Michael Wincott

Michael Anthony Claudio Wincott (born January 21, 1958)[1][2] is a Canadian actor known for his deep, raspy voice[2][3][4][5] and for being cast in villainous roles.
Some of his better-known roles include Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Top Dollar, the main antagonist in The Crow (1994), music mogul Philo Gant in Strange Days (1995), mercenary Frank Elgyn in Alien: Resurrection (1997) and hacker Adrian Cross on the TV miniseries 24: Live Another Day (2014).
== Early life and education ==
Wincott was born in Toronto and grew up in an east-end suburb.[11][12] His father was English and his mother was from Piacenza, Italy.[12] Wincott also has two brothers,[12] one of whom is actor and martial artist Jeff Wincott, a star of the late 80s TV series Night Heat.[13]
In a 2014 interview with L'Uomo Vogue (the Italian edition of Men's Vogue) Wincott said he fell in love with cinema as a young child and took drama classes in High School.[12] Wincott was educated at the Victoria University, a college of the University of Toronto then in 1982 he enrolled at the Juilliard School in New York City, graduating in 1986.[1][14] Wincott credited director Des McAnuff, as well as his father, with encouraging him to enroll at the prestigious acting school.[14]
== Career ==
In 1976 Wincott starred in his first film, titled Earthbound, as Cole Buckley, a troubled teenager living in a small Saskatchewan town.[15][16][17] Actors Kate Reid and Gerard Parkes played his parents in the film.[15][16][17] The film aired on CBC-TV's Front Row Centre series in January 1977.[15][16][17]
In 1979 Wincott starred in the Canadian adventure drama film Wild Horse Hankalongside Linda Blair.[2] In 1981 he appeared in the Canadian drama film Circle of Two starring Richard Burton.[2] He also appeared on two episodes of the Canadian TV Series The Littlest Hobo in 1979 and 1981.[18]
After graduating from Juilliard, Wincott was cast in the 1987 film The Sicilian in the role of Corporal Silvestro Canio.[14] That same year he was also cast in the Eric Bogosian play Talk Radio as a stoned heavy metal fan named Kent.[1][14][19]The following year Wincott appeared in Oliver Stone's film based on the play.[1][11] In the 1980s he also appeared on such American TV series as Miami Vice, Crime Story and The Equalizer,[1][3] as well as Canadian police drama series Night Heat[18]—a series starring his brother Jeff.
Wincott's stage performances include the off-Broadway productions Road(1988) starring Joan Cusack and Kevin Bacon,[2][19] and the Sam Shepard play States of Shock (1991) starring John Malkovich.[2][20] He also appeared on Broadway starring in the play Serious Money (1988) alongside Kate Nelligan, Alec Baldwin and John Pankow,[1][2][21] as well as appearing in The Secret Rapture (1989) starring Blair Brown.[2][22]
Wincott again worked with Oliver Stone in 1989, appearing in the film Born on the Fourth of July as a bedridden Vietnam veteran,[11] then yet again in 1991 in the film The Doors where he played the role of Paul Rothchild, the producer of The Doors' first five albums.[1][6] In 1991 he also played the part of Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, a henchman of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman) who is also the Sheriff's cousin in the film.[4][6]
In 1993 he appeared in the film Romeo Is Bleeding as Sal, a mafioso,[23] and also played the part of Rochefort in the Disney film The Three Musketeers starring Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen and Chris O'Donnell.[7] The following year Wincott starred as kingpin Top Dollar opposite Brandon Lee in The Crow.[6] In 1995 he appeared in Dead Man with Johnny Depp.[1] He played poet Rene Ricardin the 1996 biographical film Basquiat.[6] He also played the role of mercenaryFrank Elgyn in the 1997 film Alien Resurrection.[1]
Wincott starred as a psychopathic kidnapper opposite Morgan Freeman in the 2001 film Along Came a Spider.[6][8] The following year he played Armand Dorleac, a sadistic prison warden in the 2002 film version of The Count of Monte Cristo starring Jim Caviezel.[24] In 2004 he played Julius Bicke, the brother of Samuel J. Bicke (played by Sean Penn) in The Assassination of Richard Nixon.[25]In 2006 Wincott appeared in the western film Seraphim Falls starring Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson.[26] He also appeared in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and What Just Happened in 2007 and 2008 respectively.[25]
In 2009 he starred in A Lonely Place for Dying as CIA project manager Anthony Greenglass.[27] In early 2012 he was cast as notorious serial killer Ed Gein in the biographical drama film Hitchcock.[5]
