Dean Winters

New site

2008-01-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

Hey!

This blog will no longer be updated, but fear not! The action continues at

www.deanwinters.net

Any fans and friendly strangers are welcome to visit anytime of the day! :)

Welcome, dear Guest!

2007-11-04T01:53:00.000-07:00

This page is dedicated to a very talented & charismatic actor

DEAN WINTERS

You might remember him from the HBO's legendary prison series "Oz" or the popular drama series "Rescue Me" - a story about a bunch of charismatic fire fighters struggling through their personal lives and relationships, as well as their work in a post-9/11 world.

Winters also played Detective Brian Cassidy on NBC's "Law & Order: SVU", and had guest-starring roles in "CSI: Miami," "Sex and the City," "Third Watch," "Twilight Zone," "Millennium," "New York Undercover," "NYPD Blue," and "Homicide: Life on the Street."

Some of Winters' film projects include "Bristol Boys," "Hellraiser: Hellseeker," "Conspiracy Theory," and the upcoming love story "P.S., I Love You" with Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank.

More information on Dean's work can be found on IMDB - this site will mostly be about photos & interviews, the fun stuff all the Dean fans crave for!

You can start your Deansurf from here
or choose a link from the right to guide you around!

So basicly.. this site is about Dean Winters interviews, photos, pictures, screen captures, info, fans, links! Everything :)

Dean Winters

2007-10-31T01:24:00.000-07:00

Date of Birth
20 July 1964, New York, New York, USA

Birth Name
Dean Gerard Winters

Height
6' 1½" (1.87 m)

Mini Biography
Dean Winters was born on July 20, 1964 in New York City. He has three younger siblings: Scott (an actor), Bradford (a poet/writer), and youngest sister, Blair (who runs a pediatric AIDS unit in a Manhattan hospital).

He grew up on Long Island and spent his teenage years in Scottsdale, AZ where his father had been transferred for his job. The Winters family eventually moved back to NYC, while Dean was attending Colorado College.

He graduated with honors from college. After graduating from college, Dean spent time in Europe (where he did some modeling on the side), Asia, and on the West Coast. At age 27, he moved back to New York City and bartended at various bars and clubs all over the city with his brother Scott. Scott persuaded Dean to attend acting school in order to do something with his life.

Dean enjoyed acting almost immediately. It was through one of their 17 bartending gigs that they met Tom Fontana (creator of Oz) and befriended him. He eventually offered them work. Dean's previous roles then led Tom Fontana to offering him the role of cunning Ryan O'Reily on the popular HBO series "Oz."

Biography from imdb.com

Random Facts:

Brother of Scott William Winters and Bradford Winters.
Attended college in Colorado.
Is skilled in boxing and tai chi.
Is fluent in Italian.
Is of Irish and Italian descent

You got more? Give it to me! :)

Dean Winters interview on Salon.com

2007-10-29T18:25:00.001-07:00

The men behind the curtain

Three actors from "Oz" talk about surviving the slammer, prison politics and the brutish force of the most overlooked show on television.

By Ian Rothkerch

Jan 15, 2002 | Despite a celebrated creator, addictive story lines and a crackling ensemble cast, "Oz" remains the bitch of network television. It's a little unfair. Writer Tom Fontana's violent, realistic drama debuted five years ago and uninitiated viewers still dismissively call it "that prison show on HBO."

Yet like this season's "24" and the prematurely defunct "Homicide: Life on the Street" (another Fontana creation), "Oz" has managed to fly low on the Nielsen radar while attracting an unshakably faithful audience attracted to the sheer ballsiness and uncompromising sophistication of the material.

Set in the fictional Oswald State Correctional Facility, "Oz" is a testosterone-drenched male soap opera centering around the inmates of "Emerald City" -- an experimental, maximum-security unit of Oswald. With its glass-enclosed cells and suffocating architecture, Em City looks and functions like a human ant farm, playing home to such motley residents as a gay serial killer, a homicidal skinhead, a Muslim writer-turned-arsonist, a junkie basketball player, a slut lawyer and an evangelical preacher played by Luke Perry.

Fontana and his writers have fashioned this merry-less land of Oz as a microcosm of humanity, using the fishbowl as a way to comment on universal politics and interpersonal protocol. Ultimately, all that really separates these convicts from the rest of us is their aptitude for murder, mind games and manipulation. That is "Oz's" singular triumph: its ability to make audiences care about the fate of people more deserving of our contempt than our compassion.

Salon recently spoke via conference call with Kirk Acevedo (who plays the psychotic, suicidal gang leader Miguel Alvarez), Harold Perrineau (the savvy, wheelchair-bound narrator Augustus Hill) and Dean Winters (crafty schemer and resident troublemaker Ryan O'Reily). "Oz" airs Sunday nights at 10 on HBO.

Tom Fontana is the driving force behind the series and has long been considered one of the best TV writers. What do you admire most about his writing?

Kirk Acevedo: What I enjoy about Tom's writing is that it's very accessible for the actors emotionally. He allows them to go certain places that you wouldn't normally be able to go on some other TV shows.

Harold Perrineau: I like Tom's writing for its simplicity and therefore its complexity. It's really, really simple writing, but profound in the sense that it speaks to everybody. Tom will deal with issues that I think a lot of writers on TV or anywhere don't want to deal with -- things that everyday people of all races and economic backgrounds have to deal with. Tom finds a way to put them all in. Even in the world of Oz, it's pretty fantastic that he can touch so many people.

Dean Winters: I like Tom's writing because it's fearless. He doesn't write the obvious material. He doesn't write the obvious endings. He doesn't write what he thinks is going to be commercially acceptable. Which is probably the one reason why he's kind of stayed in the background as far as winning awards and all that. He takes the unpopular route. I think that people who are really dialed into this business have the utmost respect for him.

Does it bother you that "Oz" doesn't receive the same recognition as fellow HBO programs like "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City?"

Winters: I think that we all feel the same way. For any of us to say that it doesn't bother us would kinda be a lie. It does bother us. I don't think the actors are necessarily looking for awards, but it would be really nice if Tom got the respect he deserves. Unfortunately, in the Hollywood way, respect comes in the form of a trophy a lot of the time.

Perrineau: If we were more recognizable, really, we wouldn't feel as cool as we do. [Everyone laughs] We actually feel like we're doing something that's worthy of being done. I don't know about anybody else, but I don't feel in any way like I'm selling out to some sort of corporate television thing for the masses. You know ... I'm representin'. [Laughs]

Winters: No doubt "Sex and The City" and "The Sopranos" are great shows ... but it's been done before. I think people are a little bit frightened of us and there might be a little hesitation to give awards. Also, because we only do eight episodes a year, we fall into a very weird category.

Did you do any kind of research in preparation for your roles? What kind of feedback have you received from the penal system?

Winters: I went out and robbed a few delis and I arsoned a couple of buildings. [Laugh] That was my research -- I can't speak for the others.

So you're a method actor then?

[Everyone laughs]

Winters: It's kinda hard to research these roles, you know.

Did you hang out in any prisons at all?

Perrineau: I went with Eamonn Walker [who plays Kareem Said] over to Riker's [Island], which is not like a regular state penitentiary but a holding cell. I actually do have a cousin who's upstate, so I would talk to him a bit. There are a few people I know who've been in and out and that's kinda all the research I did.

If you had a chance to play any other character on "Oz," who would it be and why?

Winters: Honestly, I'm not envious, but I love watching Harold in the box. I just think there's something very cool about being the "Our Town" narrator and giving people a checkup every 15 minutes to let them know what they're going through.

Acevedo: I'll have to second that. If I could switch roles, I'd probably wanna switch with that.

Winters: Because you get to sit down all day.

[Laughs]

What happens when you hang out in prison all day

Acevedo: There's something about the solitude of Harold's character, because we have a lot of scenes where there's like two to 20 people in one scene interacting.

Since everybody envies you, Harold, what's your choice?

Perrineau: I don't know. There's so many really interesting roles. One of the things about delivering the monologues and stuff is that it actually gets a little lonely. Sometimes I look for the interaction with the other actors. I almost wish I was playing Lee [Tergeson's] role or Christopher Meloni's because they always have each other. I'd almost do any one of them. I'd love to be O'Reily because of all the stuff he gets to do with Dr. Nathan (Lauren Velez).

While "Oz" is ostensibly a prison drama, it tackles much larger societal themes like racism, capital punishment and a corrupt political system. Has working on the show influenced the way you once thought about these subjects?

Perrineau: Absolutely not.

Winters: Think twice before you cop heroin on the street. [Laugh] Oz is in a fictional city because Tom doesn't have to follow any federal guidelines. I can't speak for these guys, but it definitely made me more aware of the penal system. A lot of that comes from the fact that we get stopped many times during the week by people that have either been in prison or who have had family in prison. They really make you aware of how horrific a place it is.

Acevedo: You would have to say that Tom's views about the penal system definitely weigh toward the left and so do mine. I think there's a theme about rehabilitation throughout the whole thing. I definitely think that in the right facility with the right programs inmates can be rehabilitated to live a normal life in society. I think Tom just leans toward that without knocking you over the head with it.

What influence does the bleak prison setting have on your work atmosphere? How would you describe the usual mood on set?

