Topic: Ray Winstone

Raymond Andrew "Ray" Winstone, Jr. (born February 19, 1957) is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "tough guy" roles, beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum, and is also known as a voice over actor. More recently he has branched out into film production. His film résumé includes Nil by Mouth, Sexy Beast, Cold Mountain, King Arthur, The Proposition, The Departed, Beowulf and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Winstone was born in Homerton, in the London Borough of Hackney. His family was originally from Cirencester, Gloucestershire – half of them moving to London, the other half to Wales. Moving via Plaistow to Enfield when he was seven, his father, Raymond Andrew Winstone, Sr., ran a fruit and vegetable business (he is now a black cab driver) while his mother, Margaret, had a job emptying fruit machines. Winstone recalls playing with his friends on bomb sites until "Moors Murderers" Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were arrested for killing five children. Winstone joined Brimsdown Primary School and then he was educated at Edmonton County, which had changed from a grammar school to a comprehensive upon his arrival. He didn't take to school, eventually leaving with a single CSE (Grade 2) in Drama.

Winstone had an early affinity for acting; his father would take him to the cinema every Wednesday afternoon. Later, he would witness Albert Finney in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and the bug would bite: "I thought 'I could be that geezer'" he said later. Other major influences included John Wayne, James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson. After borrowing extra tuition money from a friend's mother, a drama teacher, he took to the stage, appearing as a Cockney newspaper-seller in a production of Emil and the Detectives.