Michael Wincott

Michael Anthony Claudio Wincott is an actor from Ontario, Canada.

Early Life
Wincott graduated from Juilliard in 1986, after which, joined the New York City theatre with Joseph Papp's Public Theatre. 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 Johnny Depp, 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 the 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 Edward 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, Gerard Depardieu, Benicio Del Toro, Javier Bardem, Morgan Freeman, and Liam Neeson.

Trivia

 * The Juilliard School (Drama Division), 1982-1986 (graduated).
 * He plays a multitude of instruments including drums, harmonica, guitar and piano.
 * Of English and Italian descent.
 * His favorite musician is Keith Richards.
 * He played drums in jazz band as a kid.
 * He is known for his apathetic stance on celebrity and the ideals of Hollywood, often stating that he holds art in higher regard than money.

Related Links
IMDB