Cast Biographies

VINNIE JONES (Danny) launched his acting career as underworld thug Big Chris in his and SKA's first feature film 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998, Dir: Guy Ritchie). After the success of the feature Vinnie went on to star with Brad Pitt in the box office hit Snatch (2000, Dir: Guy Ritchie). Vinnie's success continues to grow in Hollywood where he has worked with Nicolas Cage ('Gone In 60 Seconds' dir. Dominic Sena) and John Travolta in 'Swordfish' (2001, dir: Dominic Sena)

Before turning to a career in acting Vinnie played soccer for Wimbledon FC where he was a member of the notorious 'crazy gang'.

JASON STATHAM (Monk) made his acting debut with Vinnie Jones in SKA's first feature film 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998, Dir: Guy Ritchie) after Guy spotted him in a commercial. He went on to star in SKA's hugely successful film 'Snatch' (2000, Dir: Guy Ritchie). More recently Jason has starred in John Carpenter's Ghosts Of Mars' (2001), and James Wong's 'The One' (2001). Additional film credits include 'Turn It Up' (2000, Dir: Robert Adetuyi) and The One (2001, Dir: James Wang)

DANNY DYER (Billy the Limpet) is probably best remembered for his performance in cult Brit-flick Human Traffic (1999, Dir: Justin Kerrigan). Since the success of Human Traffic, Danny has starred in a number of feature films including 'Loved Up' (1995), 'Loving' (1995), 'Heartstones' (1996), 'Borstal Boy' (2000), 'Greenfingers' (2000), the critically acclaimed 'Goodnight Charlie Bright' (2201) and comedy crime caper 'High Heels and Low Lifes'. His television credits include starring in episodes of A Touch Of Frost (1992), Highlander (1992) and Prime Suspect 3 (1993).

DAVID KELLY (Doc) has enjoyed a long and successful career encapsulating theatre, television and film. In 1999 he was nominated for both The Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor and The Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a supporting Role for his performance as 'Michael O'Sullivan' in the critically acclaimed 'Waking Ned' (1998, Dir: Kirk Jones). David went on to star in Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000, Dir:Thaddeus O'Sullivan) and Greenfingers (2000, Dir: John Harlow). David has also starred in Portrait of an Artist (1979, Dir: Joe Strick), The Jigsaw Man (1983, Dir: Terence Young) starring alongside Lawrence Olivier, Into The West (1992, Dir: Mike Newell), A Man of No Importance (1994, Dir: Suri Krishnamma ) and Run of the Country (1995, Dir: Peter Yates).

DAVID HEMMINGS (The Governor) launched his acting career in 1966 when he starred in 'Blow Up' (1966 dir. Michelangelo Antonioni). Since then he has led a long and successful career in film and television both behind and in front of the camera, most recently starring alongside Robert Redford and Brad Pitt in 'Spy Game' (2001 dir. Tony Scott), with Russell Crowe in the mutli-award winning epic 'Gladiator' (2000 dir. Ridley Scott), and with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz in 'Gangs of New York' (2001 dir. Martin Scorsese). David also produced The Disappearance (1977, Dir: Stuart Cooper), and Power Play (1978, Dir: Martin Byrke) and was the executive producer on Escape2000 (1981, Dir: Brian Trenchard-Smiths).

VAS BLACKWOOD (Massive) starred with Vinnie Jones in 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998, Dir: Guy Ritchie). In 1998 he was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance in Tight Trousers (1989, Dir: Elaine Donelly and Metin Huseyin). Additional film credits include 'Babymother' (1998, Dir: Julian Henriques), 'Romeo Error' (Dir: Tony Fisher) and 'Nine Dead Gay Guys' (Dir: Lab Ky Mo). Vas has starred in a host of classic British comedy shows including 'Lenny Henry Show' , 'Only Fools and Horses' and 'French And Saunders'.

ROBBIE GEE (Trojan) Mean Machine is Robbie's second SKA production since starring in 'Snatch' (2000, Dir: Guy Ritchie) with Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham. His other film credits include television film 'The Firm', (1988, Dir: Alan Clarke) and 'Greenwich Mean Time' (1999, Dir: John Strickland), 'Mike Bassett Football Manager' (2001, Dir: Steve Barron) and the forthcoming 'South West 9' (2001, Fruit Salad Films). Robbie began his career in television programmes such as 'The Real McCoy', and 'Desmonds' and 'The Manageress'.

JOHN FORGEHAM (Sykes) starred early on in his career alongside Noel Coward and Michael Caine in 'The Italian Job' (1969 dir. ). Since then he starred in a host of feature films including 'Staggered' (1994, Dir: Martin Clunes), 'Young Americans' (1993, Dir: Danny Cannon), 'King of the Wind' (1989, Dir: Jack Gold), 'Star Wars' (1977, Dir: George Lucas) film. He will be starring in the forthcoming film 'Kiss Of The Dragon ' (Dir: Luc Besson).