Winters: Because we moved our set we're in this abandoned military base in the middle of nowhere. In the previous four years that we shot, we really weren't forced to spend time together outside the scene work and now we're completely forced to spend time together. There's no such thing as a trailer -- it's like working with a bare bones theater company. But the actual set itself is so realistic. The second you walk through those doors you really feel like you're in a prison. No exaggeration. Really the only star of the show is the prison. This year it comes glaringly through; it adds to the claustrophobia and tension.

"Oz" is fascinating in its exploration of prison politics and the social hierarchy among inmates. What's the most surprising thing you've learned about life behind bars in a maximum-security facility?

Perrineau: I would have to say that behind bars is no different than in front of bars. People still respond the way that people respond because of love or hate or loyalties. I used to think somehow that if you're in jail you would look different than human, but you're not.

Have any of you become more active in the area of prison reform?

Winters: I've definitely become more aware of the penal system and more aware of what life could be like inside a prison. But as far as becoming proactive in the community, I personally have not done anything. It's tough. What are you gonna do, you know?

Perrineau: I actually met someone who is an organizer for a group who are trying to get the Rockefeller Laws repealed. I haven't started working with them yet, but we've been in contact over the past year. So I've been looking at different groups like that because there's so many things to be done.

Winters: Barry Scheck, O.J.'s lawyer, has an organization (Project Innocence) for death row inmates who couldn't afford to go through the new DNA testing, which is freeing so many people. Basically, a bunch of rappers like Method Man and Nate Dogg got together to make an "Oz" soundtrack and all the money went to Barry Scheck's organization.

Despite the amoral nature of your characters, there's something decidedly likable about them. What's the biggest challenge in breathing humanity into these guys and making them empathetic to audiences?

Winters: I never go into a scene -- ever, ever, ever -- thinking, I have to make myself more empathetic toward the audience. Once you start doing that, you get into really dangerous territory. I think you start to become kind of untrue to the character.

Dean, you work opposite your real-life brother Scott [Cyril O'Reily]. You two have had some gut-wrenching scenes together, particularly when Cyril felt the ill effects of that experimental aging drug. Does the intensity and grimness of the material ever bleed over into your real life?

Winters: If anything, it's almost therapeutic -- it's almost like we get to work this shit out. Our relationship has gotten so much better in the last four years. We're at much different places in our lives. I mean, I've been in scenes with my brother where I've been absolutely emotionally terrified to go somewhere. But because he's my brother I feel safe.

Basically, your brother is playing someone with severe brain damage -- is it tough seeing him that way day in and day out?

Winters: Brutal. There have been numerous times that Tom Fontana will tell you where I've broken down -- where I shouldn't have -- just because I'm looking at him [Scott]. It makes me sick to my stomach. You really inhabit that character. There have been times where I almost got physically sick.

Don't drop the soap!

Harold, in many ways Augustus Hill is the conscience of the show. He's the one person we can count on to make sense of this senseless world called Oz. Can you identify with Augustus' disillusionment and cynicism toward society?

Perrineau: I don't know that it's always disillusionment. Sometimes there is, but sometimes it's just calling it the way it is. In order to say a lot of it I really have to get in there and figure what it is he's saying. Most of it I really get and I understand. I have a part of me, and I try not to live in that part all the time, that cynical part of me that sees the world like that and wants to always call it. Augustus' role is to say something about it and then what I do in my life is to try to find things to do about it.

As the show's narrator, you get a chance to recite some really juicy dialogue. Of all the monologues you've delivered, is there any one that still sticks with you?

Perrineau: They're all really, really great monologues. I don't remember the monologue exactly, but there was one that talked about pets and people wondering about whether their pets are gonna go to heaven. It says, "Why are we wondering about our pets when pets don't do the same things that humans do? Pets don't wallow around in lies ... they just live in the truth. How amazing would that be to just live every moment in the truth?" It's really struck me in my life. I really have to look at myself all the time now and go, "Oh, I'm lying. I'm bullshittin'."

How long did it take to adjust to being in a wheelchair for so many hours? Does it ever get frustrating not being able to move around? Do you feel it inhibits your acting style at all?

Perrineau: No, I think it makes me really have to be creative. I used to be a dancer many years ago, so it's a weird poetic justice that I get one of the biggest roles of my life and I can't move the bottom half of my body. I never really get frustrated with it. You can't imagine how much I love going to work -- seriously.

Kirk, Miguel Alvarez is an extremely complex and emotionally layered individual. How do you inhabit a character who's constantly being put through the psychological ringer?

Acevedo: I have to admit, it was fun for the first two or three seasons. Then it got really difficult trying to go to that same place over and over just because the first three seasons he was put into situations that were beyond his control. As an actor, I would say those are the scenes I love to do the most because they're more challenging and I'm able to show the sympathetic side.

In one episode, your character brutally gouges the eyes of a security officer. Does the violence get to you?

Acevedo: I have to go back to what Dean said. It's totally therapeutic to let out a primal howl, an angst, through someone's writing.

How do you all respond to people who accuse "Oz" of furthering negative stereotypes about minorities?

Acevedo: We're talking about a specific group of people who have committed crimes -- whether they be white, black or Hispanic. We're not singling any groups out. In the second season, for instance, Luis Guzman tells my character he's "too white" to be part of the gang. For me personally, it's happened throughout a large part of my childhood where I went to school, in East Harlem, and everyone thought I was white when I'm Hispanic. We incorporated that into the show. But I don't really think it perpetuates stereotypes. I've never had an experience where someone accused something about the show that they thought was racism.

Perrineau: I actually had one where a black man said, "You need to stop what you're doing." And I asked him to really watch the show. Listen, it's a fact that there are a lot of minorities [in prison]. We're not making anybody bigger or smaller or anything. There's a lot of truth-telling in it. There are good people and there are bad people of all races. In "Oz," one moment you think Ryan O'Reily is the biggest dick, and the next moment you're crying your eyes out cause you see how much he loves his brother.

Who's the one inmate in Oz you don't want near you when you drop the soap?

[Everyone laughs]

Perrineau: He's gone. [Simon] Adebisi!

Winters: There hasn't really been a stand-out rapist since he left.

Perrineau: Him or [Christopher] Meloni (playing serial killer Chris Keller).

Winters: Yeah, I wouldn't wanna be in the shower with Meloni. [Laugh]

What was going through your mind the first time you had to do a nude scene?

[Everyone laughs]

Winters: The first time I did the nude scene, I was, like, "Man, it's cold in here." I made sure that the second nude scene I did the temperature was turned up.

Perrineau: This is a really weird thing. I read it and read it and read it [the nude scene] and didn't realize until the day I was shooting it and had to sign a waiver that I was supposed to be nude. I got that I was in the bed with my girl and I then jump out the window, and it still didn't occur to me that I have no clothes on!

Winters: Did you run out on top of the building naked?

Perrineau: I ran out on top of the building, so there were people across the way looking at the building screaming, "Whoooo!" It was a little bizarre. I went out and got thoroughly trashed that night. I was a little freaked out.

So, what do we have to look forward to on the new season of "Oz"?

Winters: I think we can say that one of the more popular cast members who left comes back. As far as my story line goes, something really horrific happens to Cyril and so I kind of spend the second half of the season taking care of my brother, and it goes horribly wrong.

What survival advice do you have for any Salon reader out there who might be on his way to the big house?

Winters: Keep your mouth shut. [Laughs] Or work out and get big enough before you go in.

On a scale of one to 10, how do you rate your chances of lasting in a place like Oz for one year?

Winters: Zero.

Perrineau: I'd have to go with the old zero, too.

Acevedo: I would have to say a "1" just because I think I'd be someone's cupcake.

Dean Winters Interview from Zap2it

2007-10-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

'Oz' Star Winters Is Brother to the Stars
By Kate O'Hare

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

From 1997 until 2003, on HBO's prison drama "Oz," Dean Winters played wily inmate Ryan O'Reily, who spent a lot of his time and energy protecting his mentally impaired brother and cellmate, Cyril, played by Winters' own brother, Scott (ABC's "10-8").

Recently, Winters headed from his native New York to the Los Angeles area to bunk with his brother while playing a pivotal guest role in "10-7," the season finale of CBS' "CSI: Miami," scheduled to air Monday, May 23.

He's playing Raymond Caine, the much-discussed and presumed dead -- until the last few episodes, that is -- cop brother of Miami detective and forensic investigator Horatio Caine (David Caruso).
Over the run of the show, Horatio has dealt with the belief, not only that Ray was dead, but that he was corrupt. He's also been a surrogate father to Ray's son (Hayden Tank) and a good friend (and almost, but not quite, a romantic interest) to his supposed widow, Detective Yelina Salas (Sofia Milos). In the episode, Horatio deals with the reality of Ray's situation and makes a heartbreaking choice.

To do "CSI: Miami," Winters took a break from filming the sophomore season of FX's New York City firefighter drama "Rescue Me," which has its season premiere on Tuesday, June 21. In that, he plays cop Johnny Gavin, the brother of firefighter Tommy Gavin, played by series creator Denis Leary. After being a recurring character in season one, so far this year, Winters says, he's been in every episode.

"Right now," Winters says, "I'm doing double duty as brother to the stars. I don't know what's up with that, but it's OK. It keeps me employed. I have these friends of mine in New York, and they're like, 'You're doing "CSI: Miami"?' I go, 'Yeah.' They go, 'Are you the dead crackhead brother?' I'm like, 'Yeah, that's me.'"

Although he doesn't especially resemble Leary or Caruso, Winters says, 'I just shot with David this morning. It's funny, there's a chemistry with both guys. They're both very strong personalities in different ways.

