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]

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