Michael Wincott

Michael Wincott
Born	Michael Anthony Claudio Wincott (1958-01-21) January 21, 1958 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Education	Juilliard School
Alma mater	University of Toronto
Occupation	Actor, voice actor
Years active	1976–present
Parents	Lucia Wincott (mother, deceased) William Wincott (father, deceased)
Family	Jeff Wincott (brother)
Website
www.michaelwincott.org

Michael Anthony Claudio Wincott (born January 21, 1958) is a Canadian actor from Ontario, Canada.

Early life

Wincott was born in Toronto, Ontario. In his childhood Wincott was a fan of musician Keith Richards and played drums in jazz band. He graduated from Juilliard in 1986, after which, joined the New York City theatre with Joseph Papp's Public Theater. His NYC plays include Serious Money (1988), Road (1988), The Secret Rapture (1989), and State of Shock (1991).

Career

Director Michael Cimino chose Michael Wincott to play a young policeman in The Sicilian in 1987. That same year, Wincott created the character of Kent in the NYC play Talk Radio. Kent was so unique to Michael’s portrayal, that he was cast to reprise the role in the film version (1988) directed by Oliver Stone. Wincott would work with Stone two more times, as an injured war veteran in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and as music producer Paul Rothchild in The Doors (1991).

In 1991, director Kevin Reynolds cast Wincott alongside Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, where he portrayed Guy of Gisborne, the devious cousin of the Sheriff of Nottingham played by Alan Rickman. Following that role, Wincott was cast as another horse riding villain in Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992). The following year played the French captain of the Cardinal’s guard, Rochefort, in Walt Disney Company’s live action film, The Three Musketeers. Also in 1993, Michael Wincott acted with his personal friend, Gary Oldman in the crime thriller, Romeo is Bleeding. His character, Sal, worked for a crime syndicate. (Later in the 90s, Wincott would again play a gangster, Frankie McGregor, as the lead in the film Gunshy. His romantic co-lead was played by Diane Lane.)

With a reputation now established for an ability to portray villains, Wincott was cast as Top Dollar, the leader of an inner city crime syndicate, in the film adaptation of the James O’ Barr graphic novel, The Crow (1994). "As Top Dollar, the gravel-voiced Wincott is the vilest of villains." (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, 1994)

In 1995, Wincott played the loquacious bounty hunter, Conway Twill, in the Jim Jarmusch black comedy, Dead Man (1995). Working with Lance Henrickson, Robert Mitchum, John Hurt, and Eugene Byrd, Wincott played a comedic role.

Katherine Bigelow cast Wincott to play music mogul Philo Gant in the thriller, Strange Days (1995). The following year, personal friend, Julian Schnabel cast Michael as gay artist and writer, Rene Ricard, in Basquiat, (1996) his film about Jean-Michel Basquiat. Wincott would appear in two more of Schnabel’s films, as Cuban activist Heberto Zorilla Ochoa in Before Night Falls, (2000) and as a fashion photographer in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007).

In 1997 Wincott starred in two action films, Metro opposite Eddie Murphy as Michael Korda, a jewel thief, and as Frank Elgyn, an intergalactic transport ship captain, in Alien: Resurrection. In the latter, he worked alongside Sigourney Weaver, Ron Perlman, and Winona Rider. The film was directed by French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

Wincott starred with Morgan Freeman as kidnapper, Gary Soneji in Along Came a Spider (2001). Following that film, he played another Frenchman, Armand Dorleac, in The Count of Monte Cristo (2002). His next role was as a Dutch terrorist, Van Eyck in The Red Phone: Manhunt, (2002) an international production. Wincott also provided the voice of Scroop, a ruthless insectoid crew member, in Disney's Treasure Planet (2002). In 2004, Wincott shared a scene with Sean Penn in The Assassination of Richard Nixon playing the older brother to Penn’s Julius Bicke. "There’s a great, grim tension to the film and outstanding small performances including Michael Wincott as Sam's quietly intimidating older brother Julius." (Casey McCabe, Movie Magazine International, 2004)

In 2006, Wincott worked with Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan in the western Seraphim Falls. His character of Hayes was also a bounty hunter, but not a comical one like Conway Twill. Following Seraphim Falls, Michael starred with one of his acting heroes, Robert De Niro, in the film about making films, What Just Happened (2008). Wincott played Jeremy Brunell, a British director with an attitude and a drug habit. (Incidentally, in What Just Happened, Brunell’s film is being produced by De Niro and it stars Sean Penn.)