"David's real quiet and very intense. Denis definitely takes his work seriously, but he's more of a raconteur. When we're not shooting, he's telling great stories. He has the Irish fabulist in him. He's keeping us constantly entertained.

"But they're both really good actors. You always want to up your game. I haven't really upped my game since 'Oz' ended, so it's nice to be working with these guys."

Working on a critically acclaimed show like "Oz," created by Tom Fontana ("Homicide: Life on the Street") -- whose arm can be seen being tattooed with the "Oz" logo in the opening credits -- can be personally and creatively rewarding, but it does have its downside.

"'Oz' was definitely the good old days," Winters says. "It's one of those things that will never be repeated. I think a lot of the actors on 'Oz' make the mistake of trying to find 'Oz' in other projects, but it's never going to happen. I'm not talking about intensity, but just the whole atmosphere of 'Oz.'

"I don't care what actor says what a great family their set was, nothing can rival 'Oz,' and nobody rivals Tom. There are a lot of good writers, but nobody encompasses what Tom does -- the personality, the talent, the generosity. Just hats off. He got a tattoo for us. Who does that?"

Winters isn't sure if his one-episode stint on "CSI: Miami" will turn into anything else, and he's trying not to worry about it.

"I'm gong to go where the work is," he says. "We're having a good time this year on 'Rescue Me.' I'm not sure what 'CSI: Miami' has in store. I'm just literally going where my agent tells me the work is, and hopefully it'll stay that way. There were a tough couple of years after 'Oz,' and I don't want to go through that again."

Dean Winters photos: MISC

2007-10-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

Dean Winters photos: Red Carpets & Such 1

2007-10-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Dean Winters photos pictures

Dean Winters photos: Screenshots & Extras

2007-10-05T01:45:00.000-07:00

Magazines, news..

"Ryan O'Reily" / Oz:

MTV2 - Oz: Breaking the Law

"Johnny Gavin" / Rescue Me

"Raymond Caine" / CSI: Miami

Bank Robber / Bullet in the Brain

"John McFadden" / Sex and the City

Dean Winters photos images

Dean Winters HBO interview, part one

2007-10-04T02:58:00.000-07:00

HBO: Oz was an unqualified hit last season. Why do you think that is?
DEAN WINTERS: I think the reason is that this is a show about people that you would never want to spend five minutes with in the real world. And I think that the way it's written, it's so character driven, and that people end up becoming kind of fascinated with these stories. Because prison is really just a microcosm of the outside world. And I think like any good project, it starts with the writing, you know? And then when you get the actors, and the directors, and everyone else involved. But the writing is so good on this show that I think people just got hooked on it. It was such a taboo for television, and it was the first show of its kind. I think it just rocked people. And it dealt with issues in a very kind of unbiased way. Take the death penalty. Subjects like that were just treated very fairly, I think. But I think, basically, it was just tied in to the fact that everyone's, you know, in the show is a survivor. I think people, in a kind of perverse way, kind of respected that.
HBO: Yeah.
DEAN WINTERS: And, you know, no matter how bad you are in the show. There's a lot of bad guys. Everyone is basically looking out for themselves. And I think there's something kind of um, (SIGHS) well, the word I'm looking for is something kind of mysterious.
HBO: How does that affect you?
DEAN WINTERS: Well, you know, it's funny, because people have talked to me on the street and said all kinds of things. You know, like "how the fuck can you live with yourself?" And, I'm not a believer that you have to love a character that you play. But I think you have to have some kind of respect, or some kind of admiration for a certain quality of that character. And with me, I just think that I came in this prison, the only Irish guy around. And I didn't have, I didn't have the gang bangers. And I didn't have the Muslims. And I didn't have the Italians. And I just loved the way that it was written. You know just surviving, and I would do anything I could. And this, people will say to me, well, how could you do this, and how could you do that? And it's not like I'm in high school here, I'm in prison. You know? And so, everything I did was basically just watching out for myself. And the whole survival aspect, you got to respect that in someone. Someone that can, just do that, day to day.
HBO: Is it true that some of the scenes are really rough in this?
DEAN WINTERS: Yeah.
HBO: Don't you think? Is it physically demanding?
DEAN WINTERS: It's physically demanding. And very few people got hurt. I mean, every once in a while someone will slip with a punch. Or like in the riot scene. I think a couple of people got like a little whacked around. But as far as the violence goes it's also well choreographed. I think that the real problem is just kind of being lost in the moment. As opposed to getting lost the physicality of it. And you just kind of forget that you're supposed to be hitting your cues, and your marks. There was a lot of violence last year. And this year too, to a degree. But it's just a bunch of guys. It's like being in a big sand box, you know? And just kind of rough housing.
HBO: What else is going to be different? Without giving away too much of the season's show, how, how do you think this season is going to be different?
DEAN WINTERS: I think this season, it gets a little more cerebral. Instead of the kind of really in your face shock value. I'm not saying it was shock value. But in the, I think this year deals more with the issues of how these are men in prison who have been stripped of everything. So let's get past the violence, and let's get past the sex, and the drugs, and let's get into their minds. And I think this year, to become more cerebral and, and it just goes a lot deeper. And it peels a lot of layers this year. And it's just...a lot of layers.
HBO: Now this week, you guys are working with Kathy Bates?
DEAN WINTERS: Yeah.
HBO: An Academy award winning actress. And it's just on television for a show. How did you find her to work with?
DEAN WINTERS: She, she's amazing. She's the second director we've had this year who's an actor. We had Bob Ballaban a couple of weeks ago. And there's just something very nurturing and caring about them. Kathy has just been wonderful. And she just is able to kind of reach into you, and pull things out, you know? And this season has become a lot more emotionally demanding, I think, for a lot of the actors. And they're really had to go inside. And so, it helps to have someone like Kathy, because she's able to take you aside, and give you that kind of direction that you need to hear from someone like her. You know? Someone in her position.
HBO: And it helps to have someone like that?
DEAN WINTERS: Yeah. It, it helps to have someone like Kathy this year. Because they are peeling more layers, and it's going a lot deeper. And it's a very cold environment. And so you need a director like Kathy, because she's able to contact your side, and talk to you as an actor, and really reach in. And this place is just like, there's a lot of testosterone in here, and lot of posturing, and a lot of posing, and it's great. It all helps with the show. But when you have to go inside, and do some real looking, then it helps to have someone like Kathy around. And she's, I mean, balls to the wall, she's a tough woman. Man, she's great, you know? And she knows what she wants. And it's like she's not getting pushed around here at all.
HBO: How long do you work on Oz, I mean, what time do you quit?
DEAN WINTERS: Because it's an ensemble show, I think most of the guys in the show, and the girls, we work about anywhere from four to six days an episode. An episode is usually seven days. But they're long days, you know? And when you're dealing with a prison show, it's definitely demanding. I mean, I remember when I was younger, I used to hear actors talk about how tired they were, at the end of the day. And I would always be like what a bunch of crap. [LAUGHS] You know? But coming out of here, I go home and (SMACKS HIS HAND) and I'm out.
HBO: How do you wind up being in this kind of environment?
DEAN WINTERS: I just go out, and I beat somebody up. [LAUGHTER] No, just, it's a tough place, not to bring home sometimes, you know? And I think in the first season, I remember coming home, and definitely bringing my work home with me. I wasn't like feeding glass to my girlfriend, or like kicking my dad's [LAUGHS] but, it was, now I've learned to just kind of, at the end of the day, just hang out with some of the guys in the back. And maybe tell a couple of jokes, or go have a beer, and just kind of relax. Because it is a job that you definitely, it's hard to shake it, you know? You're here for twelve hours a day, with a hundred guys. And you're doing a whole thing. You just don't walk out the door, and go "yep, I'm going home now."
HBO: Tell me about Tommy? Working with Tommy?
DEAN WINTERS: Fontana?
DEAN WINTERS: As a man? He's great. I've known Tom for a long time. I've worked with him, I worked with him on Homicide, and I did a pilot, and we're gonna do some other things. He's, he's...I'm very biased, because he's a very good friend of mine. And I, I really think that he's the yard stick, by which other writers should really measure themselves. I don't think anyone is better than him. And, you know, I see so much untruthful crap on television. And then I see his stuff. And it's really searching. And he's so generous, you know? I mean, he's very open to the guys, coming and talking to him. And, with ideas. And he's like one of us. He loves being here more than anyone. So it makes for a great working environment.
HBO: Did you ever go into a prison?
DEAN WINTERS: You know, I wanted to. They, they wouldn't let me. Last year. Uh, actually, I don't understand how, I've heard in the past of actors going into prison for a couple of days, and I'm not really sure how that happens. But, uh, you do your own kind of little researches, you know? I spent my time [LAUGHS] a couple of nights here and there in jail, but definitely not like being in here.
HBO: Just being kind of a play? What's your final analysis?
DEAN WINTERS: What's new? Well, I'm going in the polar opposite direction of what I did last year. Something happens to me, that I think it's going to kind of catch people off guard. And it caught me off guard. And I think, I'm not sure my likeability factor is going to go up at all, but it's definitely interesting. Let's just say it's a family affair. I'm going to put it that way.
HBO: Cool. Thanks.
DEAN WINTERS: Yeah, definitely.
HBO: Excellent.
DEAN WINTERS: Nice to meet you.

