Ray Winstone's Real Name: Ray Winstone

Quick answer: Ray Winstone's real name is Ray Winstone. He is an English actor, born February 19, 1957, in London, England, later known for films including Scum, Nil by Mouth, and Sexy Beast.

Real name and early life

He is known professionally as Ray Winstone. Independent publishers used here record that public name rather than a longer legal form confirmed by two sources, so the public name is used in the title. Encyclopedia.com, alone among the sources cited here, records the fuller form Raymond Andrew Winstone Jr. and dates the birth to February 19, 1957, in London, England. It says his father, Raymond Andrew Winstone Sr., was a greengrocer and taxi driver, that he studied acting at the Corona School in 1975–76, and that he previously worked as an amateur boxer, winning the London Schoolboy Championship three times and more than 80 medals and trophies from 1970 to 1978. The Guardian, in a 2013 Q&A, independently says he studied acting at Corona Theatre School in London before being cast by Alan Clarke in the BBC play Scum in the late 1970s, but does not independently give a birth date or the longer name form.

Career highlights

Encyclopedia.com lists early film credits including Steve in That Summer (1979), Carlin in Scum (1979), and Kevin in Quadrophenia (1979, credited as Raymond Winstone). It says he received a 1980 BAFTA nomination for most promising newcomer to a leading film role for That Summer, and later a 1998 BAFTA nomination for best performance by an actor in a leading role, plus a British Independent Film Award, for Nil by Mouth. It also lists a 1999 Royal Television Society Award for best actor for Our Boy. The Guardian independently says that in 1997 he played the abusive husband in Gary Oldman's film Nil by Mouth, winning an award for his role, and lists later films including Fanny and Elvis, Sexy Beast, Cold Mountain, The Departed, and Snow White & the Huntsman. Encyclopedia.com independently lists Sexy Beast among later honors, including a 2001 British Independent Film Award nomination for best actor, and also lists Fanny and Elvis among late-1990s credits.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Ray Winstone or Raymond Andrew Winstone Jr. are looking for the same English actor. The longer form is recorded by Encyclopedia.com but is not independently confirmed in the other source used here, so the public name is used in the title.