Canadian actor (born 1958)
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]