Wincott's next roles were in three independent films. The first was A Lonely Place for Dying, (2008) in which Wincott played Anthony Greenglass, an official in the CIA during the 1970s war in Laos. Next, in the short film written and directed by Daniel Kruglikov, The Farewell, (2010) Michael portrayed a dark and brooding man with a secret. Director Lex Sidon selected Michael to appear in his film Grand Street (2012) set in New York City. In April 2012 Michael Wincott was cast as notorious killer Ed Gein in Hitchcock about the making of the film Psycho. He is currently (summer 2012) working with filmmaker Terrence Malick on Knight of Cups (release TBD).

Wincott has worked with many of cinema's highly regarded directors, including Mike Newell, Oliver Stone, Julian Schnabel, Jim Jarmusch, Ridley Scott, Katherine Bigelow, and Barry Levinson and fellow actors Gary Oldman, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Anthony Hopkins, Gerard Depardieu, Benicio Del Toro, Javier Bardem, Morgan Freeman, and Liam Neeson.

Personal life

Wincott's mother was born in Italy, and his father was born in England. He is also the younger brother of actor Jeff Wincott.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Earthbound	N/A
1978	Wild Horse Hank	Charlie Connors
1979	Title Shot	Robber
1980	Nothing Personal	Peter
1981	Ticket to Heaven	Gerry
	Circle of Two	Paul
1983	Curtains	Matthew
1987	The Sicilian	Cpl. Silvestro Canio
1988	Talk Radio	Kent/Michael/Joe
1989	Suffering Bastards	Chazz
	Bloodhounds of Broadway	Soupy Mike
	Born on the Fourth of July	veteran
1991	The Doors	Paul A. Rothchild
	Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves	Guy of Gisbourne
1992	1492: Conquest of Paradise	Adrián de Moxica
1993	Romeo Is Bleeding	Sal
	The Three Musketeers	Rochefort
1994	The Crow	Top Dollar
1995	Dead Man	Conway Twill
	Strange Days	Philo Gant
	Panther	Tynan
1996	Basquiat	Rene Ricard
1997	Alien: Resurrection	Captain Frank Elgyn
	Metro	Michael Korda
1998	Gunshy	Frankie McGregor
	Hidden Agenda	Larry Gleason
2000	Before Night Falls	Herberto Zorilla Ochoa
2001	Red Phone: Manhunt	Van Eyck
	Along Came a Spider	Gary Soneji
2002	The Count of Monte Cristo	Armand Dorléac
	Treasure Planet	Scroop (voice)	(Animated film, Walt Disney Company)
2004	The Assassination of Richard Nixon	Julius Bicke
2007	Seraphim Falls	Hayes
	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	Photographer
2008	What Just Happened	Jeremy Brunell
	A Lonely Place for Dying	Anthony Greenglass
	Sketches from Great Gull	Narrator (voice)
2010	The Farewell	He	Short
2012	Hitchcock	Ed Gein
2013	Grand Street	Reuben	(post-production)
	Knight of Cups	Herb	(post-production)
	The Girl from Nagasaki		(post-production)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	An American Christmas Carol	Choir Leader	(TV movie)
	The Family Man	Charlie	(TV movie)
1979-1981	The Littlest Hobo	Charlie Jeff	Episodes: "Wolf Hunt" "Stand-in"
1981	Clown White	Peter	(TV movie)
1985	Night Heat	Jack Tenelli	Episode: "Mother's Day"
1987-1988	Crime Story	Bobby Meeker	Episodes: "Femme Fatale" "The Senator, the Movie Star, and the Mob"
1988	Miami Vice	Wilson Cook	Episode: "Blood & Roses"
1987-1989	The Equalizer	Jarrow Jordan	Episodes: "The Caper" "High Performance"
1990	The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story	Ulrich Weber	(TV documentary)
1996	Strangers	Arnaud	Episode: "Leave"
2002	The Red Phone: Manhunt	Van Eyck	(TV movie)
2003	Remembering Charlie	Richard Aiken	(TV movie)

Video Games

Year	Title	Role
2004	Halo 2	Prophet of Truth
2005	Narc	Mr. Big
2012	Syndicate	Jules Merit
	Infex	Griffin
	Darksiders II	Death

Theatre Work

Broadway

• 1988 - Serious Money - Grevett, Frosby, Jake Todd
• 1989 - The Secret Rapture - Irwin Posner

Other

• 1988 - Road
• 1991 - State of Shock

External links

• Michael Wincott at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Wincott.org