Dean Winters HBO interview, part two

2007-10-04T01:43:00.000-07:00

HBO: So tell us about Ryan.
DEAN: Oh yeah, my alter ego!
HBO: Is he really, totally opposite of you? No similarities?
DEAN: There's actually a lot of Ryan in me, which is one reason why I got the role. So umm... believe me. I mean, I wasn't feeding people glass or killing anybody.
HBO: Ha ha, right! Or, like, playing both sides against the middle.
DEAN: Well I've actually done that before [laughs], but sure, what do you wanna know about Ryan?
HBO: To start, tell us what most appealed to you about Ryan the character -- the part, how'd you get the part etc. you know standard stuff.
DEAN: I was doing a movie in L.A., CONSPIRACY THEORY, you know that one?
HBO: Yep.
DEAN: Which if you look really hard you can barely find me in it [laughs], but while I was out there shooting it, Barry Levinson was shooting WAG THE DOG across the street, and I had worked on HOMICIDE a few times. Tom Fontana saw me on the set and said he and Barry were doing this OZ project for HBO and that they have this character, this Irish guy they wanted me to play and would I do it. And I was like "would I do it? What are you, crazy? Of course,I'll do it!" I was thrilled to take the part. However, the most appealing thing about Ryan to me was his basic survival instincts and how he's able to survive all kinds of situations 'cause you know he's a dirt bag, he's a cockroach, a manipulator...
HBO: [laughs] Yeah, that's true!
DEAN: [laughs] I mean, you know how it is, but let's not lose sight of what we're dealing with here. I mean we are in a prison environment, not a prep school, so the fact that Ryan's always able to stay one step ahead of everybody by doing everything he thinks is necessary and damn the consequences -- I mean who wouldn't want to play that? I've said this before, you know, I try to go through life being a pretty good person, but to be able to play somebody like Ryan is a dream because... I mean everyone at some point in their life gets pushed to the point of wanting to feed someone glass, or... [he laughs]
HBO: I hear you, I know exactly how you feel, you get mad enough to consider doing that...
DEAN: ...Or something similar, like hang someone from the rafters, or also as in this case, protect your brother. And being able to play an older brother to my real life brother... now that's a real gift.
HBO: So that answers another question, you two are related.
DEAN: Yeah we're real brothers.
HBO: He's older?
DEAN: Actually, I'm older. He's a year and two weeks younger than I am. It's a trip having him on the show.
HBO: Do you think the chemistry between Cyril and Ryan is because you two are great actors or more because of the familiarity that comes with being brothers?
DEAN: Well, I wanna say its because we're great actors [laughs]. He's my brother and I love him more than anything, so, that was the one thing we really didn't have to act, you know. The feeling for each other we really didn't have to work on. In real life I would never have my brother go out and kill someone you know [laughs)]. That's where the acting comes into play there. He's actually one of my favorite actors on the planet.
HBO: Now Dean, you know you've got lots female fans.
DEAN: Really? [laughs] Nah, you're kidding.
HBO: Oh yeah and I mean they send LOADS of questions. Especially stuff about how much they love Ryan, how hot he is... you know the deal. Why do you think they have such love for this character who's obviously, as you say a cockroach, a scumbag?
DEAN: I just think it goes back to the... a... a... kind of a brute, caveman mentality about him. And I'm not saying that that's anything to be admired, but I think there is something interesting and appealing about that, especially now when everyone is so politically correct and so afraid to show how they really are or feel. I think when they see Ryan, they see some of the most basic "male" qualities, and there is something kind of attractive about that; maybe I'm reaching, I don't know. But I think, like when the whole thing went down with Dr. Nathan, I know it's a dark thing to say but, I mean would you fantasize about someone so in love with you that they'd do anything for you?
HBO: Yeah, I can see a person confessing their love for you so strongly but...
DEAN: ...But not to kill anyone! Don't get me wrong! Just to have someone feel love that strongly is incredible. I mean, as perverse as it seems, there is something appealing there. Even though Ryan did completely screw his brother over, it was because he was so blinded by the love for Dr. Nathan. And in the end, I think that the viewers really saw how much Ryan really cared for Cyril by wanting to protect him, and I think the women could be attracted to that.
HBO: You think Ryan and Dr. Nathan could get together?
DEAN: Naah, I don't think so. [laughing]
HBO: No chance at all huh.
DEAN: Not unless she has a lobotomy [laughs]. Hey, I would love nothing more than to explore that story line. Lauren Velez is such a beautiful and great actress; it would be a pleasure to explore that story. They haven't really told us what's going to happen, so its hard to say. Which is the beauty of the show: You don't ever find out what's up until you open the script and you say, "woah, what the hell is this? Can I really pull this off?" But because the whole OZ team and cast are so great, you get that push that let's you know you can pull it off.
HBO: Yeah, tell us about that, because fans wonder if the cast does influence how you approach playing Ryan.
DEAN: Oh yeah, definitely. Its like anything: You're only as good as the people you're working with -- and believe me, these I'm with (Lauren Velez, Terry Kinney, Ernie Hudson, etc.) are the damn best. I take such pride in being a part of this group of amazing actors. And working with them actually raises my performance level so I've gotta go in there and give the 200 percent to make Ryan as real as possible, especially since he's such a bad-ass and a complex character.
HBO: Well, you've convinced a lot of viewers. I mean OZ fans are on some serious dedication. They're all over our BBS about how pissed they are that the show's off, when will it be back, what's gonna happen to the characters, who should kick who's butt.
DEAN: Really? I can believe it though. The show just grabs you and keeps you watching. Like last night. Episode 7 from the first season was on, and I just got sucked into the show while watching it. And while I'm watching, I see Ryan O'Reily and I don't recognize myself. I mean I'm sitting there watching and I'm like "hey I know that guy!" I mean isn't that crazy?
HBO: You're so crazy but it's true. One fan, said he loves Ryan's cockiness, like he's in control. Does Ryan really believe he runs the place, or is he frontin' and really just trying to watch his back?
DEAN: I think if he ever thought he ran the place, then he'd be in trouble. I think it's all about giving that impression of being in control, so he's gotta play that role. And it seems to be working 'cause OZ inmates believe him.
HBO: In the second season, Ryan got breast cancer. Tell us about that. What did you do to make it believable without being too corny or over the top?
DEAN: The possibilities were endless, and I was thrilled to do it. I mean think about it, Ryan goes through all this crap to establish himself up in this prison to where he's sort of becoming the man and then he gets this "women's" disease you know. I mean, on top of being afraid of dying, he has to be even more careful because he doesn't want the inmates to think he's weak. And we know what that gets you in prison! I actually spoke with some male breast cancer victims, and I'll tell you, it's tough as hell to have this life threatening disease and then have to go through the stigma and embarrassment of going to women's doctors, getting mammograms, and all. I mean it's so rough. As tough as it was, I was still thrilled to play the part and did everything I could to make Ryan ring true. That's why I shaved my head, lost all the weight and stuff. I'm not sure if the story has run it's course or not, I mean you never know, remission, and all.
HBO: So what's up with you now? Gonna stay here in NYC? Any new projects?
DEAN: Well yeah. You know I was born here in NY. I was born on the east side, lived in Harlem when I was a kid.
HBO: Where in Harlem?
DEAN: 125th Street near Riverside Drive. I've lived everywhere in the city. I love this city. This city is my life's breath, but most of the work in this business is in California -- TV and all.
HBO: Think you'd do a sitcom?
DEAN: Hey, I'd love to do a sitcom. People aren't gonna watch me on OZ and then easily believe, "oh that guy's funny he could be a comedic actor" you know but yeah, a sitcom could work for me.
HBO: So you're not into getting typecast. Do you worry about that?
DEAN: Oh definitely, which is one of the reasons why I did this independent feature over the summer. This is a real nice family movie where I play this young dad, you know. I was just trying to see if I could pull one of those off, because it was so opposite of Ryan O' Reily. Yeah you do worry about that, but I think I can pull it off. Tom (Fontana) and Barry (Levinson) are developing a TV show, so I'm gonna do that, I'll be playing a lawyer. So yeah, I'm working on playing a variety of roles so I don't get too typecast.
HBO: Any guesses on what Ryan's gonna be up to next season?
DEAN: Well the first season just came out of nowhere, you know; no-one knew what to expect. And the second season just rocked with these fantastic stories. I suspect the third season to keep the pace going and be filled with some surprises. Of course, if I did know what was up I couldn't tell you here! [laughs]
HBO: Yeah, I figured that. [laughs]
DEAN: I will say this, I expect it to blow people away.
HBO: Even more than last season?
DEAN: Yeah, plus the fact that we only do about eight episodes a season, which I'm sure some of the fans don't like.
HBO: Oh yeah, they constantly yell for more episodes.
DEAN: Well, I think we can consistently give fans the impact they like OZ for with the eight episodes. To do a 15-to 20-episode season could take away from the strength of the stories.
HBO: Thanks again for the time Dean.
DEAN: No problem, my pleasure!

Dean Winters interviwe - Peach Buzz

2007-10-04T01:42:00.000-07:00

'OZ' INMATES ESCAPE TO ATLANTA
Richard L. Eldredge
Monday, July 10, 2000

Naturally, the security guard outside Plush was the first guy to recognize actors Harold Perrineau and Dean Winters when they arrived at the Buckhead nightclub over the weekend. The two play inmates on the HBO prison drama series "Oz," which enters its sixth season on the cable network Wednesday night at 11.

