Bio: Widely respected among peers for his fearless commitment, Michael Anthony Claudio Wincott was born to an English father and Italian mother in Scarborough, a working class suburb of Toronto. His career began fortuitously in 1976 at the CBC, cast by Deidre Bowen, Clare Walker and director Mike Newell as the troubled protagonist, Cole Buckley, opposite Kate Reid in writer Rochelle Kosar's Earthbound. He continued his novitiate in the city's leading contemporary theaters, working with Ken Gass at Factory Theatre Lab, Bill Glassco at The Tarragon Theatre and William Lane at Toronto Free Theatre. Supported by grants from The Ontario Arts Council and The Canada Council of The Arts, he moved to New York City to study on a full scholarship at The Juilliard School where he performed, among other roles, Teddy in Mark Medoff's When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?, Flute in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Soranzo in John Ford's T'is Pity She's A Whore and Tilden in the school's much-lauded first production of a Sam Shepard play, Buried Child. In the spring following graduation, he began a rewarding relationship with Joseph Papp's Public Theater both on and off Broadway with his creation of the role of Kent in Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio. He last appeared onstage in New York opposite John Malkovich, originating the role of Stubbs in Shepard's States of Shock. He has worked with some of cinema's most gifted reprobates, including Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Julian Schnabel, Gerard Depardieu, Jim Jarmusch, Ridley Scott, Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Dennis Hopper, Michael Cimino, Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, John Hurt, Javier Bardem, Benicio Del Toro, Terrence Malick and Oliver Stone. Among those he hasn't, he has expressed a wish to work with the great French actress, Isabelle Huppert. "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion" Albert Camus
Tivia: 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.He plays a multitude of instruments including drums, harmonica, guitar and piano.Has appeared in two films based on Alexandre Dumas' works: The Three Musketeers (1993) and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002).The Juilliard School (Drama Division), 1982-1986 (graduated).Of English and Italian descent.His favorite musician is Keith Richards.In 2011 he appeared in a test scene for a movie project about American multiple murderer Richard Kuklinski. In the short, directed by Ariel Vromen, he played Robert "Mr. Softee" Pronge while Michael Shannon impersonated Kuklinski. The movie, called The Iceman (2012), entered production at the end of the same year; Shannon kept his role while Chris Evans was chosen to play Pronge because Vromen wanted someone younger for that part. The director offered Wincott another role, but the actor wasn't happy with it and amicably refused. Wincott was thanked in the end credits.Younger brother of Jeff Wincott.He's the youngest of three brothers.In 2006 he was going to star in the movie adaptation of Irvine Welsh's "Ecstasy" together with Hugh Dancy, Billy Boyd, Scott Cleverdon, Richard E. Grant and Sarah Carter, under the direction of Robert Heydon. The film was shot 4 years later with a different cast, except for Billy Boyd.