ANDREW GRAINGER (Ketch) has featured in many films such as 'Parting Shots' (1998, Dir: Michael Wine), 'The Mill On The Floss' (1997, Graham Theakston), the television adaptation of the Dickens classic 'David Copperfeld' (2000, Dir: Peter Medak), 'Large' (2000, Dir: Justin Edgar), and the forthcoming feature film 'Spy Game' (Dir: Tony Scott), starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. Andrew has also starred in numerous television dramas and comedies including 'Pride and Prejudice', 'The Russ Abbott Show', 'Married With Children', 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Dangerfield', 'Mary & Jesus', and 'People Like Us II'.

STEPHEN WALTERS (Nitro) has most recently starred in Danny Boyle's 'Strumpet' for BBC Films and '51st State' (2001, Dir: Ronnie Yu). Other films include 'Plunkett And Macleane' (1999, Dir: Jake Scott) and 'Liam' (2000, Dir: Stephen Frears). Amongst his many television credits are 'Band Of Brothers', 'Hillsborough', 'Touching Evil 'and 'Blood On The Dole'.

SALLY PHILLIPS (Tracey) recently starred as Shazzer in the box office hit 'Bridget Jones's Diary' (2001 dir. Sharon McGuire). She has also appeared in romantic comedy 'Born Romantic' (2000, Dir: David Kane) and will shortly be seen in 'Birthday Girl ' (Dir: Jez Butterworth). Sally is the creative writing talent behind the award winning comedy 'Smack The Pony' (CH4), in which she also starred. Additional television credits include comedy shows such as 'Hippies' (BBC), 'I'm Alan Partridge' (BBC), 'Brass Eye' (BBC), 'Smith & Jones' (BBC), a comedy drama 'In The Red' (BBC).

CREW BIOGRAPHIES

BARRY SKOLNICK (Director) joined Ridley Scott Advertising (RSA) in 1995 where he directed award winning commercials including Football 'Religion' with Sean Bean, and Agent Provocateur 'Prison' with Gina Bellman. 'Mean Machine' is his first feature film.

MATTHEW VAUGHN (Producer) set up Ska Films in 1997 with director Guy Ritchie. In 1998 they made 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998) which took in excess of £11m in the UK alone and launched the acting careers of Vinnie Jomes and Nick Moran. This was followed by the diamond heist movie, 'Snatch' (2000) with Brad Pitt, Benecio Del Toro and Jason Statham. 'Snatch' has already grossed over $80m world wide, with territories still to open. In addition, SKA FILMS created a film fund championing new British film directors and their international and commercial endeavours. Matthew has recently finished shooting 'Love, Sex, Drugs and Money', an adaptation of 'Travolti da un Insolito Destino Nell'azzurro Mare D'agosto' (1974), starring Madonna and directed by Guy Ritchie.

GEORGIA MASTERS (Co-Producer) began her film career as a co-producer on 'Soft Top, Hard Shoulder' (1992, dir. Stefan Schwatz), but has undertaken various production roles since then. These include line producer for 'Savage Hearts' (1994, dir. Scott Mitchell), production manager with 'Innocent Sleep' (1994, dir. Scott Mitchell), ''Caught In The Act' (1995, dir. Mark Greenstreet) and 'Preaching To The Perverted' (1996, dir. Stuart Urban) and producer for 'One Night Stand' (1993 dir. Bill Britten) which was nominated for Best Short Film BAFTA in 1994. Georgia previously worked with Ska Films as co-producer on 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' (1998 dir. Guy Ritchie).

ALEX BARBER (Director of Photography) has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, creating promos. His credits include working with Madonna on 'What It Feels Like For A Girl' and 'Don't Tell Me', both directed by Guy Ritchie. Alex joined forces with Guy Ritchie as DoP on shooting 'Love, Sex, Drugs and Money'.

RUSSELL DE ROZARIO (Production Designer) 'Mean Machine' marks De Rozario's debut as production designer for a feature film. This follows a diverse career as both an actor and as an artist, when his work as a sculptor culminated in a controversial exhibition depicting the Thatcher era. Since then he has designed for numerous pop promos and commercials. Russell recently worked with Guy Ritchie on Ska Films latest project 'Love, Sex, Drugs and Money'.

WALLY DOWNES (Soccer Co-ordinator) is the Assistant Manager and coach of Brentford FC. Former team-mate with Vinnie Jones, Wally was a member of the infamous Crazy Gang at Wimbledon FC. A persistent ankle injury put an end to Wally's game, after which he turned to coaching. 'Mean Machine' is his first film.

JOHN MURPHY (Film Composer) is among Britain's most prominent film composers. Murphy was originally half of the production team with David Hughes and they first collaborated as composers seven years ago with the award winning score for Brit-hit 'Leon The Pig Farmer'. They then went on to produce the scores for seventeen feature films with credits including 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', 'The Bachelor' (Chris O'Donnell and Renee Zellweger), 'Tube Tales' (Horny by Stephen Hopkins), 'Shiny New Enemies' (Salma Hayek, Jeff Goldblum) and 'Snatch' (Brad Pitt).

CHRIS BAKER & ANDY DAY (Writers) area successful writing duo who together are behind 'Long Time Dead 'and 'Overland' for WT2, and 'Newtonians' for Haystack Productions. Their television writing credits include 'Outlaws' for Channel 4, 'Tower Block Tales' for Fat Tuesday and 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' the television series for Ska/Channel 4.