. During his career, Vinnie Jones spent 446 matches and scored thirty-eight votes. In addition, he has won seven games for the national team of Wales.
First roles
In 1998, the first movie with Vinnie Jones, Guy Ritchie's crime comedy "Cards, Money, Two Trunks" was released. The picture, which cost a little more than a million dollars, suddenly became a hit of British hire, and Jones was remembered by the audience thanks to the role of the bandit Big Chris.
After that, for many years this role was assigned to Vinnie Jones. The actor worked again with Richie, playing in his second film "Big Jackpot", playing a thug named Tony "Bullet in the mouth." After that, the aspiring actor moved to Hollywood, where he appeared in supporting roles in many notable projects.
Hollywood projects
In 2000, the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” was released. The main roles in the film were played by the Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie. Winnie Jones appeared in a small role. The picture collected at the box office more than two hundred and thirty million dollars.
A year later, another blockbuster with the participation of the British "Password swordfish" was released. This project could not return at the box office spent on its production of one hundred million dollars and received negative reviews from critics.
Also in 2001, the first major role appeared in the filmography of Vinnie Jones, in the film about the famous footballer and captain of the national team of England, who is suspended from life in football and sentenced to three years in prison, the sports comedy "Bone". The picture is a remake of the American film "The Longest Yard" with Bert Reynolds. There is also another remake of the tape, the comedy "All or Nothing," starring Adam Sandler. “Kostolom” received mixed reviews from critics and could not show itself well at the box office.
In the following years, Vinnie Jones began to work actively, appeared in the robbery film "The Big Theft", the comedy action movie "Explosion", the science fiction film "The Trap of Time", the action movie "The Depth of Depth" and the television movie "The Mysterious Island". All of these films were not very successful. The most successful work in these years for Jones was the small role of a football hooligan in the cult youth comedy Eurotour.
In 2006, Winnie appeared in the sports comedy "She is a Man", and also played one of the supporting roles in the blockbuster "X-Men: The Last Battle". In the final part of the trilogy, the actor appeared in the role of a powerful mutant named Juggernaut. Winnie Jones later said that he would like to play a major role in the spin-off, as he believes that he can add character depth, however, “The Last Battle” received poor reviews from critics and did not show itself very well at the box office, which practically negated the opportunity spin offs. In 2018, the Juggernaut appeared in the performance of another actor in the film "Deadpool 2".
Sunset popularity
In subsequent years, the actor stopped appearing in high-budget Hollywood projects, often playing in not-so-successful comedies and action films. Winnie Jones appeared in the action movie "Sentenced", the horror movie "Midnight Express", the action movie "Hell's Trip" and other films. Some of the projects with the participation of the British were not even released to the public.
In 2010, Winnie played a small role in the crime drama "The Irishman." A year later, he played the role of an assassin in the Kazakhstani film "Liquidator". In 2013, Vinnie Jones played the brutal prison guard in the action movie "Escape Plan." However, his best projects on the big screen were left behind. The actor has brought a new wave of popularity to roles in television projects.
TV work
In 2010, Winnie Jones as a guest star in the science fiction television series "Chuck", a year later, received a regular role in the superhero drama "Cloak", which was closed after the first season due to low ratings.
In 2013, in two episodes of the popular detective series "Elementary" based on the works of the detective Sherlock Holmes, Jones played the famous villain Sebastian Moran. Also appeared in one series of television adaptation of the novel "Three Musketeers."
In 2015, Vinnie Jones appeared in an unexpected role, having received one of the main roles in the comedy musical "Galavant". On the screen, the actor not only appeared in a very comical role, but also sang and danced during the performance of musical numbers. Galavant received excellent reviews from critics and was named one of the best new shows of the year, but was closed after the second season due to low ratings.
Also in 2015, Winnie Jones appeared in four episodes of the superhero series Strela. A year later, the actor appeared as a guest star in the spy series McGyver. In 2018, he joined the main cast of the detective series "Trick", which was closed by the channel due to not too high ratings after the first season.
Other projects
In 1998, after the career of a professional football player, Winnie Jones published a memoir, which he rewrote and re-published a year later, after appearing in the successful film "Cards, Money, Two Trunks."
The actor also participated in the seventh season of the spin-off of the famous reality show "Big Brother", where only celebrities appear. He was considered the favorite to win, but viewers disliked Jones and ended up taking third place in the season.
Vinnie is actively working on television. In 2013, the British documentary series "Really About Russia" was released, Winnie Jones as part of the project checked whether it was hard to live and work in the largest country in the world. The actor visited many cities of Russia and tried himself in many professions. Since 2016, Vinnie Jones has been conducting a documentary series on the work of British police.
Reputation and scandals
During his football career, Jones was considered one of the toughest football players in the world. He holds a record, he was able to get a yellow card just three seconds after the start of one of the matches, not a single professional player in history has succeeded.
In total, the account of the defensive midfielder twelve offsets in his career. Very widespread in the British media was a photo of Vinnie Jones at the moment when he grabs the genitals of the famous English player Paul Gascoigne, while he writhes in pain. It was made in 1987 during a match between the Newcastle United and Wimbledon clubs.
In 1992, Jones acted as a storyteller in a documentary about the most violent players in the history of football, where he urged young players to be real men on the field and gave advice on rough play. For this he was fined by football officials and suspended for six months.
In 1998, Vinnie Jones was arrested for assaulting and causing bodily harm to his neighbor. In 2003, he was again arrested for assault, as well as causing damage to the aircraft, when he was intoxicated, attacked one of the passengers of the flight and threatened to kill the crew of the aircraft.
Personal life
In 1994, Winnie Jones married Thane Terry, the ex-wife of another British football player Steve Terry. The couple has two children, they also raise their daughter Tanya from their first marriage.
In 2013, it became known that Jones and his wife were undergoing treatment for skin cancer, Tanya had been ill for several years by that time, and Winnie had discovered the disease after a routine check.