Ray Winstone Biography

Fast Facts

• Joined the Repton Amateur Boxing Club in London at age 12, winning 80 out of 88 fights over 10 years
• Three-time London Schoolboy Champion
• Represented England twice as a welterweight
• Went to the movies weekly with his father; often they would sit through the films twice
• Enrolled at the Corona Stage Academy in 1974, but was expelled for puncturing the headmistress' tires as revenge for being excluded from the Christmas party
• First big role came when he accompanied a friend to an audition---and then was cast by the director---for the 1977 British TV-movie Scum, which was so violent that it was banned by the BBC; it was released theatrically two years later
• Starred as a boxer named Kenny Fox in the 1980 British series Fox
• During an audition for the first Star Wars prequel, asked an unimpressed George Lucas if he needed a nap (Winstone did not get the part)
• After twice being declared bankrupt, revived his career with a role in Kathy Burke's 1990 play, Mr
• Thomas, which eventually led to a part in Gary Oldman's 1997 directorial debut, Nil by Mouth
• During his audition for 2006's The Departed, director Martin Scorsese complimented him on his brown leather jacket and asked if he would wear it during filming
• When Winstone said yes, Scorsese told him he got the part