Who is Vinnie Jones? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

British Celebrities Born In January

Also Known As: Vincent Peter Jones

Age: 59 Years, 59 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Tanya Terry (m. 1994)

father: Peter Jones

mother: Glenda Harris

Actors Football Players

Height: 6'1" (185 cm), 6'1" Males

City: Watford, England

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Childhood & Early Life

Jones was born on January 5, 1965 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England to Peter Jones and Glenda Harris. His father was a gamekeeper.

He studied in north England at Dollis Junior School in Mill Hill where he became close to his Headteacher Sir Derek Heasman, who was conferred OBE. Jones would often visit the school, even after achieving fame, to meet Heasman.

After his family shifted to Hertfordshire, he studied at Chancellor's School in Brookmans Park.

He started playing football as a young boy that would see him playing for Bedmond football club from 1975 to 1977.

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Football Career

In 1984, he became part of Wealdstone F.C playing at the association football league in England, the ‘Alliance Premier League’. Simultaneously, he worked on building sites as a hod carrier.

In 1986, he played for a season for IFK Holmsund, a Swedish club and aided the team in clinching a Division 3 win.

Wimbledon F.C. absorbed him as a full-time professional player in 1986 by paying Wealdstone £10,000. He played for the club till 1989.

He drew media attention in an October 1987 league game between Wimbledon and Newcastle United that ended in a 0-0 draw at Plough Lane when he was photographed grabbing testicles of footballer Paul Gascoigne.

In 1989, he was transferred to the Leeds United F.C. where he was elevated from the Second Division to the old Division One. He left the club during the 1990-91 season and returned to Leeds later in 2006 for testimonial of South-African footballer Lucas Radebe.

In 1990, Dave Bassett, who was serving Sheffield United F.C. at that time, signed Jones to the club. He played there for a year before being sold to Chelsea F.C. in 1991.

His aggressive demeanour on the field gradually earned him the “hard man” image. During his soccer career, he sent off twelve times. He holds the record of being booked (yellow-carded) after just three seconds of a match. This happened in 1992 during a match between Chelsea and Sheffield United when he fouled Dane Whitehouse in a F.A. Cup tie.

Following a stint at Chelsea, he was absorbed back by Wimbledon in 1992.

He got entangled in a controversy involving a video titled ‘Soccer's Hard Men’ that released on October 19, 1992. He was the presenter of the video that featured several hard men of soccer. It was highly censured with accusations of glorifying foul play and for including advice and tricks for budding “hard men” of the game on how to intimidate opponents.

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While Wimbledon chairman Sam Hammam described Jones as "a mosquito brain", ‘The Football Association’ fined him a record amount of £20,000 and slapped a six-month ban (suspended for three years) on him for "bringing the game into disrepute".

His contributions in Wimbledon included aiding the club in equalling its best ever league finish in 1993-94 and scoring the winning goal for the club that won 1-0 against Arsenal F.C. at Highbury during the 1996-97 season.

Meanwhile on December 14, 1994, he made his Wales debut under Mike Smith, playing against Bulgaria in a Euro 96 qualifying match where Bulgaria snatched a 3-0 victory. He qualified in the Wales squad in December that year through his Ruthin-born maternal grandfather.

In his tenure with Wales from 1994 to 1997 he appeared in nine matches, the last being the World Cup qualifying match against Belgium on March 29, 1997 where Belgium clinched a 2-1 victory.

He left Wimbledon in early 1998 to join Queens Park Rangers as player/coach and appeared for the club in 9 matches till 1999.

In a press statement released in June 2010, Jones declared that he was donating his 1988 FA Cup winners medal to the A.F.C. Wimbledon fans.

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Acting & Other Pursuits

Jones endeavoured into acting in films, making his debut with the British crime-comedy flick ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ that released on August 28, 1998. In the film, he essayed the role of Big Chris, a mob enforcer, proved successful both critically and commercially thus garnering him worldwide recognition and paving his way for other villainous and fiery roles.

He published his autobiography ‘Vinnie: The Autobiography’ in 1998 and republished it with added information in 1999. He was named “Man of the Year” by GQ Magazine in 1998.

While doing several other films like ‘Snatch’ (2000), Swordfish (2001) and EuroTrip (2004), Jones forayed into TV playing as himself in the British sitcom ‘Extras’ in 2005. He then featured in many other TV series over the years including ‘The Cape’ (2011), ‘Mind Games’ (2014), and ‘Galavant’ (2015-16).

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He featured in Celebrity Big Brother 7, a British reality TV series where he ended up at the third place. He will feature as Gunter Gastafsen in the upcoming American TV crime procedural drama ‘Deception’ in its 2017-18 season.

One of his notable film roles was that of Cain Marko/Juggernaut, a fictional super villain from the superhero film ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, based on Marvel Comics introduced X-Men superhero team.

‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ released in May 2006 starring Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry among others and emerged as the seventh highest grossing film of that year. Till present, it is the fourth highest grossing film in the series.

He gave voice over as Rommel in the American-British family comedy flick ‘Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties’ (2006) and as Freddie The Dog in the American 3D computer-animated comedy flick ‘Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted’ (2012).

The action-thriller flick ‘Escape Plan’ starring Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, released in October 2013, saw Jones essaying the sadistic and violent character of Drake.

Other films of Jones include ‘She's the Man’ (2006) ‘Fractured’ (2013), ‘Redirected’ (2014) and ‘The Midnight Man’ (2016) to mention a few.

His upcoming films include ‘Madness in the Method’ and ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’.

Personal Life & Legacy

On June 25, 1994, he married Tanya Terry in Watford. His son serves the British Army in the Life Guards.

He candidly supports the Conservative Party.

His “hard man” image followed him off the field as well, putting him on the wrong side of law more than once including being convicted of criminal damage and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in June 1998 for a November 1997 incident against a neighbour.

It came to light in November 2013 that he and his wife were undergoing treatment for skin cancer. They were cured of the illness sometime between 2014 and 2015.

Vinnie Jones Biography