"People always ask where my wheelchair is," Perrineau told us over breakfast at the J.W. Marriott hotel. Perrineau plays Augustus Hill, the show's wheelchair-bound narrator. "They don't really get that it's just for the role."

Winters has had his own unusual interactions with fans off the set. "For some reason, cops always want to pose for pictures and ask for autographs. One time a cop in New York saw me out walking and picked me up and gave me a ride downtown to where I was going."

Both actors agree that one big perk of doing "Oz" is working with longtime actress Rita Moreno, who portrays Sister Peter Marie Reimondo, the prison's staff psychologist.

"She's one of the guys," said Winters. "She's got a mouth like a truck driver. I've had the world's biggest crush on her since I saw 'West Side Story' on TV when I was a kid."

While "Oz" is busy reforming jaywalkers nationwide these days, Winters and Perrineau admit that a similar show, the prison documentary "Scared Straight", had the same effect on them as young people in the 1970s.

Said Winters: "When that inmate screamed at the visiting kids to give him their shoes, it was enough to have me taking mine off in my living room. I was like, 'Mom, I need some stamps!' At that moment, I decided against a criminal career."

Dean Winters interview: Indianapolis Star on "Oz"

2007-10-04T01:39:00.000-07:00

Escape to Oz
The dark brilliance of HBO's prison drama 'Oz' makes it TV's most intense hour.
By Marc Allan

July 2, 2000
NEW YORK -- Take the slow, rickety elevator to the sixth floor of the nondescript office building at 15th Street and Ninth Avenue, and you'll be in the only prison where you actually might want to spend time.

This is Oswald State Correctional Facility -- Oz -- home to some of the most violent offenders ever to appear on your TV screen. Simon Adebisi infected another prisoner with AIDS-tainted blood and spiked an inmate's food with ground glass, causing the internal bleeding that slowly killed him. Ryan O'Reily instructed his brain-damaged brother to kill the prison doctor's husband after she rejected his advances. Kareem Said, head of the black Muslims, instigated a riot that left several people dead. And so on.

For three seasons (the fourth begins July 12), HBO has put this brutality on display in Oz, easily the best, most intense drama on television. Oz is ugly, frightening, an unflinching demonstration of the evil men do. And on a glorious day back in mid-March, I visited the Oz set, where the cast was shooting a scene that neatly summarizes the series' dark brilliance.

A new inmate has been buying large amounts of drugs. The prisoners suspect he may be an undercover cop, so they put him to the test by forcing him to snort heroin -- something an undercover cop wouldn't be allowed to do. They lay out four lines on the floor of the weight room. After each line goes up his nose, he looks up to hear an ominous command from the prisoners who surround him: "More." It's like a Greek chorus of doom. The scene is shot over and over -- for more than an hour, from perhaps a dozen angles -- to capture the terror of the suspected officer and the satisfied glee of his antagonists. When it's wrapped up, there are smiles and laughter all around.

If anything is jarring about being on this set, it's not the size of the glass-and-chrome "Emerald City" area, which looks more spacious on TV. No, it's the abrupt way the atmosphere changes. Prisoners who inflict the worst physical and psychological damage on each other one minute revert to what they are -- actors who like each other and appreciate the chance to work with great material.

"It's a dream role," says Dean Winters, who plays the conniving O'Reily, standing on the roof of the building for a cigarette break, speaking with the same nervous energy as his character. "Every day I come to work, I get to be so nasty and I get to really exorcise my dark demons. "I was talking to someone the other day and they said, 'Do you find yourself starting to act like Ryan O'Reily in real life?' First of all, if I did that, I'd be in a lot of trouble. But I said no, it's just the opposite. I get to come here and be (a jerk) and get my ya-ya's out. Then, when I leave the set, I'm like the nicest person in the world."

That doesn't stop people from being scared. Winters tells the story of being recognized on a subway early this year. He says the woman who saw him started whimpering. His response: "I was like, 'Relax, it's just a TV show, lady.' "

But Oz has that effect. The show isn't real, but it feels that way. Every cast member has a story about viewers who've forgotten they're watching scripted drama. Lee Tergesen plays Tobias Beecher, an alcoholic lawyer sentenced to Oz after he killed a little girl in a drunken-driving accident. Beecher is Everyman in prison -- small, scared and vulnerable. Over three seasons, he has been raped, branded with a swastika tattoo and had his arms and legs broken. He also has learned to survive. Tergesen was in a New York pizza place when a man walked up and said he hated Beecher. "What he hated," Tergesen says, "was the things I did. When Beecher would be abused, the crew guys were always, 'Why don't you just kick his ass?' And I was like, 'It's a scene.' "

Identifying with characters

He surmises that people who watch Oz put themselves in the characters' places and wonder whether they could survive. "The rules that apply on the outside don't apply in here," says Eamonn Walker, the British actor who plays the powerful, focused and distinctly American Minister Said (pronounced SI-eed). "The strongest survive, or the smartest. Those are the rules. So when you call somebody evil because they did something or they do something or they manipulate to get their way, they don't really have any other options."

Consider the scene where the inmates force heroin on the suspected undercover cop. Walker has been watching on a monitor in the prison cafeteria (which is directly outside the prison gym/basketball court) as the prisoners impose their will.
"In jail, there are all sorts of tests that you can put somebody through to see where they stand," he says. "That's a test. It's not evil. They don't have any other way of knowing. If they're wrong, he's got a bit of a problem, and they'll get him off it. If they make a big mistake, they've got so much too lose."

Trying to survive

Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje agrees. He plays Adebisi, perhaps the toughest prisoner in Oz and one of the ones commanding "more." "I see him as a guy who's just doing his daily business, trying to survive before they knock him off," says Akinnouye-Agbaje, who knows something about people like the one he plays. He grew up in London and Lagos, Nigeria, which he describes as "more vibrant, more energetic, more ruthless than any city I've ever come across." A trained lawyer, model, actor and musician, he came to the United States seven years ago with the intention of making music inspired by his heroes, the great African musician Fela Kuti and the father of reggae, Bob Marley.

Instead, he ended up in a Mary J. Blige music video and movies including Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Sitting in his dressing room, Adewale -- pronounced Ad-eh-wah-lay - - picks up a trumpet and blows a short, soulful solo. This is not what anyone would expect from Adebisi, who'd be more likely to use the instrument to crush someone's skull.

Casting against type is something that appeals to Oz creator/executive producer Tom Fontana, which is why he hired venerable actress Rita Moreno -- the first person to win an Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy - to play Sister Peter Marie. She calls it "Tom's perverse notion of casting." As "Sister Pete," Moreno plays a small but meaty role trying to counsel the prisoners. Having made her fame as Anita in West Side Story, she's acquainted with theatrical violence. But Oz goes places the Sharks and Jets would have never talked about.

Sometimes, that makes Moreno cringe.

"I think some of it's excessive, I really do," she says. "Very likely, Tom may think so, too. But that's what he wants. I don't know what demons he's trying to exorcise, but I can't help feeling there's something that's very personal about the way he writes." That said, she finds his writing "innovative and bold in the best sense." Moreno tells what she calls a "delicious" story about Fontana calling her with an idea about how to stage the prison riot that ended Oz's first season. She said Fontana wanted to put on West Side Story with Beecher in drag as Anita. The simulated violence in the play would turn real, and the riot would be on.

Unfortunately, Moreno says with a laugh, the rights to the play were unavailable. But that bit of mischief gives some insight into how Fontana thinks. Ernie Hudson, who plays warden Leo Glynn, says:
"I don't know how people get through the stuff that goes on in Tom Fontana's head. And I hope to never find out."
Hudsons career has included roles in everything from Roots: The Next Generation to Ghostbusters, and he smiles when he talks about the demons Fontana lets out through Oz. He also marvels at Fontana's ability to take the audience to prison, a place they don't necessarily want to go, and explore subjects they'd rather not face. "When I was a kid," Hudson says, "we thought the military was a place to grow up. With my sons, college was the place to grow up. It's that space between being a kid at home and being an adult on your own. . . . But unfortunately for a lot of young African-Americans, prison becomes that initiation period. I hate to think what that implies."

While Oz deals with a heightened version of daily prison life, its subplots have gone to other corners of society -- male breast cancer, old people in prison, notorious inmates selling their belongings through computer auction services. And, this being a show about prison, Oz has delved into homosexual relationships. Among the more intriguing and talked-about story lines is the ongoing relationship between Beecher and Chris Keller (played by Chris Meloni).

"When it started, we were really nervous about it," says Tergesen, who takes on the subject with characteristic good humor. "Obviously, just because it was something we hadn't really dealt with, especially at work. Because, let's face it, it wasn't like I hadn't kissed men before. But it was weird when we first got that script because we talked about it and we really wanted to go towards it rather than shy away from it. And I think it paid off."

In "Wayne's World" Before Oz, Tergesen's best-known role may have been as Terry, one of Wayne and Garth's headbanging friends in the Wayne's World movies.
"I was the guy who said, 'I love you, Wayne. I love you, Garth.' Now when I say 'I love you' to men, it's a little different," he jokes. "But basically, the love theme is there in all my work."
Tergesen also has a serious psychological take on what has happened to Beecher. "The greatest thing humans can do is assimilate," he says. "The abused child can see the abuse as love. So it's the same sort of thing -- you start to interpret things in a way that keeps you from losing your mind."

