Born in Hackney, London, former champion schoolboy boxer Ray Winstone
made a stunning movie debut in Alan
Clarke's uncompromising borstal depiction Scum
(1979); he followed this by appearing in another cult youth-orientated
film, The Who's Quadrophenia
(1979). Continuing to work in film and television, his memorable portrayal
of a wife-beater in Gary Oldman's Nil
By Mouth (1997) earned him international recognition and defined
him the archetypal Cockney hard-man. Since then, he has starred in
Antonia Bird's crime drama, Face
(1997), and Tim Roth's harrowing tale
of child abuse, The
War Zone (1998). He was highly impressive as a gangster who tries
to turn his back on crime in Sexy
Beast (2000), and the son of an East End butcher in
Last Orders (2002). He won further acclaim in The Departed (2006)
and was digitalised in idealised form to become the eponymous muscle-rippling
warrior in the fantasy film Beowulf (2007).
