Ray Winstone: I don't regret rejecting roles

Ray Winstone: I don't regret rejecting roles

You know they wanted me to play Samantha Janus [Womack] dad," he laughs. You almost have to credit the BBC soap for having the gumption that they could land a Hollywood star like Winstone. Forty years in the business, his hardman persona was solidified with a blistering performance in Alan Clarke's Scum, as vicious inmate, Carlin and he went onto bit-part obscurity in Robin of Sherwood, Auf Wiedersehn, Pet, Bergerac and Birds of a Feather until the mid-90s when Gary Oldman cast him in the lead in harrowing family drama, Nil By Mouth. His career was transformed and the stoutly 58-year-old, who now lives in Royston, Essex with wife of 36 years, Elaine, mother of actress daughters, Lois (Game of Thrones) and Jaime (Made in Dagenham) and youngest, Ellie Rae, has churned out the blockbusters for Scorsese [The Departed, Hugo], Spielberg [Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull] Zemekis [Beowulf] and Aronofsky [Noah].