"Exactly right", says Winters, whose Ryan O'Reily keeps his sanity (and the breath in his body) by playing his fellow prisoners against one another. Winters grew up in New York City, which gives him a leg up on survival instincts. Seven years ago, he and his brother Scott (who plays his brother Cyril on Oz) met Fontana when they were bartending. Both made appearances on Fontana's acclaimed NBC show, Homicide: Life on the Street, before getting their roles on Oz. In the spring, Winters thought Oz would finish its 11 weeks of taping and he'd be out looking for work. But HBO ordered eight more episodes, which gave the cast and crew double the work.

The second batch of episodes will begin airing in January, leading up to the next season of HBO's The Sopranos. The stories of Tony Soprano and the New Jersey mob have garnered theirshare of acclaim --and then some. Oz hasn't gotten nearly that amount of recognition, and cast members speculate it's because of the grimness.

"People know it's quality TV," Walker says. "They just wish it wasn't so real.When you explain that it has to be that harsh, it has to be that real, the violence has to be that bad because we're used to westerns where people go bang, bang, bang and John Wayne gets up again two seconds later and you watch him in the second matinee. "We've become conditioned to think that it's all right to watch all that violence and, therefore, we can watch it over and over again. The whole point of Oz is, yeah, it's harsh. Don't go outside and play with this stuff. You bleed. You die."

Copyright 2000 Indiana Newspapers Inc.

Dean Winters interview: Daily Radar

2007-10-04T01:38:00.000-07:00

Daily Radar, June 2000

Forget about The Sopranos. If you're looking for a gritty crime show that doesn't pull its punches, then look no further than Oz. For three seasons, the cast of inmates at the fictional Oswald State Penitentiary has shocked audiences with its depiction of life inside a maximum-security prison. No subject is taboo on HBO's most hardcore series.

But the stabbings, drug trade, gang wars and seemingly endless parade of rapes are just the window dressing on this award-winning show. Beneath the intense storylines is a group of television's bravest actors. Included among the prison population are Ryan and Cyril O'Reily, a quick-talking heroin-pushing Irishman and his mentally retarded brother. Played by real-life brothers Dean and Scott Winters, these characters are two of the most popular cons ever to share a cell. Daily Radar caught up with the Winters just before they began shooting the second half of Oz Season Four:

DR: So I assume you made it through Season Four alive?
Dean: (laughs) Yeah, barely.
DR: How far in advance do you know what's going to happen to your characters on the show?
Dean: Basically we get seven days. We get the script for the following episode the day that we start. So if we're shooting Episode 6, on the first day, we get the script for Episode 7. It's enough time to absorb it, but it's not like a month in advance. [Series creator] Tom Fontana usually has a conversation with each actor kinda telling him what's going to be happening to him.
DR: Over the course of a season or an episode?
Dean: A season. He'll take the main characters like myself, Scott, J.K., Harold, and he'll say "Okay, you're gonna get breast cancer, and you're gonna fall in love with the doctor." They give you a through line. There are a lot of guys who open up these scripts and have no idea that they're dying. It's a little tough to be around. It's a little depressing.
DR: What's the toughest scene you've had to do?
Dean: Besides being raped, which we haven't gone through, I don't think there is anything we haven't done that anyone else has done. I had to be the first one fully naked on the show. I was thrown into the hole in the first season. Full frontal nudity. It was a mess. I was coming off a heroin addiction on the show, and I was naked in that room. This was back in the first season before the room was padded. I ended up ripping my back up. We definitely had to do our share of tough scenes. Scott was boxing in scenes, and that was physically wrenching for the guys who had to box last year.
Scott: It seems that Tom gives me some real heavyweight emotional scenes. For the last three seasons he's been giving me scenes that are emotionally really challenging, and I so welcome them as an actor. It's such a privilege to be able to go that far emotionally.
DR: Is it tough to do some of the heavier scenes when you're playing a character that's slow? Does that limit your range?
Scott: Something new is inevitably going to come out. I think what I need to do emotionally is understood before the scene. And certainly I'm pretty familiar with the character Cyril at this point, so when I combine those two -- Cyril with the proper emotional reaction -- something new generally comes out that is really scary and even new to me. But it ends up reading truthfully. I don't know if you saw any of the first half of the upcoming season, but there is some more of the same as far as the heavy emotional scenes, but they're very different. You'll see different sides to Cyril. I'm really glad I'm getting to do so much powerful emotional work -- on TV, no less.
DR: You mentioned boxing; you guys have some background in boxing.
Dean: Scott does.
Scott: I was boxing when I was 15 and training for Golden Gloves. This was in Arizona, when I was living out there. I got a kidney injury in football, and I had to stop boxing, but I had definitely gotten to a place where I had established some good talent and a real comprehension of the sport.
DR: How long did it take to shoot some of those fight scenes?
Scott: The boxing scenes? The first guy, I knocked out the Aryan. That took about four or five hours. On film it ended up being a 2-3 minute fight. It was fun. We were slugging it out once in awhile. In acting, they don't usually like to push the real boxing.
DR: Who's the toughest guy on the set?
Dean and Scott: (simultaneously) Chuck Zito.
DR: He's the real deal, eh?
Dean: Oh yeah. And there are a number of extras that you wouldn't want to f*ck with, either. Guys who wouldn't wanna be mentioned in the press because they have some serious pasts.
Scott: Some gang guys and such.
DR: Are they on set as "technical advisors"?
Dean: The first year there was a guy who had done a 10-year bit upstate, and he was on the set as a "technical advisor," but he became kind of a pain in the ass, so they got rid of him.
DR: What kinds of things made him a pain in the ass?
Dean: He just talked too much. A lot of the extras, especially in the bigger scenes in the cafeteria or last year in the boxing scenes, a lot of those guys have done time. They really brought a real flavor to the show. And one of the guys on the show who plays a guard, his brother is a guard. But you don't want to get too many technical guys down there, because then it gets confusing, and you lose the creativity.
DR: Have you heard any prison stories that made it into the show?
Dean: Did you see in the first season where I ground the glass up [and put it into another inmate's food]? That is a real story that the sound guy told Tom Fontana. It's a true story from up in Sing Sing. Last year I also did a scene where I took off one of my tattoos with a piece of sandpaper. One of the extras on the show told us that he took off another guy's tattoo in prison with an iron.
Scott: I've heard about a couple of scalpings. One guy was in Oklahoma, and he was getting transferred to another prison, and he was approached by the baddest guy in the prison -- this is a guy I won't name -- and he ended up scalping the guy. The guy had long hair and he just ripped the hair out of his head and the scalp came off with it.
DR: Did you guys go to any prisons to do research before taking the roles?
Dean: Any actor who tells you that he went into gen pop for research is full of sh*t, because you would immediately become a trophy for somebody. I'm sure you could do it at one of those country club prisons, but nobody is going into gen pop at Attica and be walking around. And personally, I don't know how Robert Downey Jr. is surviving at Corcorcan.
Scott: He's at Corcorcan?
Dean: Yeah, and he's in gen pop. He's walking around at Corcorcan, which is one of the most dangerous prisons in the United States. That's where Manson is. It's a crazy place. I don't know how he's doing it. It's pretty hard to do physical research, but Scott and I are addicted to those A&E and HBO prison documentaries. But I don't think anyone on the show, except those guys who have done time, have a clue what it's like to be inside.
DR: Would you last a day in prison?
Dean: I wouldn't last five minutes.
DR: Are either of you two ever on the Internet?
Scott: Every now and then.
DR: I was looking around the Internet and there are a number of Dean Winters fan pages. On one of them, Dedicated to Dean Winters, you can go on and vote for your favorite Dean Winters haircut.
Dean: (laughs hard) You're kidding me.
DR: And there is one called Lord of the Dance that is a collection of X-Rated Ryan O'Reily fan fiction.
Dean: (still laughing) Wow. I don't have a computer, but I gotta go find that.
DR: Is there any sibling rivalry? I noticed there are no Scott Winters fan sites.
Dean: There will be this year.
Scott: There is a web site where I get to read a lot of fan mail. HBO has a Cyril section, and I got to read a lot of fan mail last year. It was cool, because I didn't realize how seriously people took our acting. You know, HBO being a show with prison content, it's not going to be out front like the popular network shows, so it's nice to hear what America thinks.
DR: Do you think that the fact that the show takes place in prison has prevented Oz from getting acclaim of something more mainstream like The Sopranos?
Dean: Definitely.
Scott: Without question. People have loved gangsters for 50 years now.
Dean: The Sopranos is a great show, and those guys are all friends of ours, but that's a very tried and true formula. There is nothing risk-taking about that show. And that's not to bash them, because they do a really good job. The writing is great. The acting is superb. But there isn't a show on television that takes even half the chances that we take. But we get critical acclaim. The only bad reviews I can remember have come from USA Today and TV Guide. But all the people that seem to matter, like The New York Times and the LA Times, they've all responded really well.
Scott: As far as TV goes, I can't imagine doing a better show than Oz. It's fantastic.
DR: How does the set differ from network shows you've worked on? (Dean was a regular on Law and Order and Scott has appeared on Angel.)
Dean: I think the big difference is that we have no interference from HBO. Because we're on cable, we do pretty much anything we want. And also, the sheer physicality of the set. As soon as you walk through the doors, you really feel like you're in prison.
Scott: There's also no private wars, and no egos on the set. You get a lot of that with the network shows just because there's a lot more dough involved, and they're a lot more mainstream productions. Fortunately enough, as great as the actors all are and as much testosterone as there is in the show, there's really no egos. Everyone really digs hanging out with each other. That's very different than with most mainstream shows, where there is much more at stake.
DR: How'd you like working with the guest directors that came in for Season Two and Three?
Scott: That was really fun because Dean and I actually grew up with the Dillon family. We were friends with Matt and Kevin before. So it was really fun to work with Matt. And to find out that Kathy Bates was a big Oz fan was a bonus.
Dean: And all those directors, like Matt, Chazz [Palminteri], Kathy and [Steve] Buscemi... they're all hardcore New Yorkers. So even though Matt and Chazz had never directed before, and Kathy had done only one episode of Homicide, they all brought a real New York flavor. Even though the show takes place in a non-disclosed place, I think it's pretty obvious where it is. It was great for a lot of the actors who hadn't worked much before to have these movie stars walking around the set. Anyone who says they're not impressed by that is full of sh*t.
Scott: What was really cool about Steve Buscemi was that our brother Brad wrote his episode. Brad is a writer for Levinson-Fontana, and he was up for a Writer's Guild award for that episode.
Dean: Buscemi is coming back to direct another episode, and it looked like Willem Dafoe was going to be in there for a minute, but now he's not. And Cher was going to direct one. I was actually really looking forward to that, because she directed that HBO thing last year, and she really crushed it. But her schedule didn't work out.
DR: I understand that the almighty Gavin "Love Boat" MacLeod did a guest stint in this coming season.
Dean: Yeah, Gavin came in as The Cardinal. And at first we were all like "What the f*ck?" But he was really good. He's got that fatherly thing going on. He was great. There aren't many guest stars on the show this season except for musicians. The lead singer of the Brand Nubians and Pepa from Salt 'n Pepa are on.
DR: How long will you stay on the show?
Dean: Personally, I won't leave Oz for anything. Personally, I think everything else on TV sucks. And the movies that are coming out these days really aren't that impressive. We love working with Tom. We love working in the city. We don't know how long the show is going to last, but I've been there since Day One.
DR: Have either of you been typecast from this show?
Scott: I don't think casting directors know what to do with me. I'm very leading man. If I cut my hair, I'd be doing Harrison Ford parts. As long as my hair is long, I'm getting all these great character roles where most of the guys are jerks.
DR: Do people still come up to you and say "How 'bout them apples?" after Good Will Hunting?
Scott: I get that a lot. "How 'bout them apples? How 'bout them apples?" Actually, I think Damon stole that line from Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners.
DR: Dean, are you still doing Law and Order?
Dean: No, I left that show. I had a contract to do 13 episodes with them. It was a great show for me to do, but I'm more comfortable in a prison than a precinct.

