Michael Anthony Claudio Wincott (born January 21, 1958)^[1][2] is a Canadian actor. His deep, raspy voice^[2][3][4][5] has often led to his being cast in villainous roles.^{[3][4][6][7][8][9]}

Some of his best-known roles include Guy of Gisbourne 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); hacker Adrian Cross on the TV miniseries 24: Live Another Day (2014); and cinematographer Antlers Holst in Nope (2022).^{[3][5][6][10][11]}

Early life and education

Wincott was born in Toronto and grew up in an east-end suburb.^[12][13] His father is English while his mother was from Piacenza, Italy.^[13] Wincott also has two brothers,^[13] one of whom is actor and martial artist Jeff Wincott, a star of the late-1980s TV series Night Heat.^[14]

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.^[13] He 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][15] Wincott credited director Des McAnuff, as well as his father, with encouraging him to enroll at the prestigious acting school.^[15]

Career

In 1976, Wincott starred in his first film, titled Earthbound, as Cole Buckley, a troubled teenager living in a small Saskatchewan town.^[16][17][18] Kate Reid and Gerard Parkes played his parents in the film.^[16][17][18] The film aired on CBC-TV's Front Row Centre series in January 1977.^[16][17][18]

In 1979, Wincott starred in the Canadian adventure drama film Wild Horse Hank alongside 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.^[19]

After graduating from Juilliard, Wincott was cast in the 1987 film The Sicilian in the role of Corporal Silvestro Canio.^[15] That same year he was also cast in the Eric Bogosian play Talk Radio as a stoned heavy metal fan named Kent.^[1][15][20] The following year Wincott appeared in Oliver Stone's film based on the play.^[1][12] 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^[19]—a series starring his brother Jeff.

Wincott's stage performances include the off-Broadway productions Road (1988) starring Joan Cusack and Kevin Bacon,^[2][20] and the Sam Shepard play, States of Shock (1991), starring John Malkovich.^[2][21] He appeared on Broadway starring in the play Serious Money (1988) alongside Kate Nelligan, Alec Baldwin and John Pankow,^[1][2][22] as well as appearing in The Secret Rapture (1989) starring Blair Brown.^[2][23]

Wincott again worked with Oliver Stone in 1989, appearing in the film Born on the Fourth of July as a bedridden Vietnam veteran,^[12] 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 played 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,^[24] 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 Ricard in the 1996 biographical film Basquiat.^[6] He also played the role of mercenary Frank 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.^[25] In 2004 he played Julius Bicke, the brother of Samuel J. Bicke (played by Sean Penn) in The Assassination of Richard Nixon.^[26]

In 2006, Wincott appeared in the western film Seraphim Falls starring Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson.^[27] He also appeared in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and What Just Happened in 2007 and 2008 respectively.^[26]

In 2009, he starred in A Lonely Place for Dying as CIA project manager Anthony Greenglass.^[28] 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.^[29] The following year he starred in the Canadian western drama film Forsaken alongside Kiefer and Donald Sutherland.^[30] In 2016 he also played the role of Old Bill in two episodes in season 1 of the science fiction western TV series Westworld.^[31]

In 2017 he appeared in the MTG drama series Veni Vidi Vici.^[3][32] The Swedish series stars Danish actor Thomas Bo Larsen and centers around the porn industry.^[32] 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.^[32] The series was also streamed on Hulu in 2017.^[32] Wincott starred in Jordan Peele's 2022 thriller, Nope, as Antlers Holst, a renowned cinematographer. In preparation for the role, Wincott shadowed the film's director of photography, Hoyte van Hoytema.^[11]

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.^[19] In 2004 he provided the voice for the Prophet of Truth in the video game Halo 2.^[33] He also provided the voice of Mr. Big in the 2005 re-launch of the video game Narc.^[34] 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.^[19][33][35]

Filmography

Theatre

• 1987 – Talk Radio – Kent
• 1988 – Serious Money – Grevett, Frosby, Jake Todd
• 1988 – Road – Eddy, DJ, Skin Lad
• 1989 – The Secret Rapture – Irwin Posner
• 1991 – State of Shock – Stubbs

References

External links

• Official website
• Michael Wincott at IMDb