In 2014 Wincott played hacker Adrian Cross in the miniseries 24: Live Another Day.[28] The following year he starred in the Canadian western drama film Forsaken alongside Kiefer and Donald Sutherland.[29] In 2016 he also played the role of Old Bill in two episodes in season 1 of the science fiction western TV series Westworld.[30]
In 2017 he appeared in the MTG drama series Veni Vidi Vici.[3][31] The series stars Danish actor Thomas Bo Larsen and centers around the Swedish pornindustry.[31] Wincott plays the part of Georgina, a transgender former porn director.[3] The show was selected as one of the top new European series at the MIPDrama Screenings held annually in Cannes.[31] The series was also streamed on Hulu in 2017.[31]
Wincott has also lent his voice to several characters in video games and animated features: In 2002 he provided the voice of Scroop, a malevolent spider/crab-like creature in the Disney animated film Treasure Planet;[2] he also provided the voice of Scroop in the accompanying Sony PlayStation video game of the same name.[18] In 2004 he provided the voice for the Prophet of Truth in the video game Halo 2.[32] He also provided the voice of Mr. Big in the 2005 re-launch of the video game Narc.[33] In 2012 he provided the voices for several video game characters: Jules Merit in the game Syndicate, Griffin in the interactive graphic novel Infex, and Death in the game Darksiders II.[18][32][34]
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role
1976	Earthbound 	Cole Buckley
1979	Wild Horse Hank 	Charlie Connors
1979	Title Shot 	Robber
1979	An American Christmas Carol 	Choir Leader
1980	Nothing Personal 	Peter
1981	Ticket to Heaven 	Gerry
1981	Circle of Two 	Paul
1983	Curtains 	Matthew
1987	The Sicilian 	Cpl. Silvestro Canio
1988	Talk Radio 	Kent/Michael/Joe
1989	Suffering Bastards 	Chazz
1989	Bloodhounds of Broadway 	Soupy Mike
1989	Born on the Fourth of July 	Veteran
1991	The Doors 	Paul A. Rothchild
1991	Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 	Guy of Gisbourne
1992	1492: Conquest of Paradise 	Adrián de Moxica
1993	Romeo Is Bleeding 	Sal
1993	The Three Musketeers 	Rochefort
1994	The Crow 	Top Dollar
1995	Dead Man 	Conway Twill
1995	Strange Days 	Philo Gant
1995	Panther 	Tynan
1996	Basquiat 	Rene Ricard
1997	Alien Resurrection 	Captain Frank Elgyn
1997	Metro 	Michael Korda
1998	Gunshy 	Frankie McGregor
1998	Eddiekahrd 	Bruce McDonald
1999	Hidden Agenda 	Larry Gleason
2000	Before Night Falls 	Herberto Zorilla Ochoa
2001	Along Came a Spider 	Gary Soneji
2002	The Count of Monte Cristo 	Armand Dorléac
2002	Treasure Planet 	Scroop (voice)
2002	Red Phone: Manhunt 	Van Eyck
2004	The Assassination of Richard Nixon	Julius Bicke
2006	Seraphim Falls 	Hayes
2007	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 	Fashion Photographer
2008	What Just Happened 	Jeremy Brunell
2009	A Lonely Place for Dying 	Anthony Greenglass
2012	Hitchcock 	Ed Gein
2013	The Girl from Nagasaki 	Goro
2014	Grand Street 	Reuben
2015	Knight of Cups 	Herb
2015	Forsaken 	Dave Turner
2017	Ghost in the Shell 	Dr. Osmond
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1976 	Earthbound 	Cole Buckley 	Television film directed by Mike Newell
1979 	An American Christmas Carol 	Choir Leader 	Television film
1979 	The Family Man 	Charlie 	Television film
1979–81	The Littlest Hobo 	Charlie, Jeff 	Episodes: "Wolf Hunt" and "Stand-in"
1981 	Clown White 	Peter 	Television film
1985 	Night Heat 	Jack Tenelli 	Episode: "Mother's Day"
1987–88	Crime Story 	Bobby Meeker 	Episodes: "Femme Fatale" and "The Senator, the Movie Star, and the Mob"
1987–89	The Equalizer 	Jarrow, Jordan	Episodes: "The Caper" and "High Performance"
1988 	Miami Vice 	Wilson Cook 	Episode: "Blood & Roses"
1990 	The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story	Ulrich Weber 	Television film
1996 	Strangers 	Arnaud 	Episode: "Leave"
2014 	24: Live Another Day 	Adrian Cross 	11 episodes
2016 	Westworld 	Old Bill 	Episodes: "The Original" and "Contrapasso"
2017 	Veni Vidi Vici 	Georgina 	series for Viaplay (Scandinavia) and Hulu (Australia and United States)
=== Short Film ===
Year	Title 	Role
2007	Lula 	Man
2008	Sketches from Great Gull	Narrator (voice)
2011	The Farewell 	He
=== Video games ===
Year	Title 	Role
2002	Treasure Planet	Scroop
2004	Halo 2 	Prophet of Truth
2005	Narc 	Mr. Big
2012	Infex 	Griffin
2012	Syndicate 	Jules Merit
2012	Darksiders II 	Death
== Theatre ==
* 1987 - Talk Radio - Kent
* 1988 - Serious Money - Grevett, Frosby, Jake Todd
* 1988 - Road - Eddy, Skin Lad, DJ
* 1989 - The Secret Rapture - Irwin Posner
* 1991 - State of Shock - Stubbs