Dean Winters photos: Red Carpets & Such 3

2007-10-04T01:37:00.000-07:00

Dean Winters photos pictures

Dean Winters photos pictures

Dean Winters interview: The Arizona Republic

2007-10-04T01:30:00.000-07:00

VALLEY BROTHERS FIND HOME ON OZ
Gritty HBO Prison Drama Crucible of Good Acting

The Arizona Republic 7/11/99

What if they made a soap opera and all of the characters were villains?
HBO calls it Oz. A brilliant but brutal prison drama overseen by Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, the show begins its third season Wednesday.

Set in an experimental unit (Emerald City) of a fictional slammer (Oswald State Pen), the series is a crucible of high-intensity acting, razor-sharp writing and imaginative staging. No surprise there, given the setting and prior career highlights compiled by executive producers Fontana (Homicide: Life on the Street) and Levinson (Rain Man, Diner, The Natural).

Two members of the Oz cast have Valley references on their bios. Dean and Scott Winters, who play doomed brothers Ryan and Cyril O'Reily, both attended Brophy College Preparatory Academy. Another Winters brother, Brad, is one of the series writers.

Although New York natives, the acting Winterses each spent critical adolescent years in the Valley during the 1970s, thanks to Carefree grandparents. (Aren't they all?)
The New York branch of the family visited the Valley often and eventually decided to relocate. "We felt such a kindred spirit with the desert, and we were all so rocked by the beauty, we just decided to move out there," Scott said in a recent telephone interview.

"My dad took a lesser-paying job, and we all piled in the station wagon and drove out West."
The move was difficult for the boys.
"Quite frankly, it was a nightmare," Dean said in a separate interview. "It was a cultural blast coming from cement to the desert. I had a tough time adjusting."

Dean, who's a year older than Scott, spent his freshman year at Chaparral High School. The next year, both boys attended Brophy, a long haul from the family's Scottsdale home.
"Freshman year was definitely tough," Scott said of his Brophy years. "I didn't really dig it too much. Sophomore year was kind of the same."
"I really love Arizona, and I did end up loving Brophy, too. There were a lot of cool teachers, and pretty rigorous academic environment. You were definitely around a lot of stimulating people."

Scott went on to Northwestern University, where he majored in economics. He briefly worked on Wall Street after graduation. "I wore a suit for a couple of years," he said.

Dean majored in English at Colorado College, sort of. "Mostly, I majored in trying to get the hell out of school," he said. "School and I never seemed to walk hand in hand."

After college, Dean kicked around the West Coast, Hong Kong (where he got cast in a couple of commercials) and Europe before settling again in New York.
Scott caught the show-biz bug first and talked Dean into attending acting class. Both worked as bartenders before catching their big break.

"The brother-bartenders were kind of like a gimmick around town," Dean said. "We had a pretty big following back in that day."

"Whenever we got hired, we'd pack the house with our friends. Business would look great, then the bar owners would catch on that we were giving away the bar, and we'd get fired. This literally happened at seven or eight places."

About that big break: Fontana was one of the brother bartenders' regular customers. (Something to do with the free drinks, maybe?) Each eventually got acting jobs as guest stars on Homicide. Dean was first to get cast on Oz. Now, both have joined what he calls "The Royal Fontana Company"--a group of distinctive actors the writer-producer frequently employs.

J.K. Simmons (who plays Oz's evil White supremacist Vernon Schillinger) and Zeljko Ivanek (equally evil Gov. James Devlin) both made indelible impressions on Homicide.
"It's like going to a great experimental theater company every day," said Dean, who's recently been cast in NBC's new-for-fall Law & Order spinoff.
Oz is shot in New York City. That fact of geography, matched with the gritty, claustrophobic set on which the actors work, contribute to the series grinding atmosphere.

"Going to work is like going to prison," Scott said. (A prison populated by extremely creative cons, to be sure: Matt Dillon, Chazz Palminteri and Steve Buscemi each directed episodes of the coming eight-episode season.)

Added Dean, "Most of us walk to work or take a subway to the show. People say, How do you prepare for the show?' I say, 'I don't. I just walk to work.'"
"It can be a wear-and-tear show, but in a good way. I get home and I'm physically exhausted. But that's why I do this."

Dean Winters photos: Red Carpets & Such 2

2007-10-04T01:22:00.000-07:00

Dean Winters interview: People Magazine

2007-10-04T01:07:00.000-07:00

OH, BROTHER SECTION on SEXY BROTHERS
(1999)

Whether battling bullies in high school or audition angst in Hollywood, actors Dean Winters, 35, and brother Scott, 34, never go it alone. If you got one of us, you got both of us, declares Dean. So their ongoing incarceration as the O'Reily brothers in HBO's critically lauded prison drama Oz is pretty ideal, says Scott.

And while the native New Yorkers, both of whom are single, also work apart - Dean, who lives in Manhattan, moonlights at NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Scott, who lives in Three Rivers, Calif., is taping a UPN series to be called The Beat - they still watch each others backs. Says Dean: "I wouldn't want to be in this business alone."

Dean: Growing up, I was a year and two weeks older, but Scott was the levelheaded one. I tend to leap before I look. He tends to be more cerebral and has this inner stillness that I wish I had. Hes like the Dalai Lama.
Scott: I envy his courage. And people love to be around him because he's a great personality. I've never had a female friend he hasn't gotten along famously with.
Dean: If I was a woman, I'd think Scott was sexy, definitely. He has a way about him that is kind of soft, a Barry White thing.
Scott: Barry White? Put another log on the fire. Dean was the cool one growing up.
Dean: We both started dating when we were in junior high. I'd date a girl two or three months.
Scott: I was a long-termer. I'd have girlfriends for a couple of years.
Dean: The only time we dated the same woman was when I was 14. I was dating Jenny Smith, and then we broke up, and Scott took her to the prom.
Scott: Did I? Man... no class!

Dean Winters interview: Black Book

2007-10-04T00:14:00.000-07:00

THICK AS THIEVES
(1998 or 1999)

Blood and Talent: Two actors and a screenwriter
by Jessica Willis

It's peculiar to see Dean Winters close his eyes and let a makeup artist pat his face with a powder puff. And when he's summoned over to the racks of Italian suits and fedoras and slips into one of the many Armanis he will wear this morning, you realize were just not in Oz anymore, and he is no longer Ryan O'Reilly, the cool psychopath he plays on HBO's Oz. "It's good to look nice for a change", he says. "Being that I'm on
a prison show and all."

That's an understatement.

If Oz is a prison show, then Valley of the Dolls is just a paperback. The Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson -produced television serial is set in a claustrophobic vision of purgatory: the maximum-security Oswald Penitentiary. And since the first episode aired in August of 97, Dean, along with his brother Scott (who also plays Dean's retarded brother on the show), have been getting Ozzed in public on a regular basis. Everyone from soap-opera-loving housewives to young toughs in stocking caps get in their faces and yell in amazement and fear.

To keep the filial franchise thing going, enter Brad Winters, the youngest brother, and one of the Oz writers. Right now he's lurking around, trying to avoid the Armani racks. He shares with his brothers the same open face and candid blue eyes, and he certainly doesn't look like someone who would be involved in the conjuring of pornographically grim scenes of bleeding eyeballs and crucifixion.

"It's so much fucking fun", says Dean who, at 34, is the oldest of the brothers. "I wish we would do more episodes during the season. I've worked on so many bad TV things. I'd go to work and I'd just be like, oh Christ."

He calls Scott, who is the more experienced actor of the two (Dean got into the business at an ancient 28), the king of memorable scenes - and Scott does have a knack for putting on the innocuous, Caucasian white face. Scott (who is 33) was the silky-haired Harvard jerk in the bar who tried to woo Minnie Driver in Good Will Hunting (maybe you remember me as the "How you like them apples?" -guy, he says softly), and he was also the ponytailed jerk in the 80s part of The People vs. Larry Flynt ("maybe you remember me as the guy with his feet up on the boardroom desk") who took over the editorship at Hustler when the big boss was at home getting loaded. And now he's a dumb, angel-faced murderer shuffling after his brother in jail.

"I know, I know", Scott wails. "Suspend belief here, please. Come on, it's TV, man. Let's try to force-feed them something with a smidgen of reality. It's better than force-feeding them soapy, sitcomy cheese".

Both Dean and Scott say they get fan letters from inmates who praise Oz for showing jail as the lose-lose situation that it is. If reality is a load of men in wifebeater tees locked up in rooms with Plexiglas doors, the genderfucker in all of us is pleased as punch. Oz gives us the male version of being barefoot, black-eyed, and pregnant - the tough guy who is bound, sweaty, and relieved of all rights.

In the previous season, Dean's character even got breast cancer. "We're a bunch of guys that have all come undone", Dean says. "There are no bullshit heroes in Oz. We're there because of our failures. There are only eight precious episodes made per season, and each one offers fleeting male frontal nudity, powdered drugs, forced sodomy in the mess hall, and billyclubs rammed to the kidneys - and that's only in the opening credits!"

"It's enough to make any viewer want to piss blood and stay glued to the boob tube. Who knew that a drama that dared to go way beyond and below the usual happy Shawshank vision of jail would be such a pleasure to watch?"

Dean and Scott did some of their research for Oz at one of their earlier jobs, where they had to fend off hordes of nerved-up, needy people on a constant basis. They were a bartending duo all over their native Manhattan ("The question is: Where didn't we bartend?" says Dean) and during one particularly uproarious, packed, hot summer night at Nevada Smiths, Dean and Scott were lobbing around the bullshitty Irish charm, being very mirthful and blue-eyed, and Tom Fontana, a regular customer, shouldered up to the bar, noticed that he had a hard, handsome leading man, a gentle sympathetic supporting role, and a venom-penned dialogue writer within a one-foot radius of a keg, and he decided to make some stars.

Wrong.

"It always sounds like the movie Cocktail when we describe how we all started working on Oz", Brad says wearily. "Like we're a package deal or something. I was underage, so of course I was wandering around at the place where my brothers were bartending. Dean hissed at me, Quick, get that man a Wild Turkey! Maybe that's why [Fontana] hired me as a writer a couple of years later".

When Fontana asked Dean if he would like a role in Homicide: Life on the Street, his new TV series, Dean said no. One can imagine Dean crinkling the corners of his eyes and being very nice about it.
"I was the first person to turn him down", he remembers gleefully. Tom Fontana eventually got over his shock and became the Winters' champion, patronizing their Work House Theater Company, and commissioning Brathair (Gaelic for brother), Brad's short film about two brothers in Hells Kitchen.
"It was the first time we all got excited about working together", Scott says.

The three of them crowd into the bathroom and get into costume. Presumably. Laughter ricochets off the tile, and the rest of us exchange nervous glances. One wonders if one brother is entreating another to jam an explosive device in the toilet.

Eventually the door slams open and they pile out all at once. In their cool suits and easy matching smiles, they look sweet and untrustworthy.
"You're out of your fucking mind", Dean says to Brad, shaking his head in wonderment. "I just wanna know why the fuck we're dressed this way." Brad says, jamming an expensive fedora on the back of his head, yokel-style. The question lingers: How can the Stanford-educated, English lit and poetry-majoring Brad Winters, who has never visited a jail, be part of a writing squad that comes up with such sparkling dialogue for societys dregs? After all, this is a mild-mannered 27-year-old man who wears cashmere sweaters and says secure, baby-brotherish things like, "I don't consciously remember anything but broad influences on my body of work", when pressed about his own poetry.

"Oz isn't a documentary", he adds cryptically. "I use lots of imagination and research". In an attempt to explain himself, he reminisces about one of his brothers knocking him out during a demonstration with a homemade pair of nunchaku. "You know how brothers are". That might explain why he knows how some boys can be, if they aren't brought up as nicely.

Much, much later, coats wrapped tight against the cold, the brothers are walking across Chinatown looking for a slice of pizza. "It would be fun to do the family thing strictly on our terms", Dean says. He names Death of a Salesman and Hamlet as two of his dream productions. Not surprisingly, these are stories about blood kin run amok. With that long, wiry body, Dean Winters can do whatever he wants. He could be a
brathair yelling out of a tenement window, or an architect drawing up plans for a church.

Still, it has been a hard year for Dean. This past summer, he was starring in All Shook Up, a small, good indie film about the dreary life in New London, CT, but the film died due to funding problems. Then, at the eleventh hour, he took the romantic lead in Undercover Angel, playing a down-and-out writer opposite the un-Oz-like Yasmine Bleeth. Tough breaks, yes, but it's not bad for an actor who doesn't have a publicist or any sort of entourage that isn't part of the family tree.
"I'm not sure if Undercover Angel is going out theatrically. It's the complete, polar opposite of Oz. It's mellow and G-rated. No ones eating glass or getting raped".

Brad falls into step next to him. That would be PG entertainment.

Dean Winters interview: New York Post

2007-10-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

STYLE & SUBSTANCE

By FARRAH WEINSTEIN
January 13, 2002 -- Dean Winters is both deranged and sexy as prisoner Ryan O'Reilly on HBO's "Oz," which is now in its fifth season. And the sarcastic, smart-ass attitude that the series' viewers love to hate is also reflected in his real-life persona.

When The Post asked what research he did for the role of O'Reily, a man sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, drug dealing and rape in the fictional Oswald State Penitentiary, he said:

"It didn't take much. I went out and knocked over a deli and then torched my old boss."

Right. The Manhattan-born actor moved to Arizona at a young age and attended prep school. After majoring in English at Colorado College, Winters traveled throughout the West Coast, Hong Kong and Europe before settling in New York. For eight years, he worked as a bartender all over Manhattan with his brother, Scott Winters (who also plays his brother Cyril on the TV show), while attending acting class on the side. He got his first role - at age 30 - from one of his frequent customers at the downtown bar Nevada Smith's, producer Tom Fontana. Fontana asked him if he wanted to a role in "Homicide: Life on the Street."

That work led to more guest appearances, including roles on "NYPD Blue," "Millennium" and "New York Undercover." The 37-year-old blue-eyed hotshot has since been seen on "Sex and the City" and starred on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." You can check him out in the soon-to-be-released movies "Snipes," with rapper Nelly, and "Hellraiser 6."

Q: What can we expect from this season of "Oz"?
A: Tom Fontana really found his groove - not that it was ever lost - and this season is very tight. It concentrates more on the original prisoners that came on in the first season, so you see the toll the last five years has taken on them.
Q: When not working, what do you do to relax?
A: I tend to sleep a lot.
Q: What are some of your favorite haunts in Manhattan?
A: I like to go where the music bangs, like Exit, Vinyl and Centro Fly.
Q: What can't you live without?
A: My music.
Q: How do you stay in shape?
A: New York being the greatest walking city in the world, I tend to walk everywhere, as long as I am afforded the time.
Q: How do you take care of yourself?
A: I try not to overdo it.
Q: How do you spoil yourself?
A: I work hard, so I play harder.
Q: What do you do for fun?
A: Spend as much time with friends and family as possible. And when I can, leave the city on little spur-of-the-moment adventures.
Q: Favorite food?
A: Pizza.
Q: What gives you substance?
A: New York City.
Q: Describe your personal style.
A: I'm a street chameleon.
Q: Favorite designers?
A: Jean Paul Gaultier, Giorgio Armani, Prada and Levi Strauss.
Q: What do you wear when relaxing?
A: My Levi's jeans, Royal Elastics sneakers and a Calvin Klein T-shirt.
Q: What do you wear for a big night out?
A: Whatever my girlfriend tells me to.
Q: What would you never wear?
A: Khakis, plaid, loafers or anything else that makes me look like a cookie cutter.
Q: What do you use to accessorize?
A: What does accessorize mean?
Q: Whose style do you most admire?
A: Jimi Hendrix.
Q: What would you love to own but would never buy for yourself?
A: A purple Rolls-Royce.
Q: What traits does your ideal woman have?
A: Humor, humor, humor.
Q: If you had more free time, what would you do with it?
A: Work.
Q: What don't you ever leave home without?
A: My street smarts.