Vinnie Jones' football career began in 1984, when he played for the Alliance Premier League team, Wealdstone. Outside of football, he worked as a hod carrier. Two years later, he played one season with a Swedish team, IFK Holmsund and helped them to win their league.

Later on in 1986, Vinnie Jones moved to Wimbledon, for £10,000. Over the ensuing few years, the team earned the media nickname of 'Crazy Gang', with Jones, Dennis Wise and John Fashanu being the key players of the team at that time, renowned for their boisterous behaviour and practical jokes they would play on each other and their manager, Dave Bassett.

Jones then moved to Leeds, under Howard Wilkinson's management. However, the opportunity to play regularly was lost when David Batty and Gary Speed were favoured over him. Vinnie Jones then played for Sheffield United and Chelsea before returning to Wimbledon. In 1998, he briefly played for and coached Queens Park Rangers.

Vinnie Jones was a notorious player, mainly due to his brutal and boisterous antics. He once distracted Paul Gascoigne (on the opposing team) by grabbing his testicles. He also ended Tottenham's Gary Stevens' career with a vicious tackle.

In 1992, Vinnie Jones presented a video entitled Soccer's Hard Men. He was subsequently fined £20,000, banned for six months and suspended from the FA for three years, for bringing the game into disrepute.

Vinnie Jones: A Life Away From the Football Pitch

Vinnie Jones published his autobiography, Vinnie: The Autobiography in 1998. It was reprinted the following year, to include details about his time working on the Guy Ritchie film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The film became a huge success and also starred Nick Moran, Jason Statham, Sting and Dexter Fletcher. Guy Ritchie later cast him in Snatch, playing the role of Bullet-Tooth Tony. Snatch also starred Benicio Del Toro, Brad Pitt and Dennis Farina.

In 2002, Vinnie Jones appeared in a Westlife video, for the single 'Bop Bop Baby'. He also released an album of his own; a collection of blues and soul songs, entitled Respect. The album was released by Telstar in the UK.

In February 2005, Vinnie Jones became the first guest host on The Friday Night Project on Channel 4. The programme was hosted by Jimmy Carr, Lucy Montgomery, Rob Rouse and Sharon Hogan.

Vinnie Jones then landed a small part in the 2006 film She's The Man, a romantic comedy, which starred Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum. Later that year, he also appeared in the box office hit X-Men: the Last Stand, starring Hugh Jackman, Sir Ian McKellen and Halle Berry. Jones plays the role of a mutant named Juggernaut.

In 2008, Vinnie Jones hosted the ITV4 show Vinnie Jones' Toughest Cops.

In January 2010, Vinnie Jones became a contestant on that year's edition of Celebrity Big Brother, along with Lady Sovereign, Ivana Trump and Stephen Baldwin.

Vinnie Jones: Personal Life

Vinnie Jones lives with his wife, Tanya, in Los Angeles, as well as having a home in Hertfordshire. His son Aaron is in the British Army.

In 1998, Jones was convicted of assaulting a neighbour. The following year, he was also convicted of 'air rage'. He was also the subject of a two-day trial in the USA in 2009; he was accused of misdemeanour assault but was found not guilty.

Biography by Contactmusic.com

Kingsman: The Golden Circle Trailer

For those who knew him, Gary Unwin (better known as Eggsy to his friends), was never a likely candidate for a spy. After stealing a car and being a bit of a hooligan (who's always up for a laugh) eventually Eggsy landed himself in trouble with the police. What the outside world didn't know about Eggsy was his father was an incredibly brave probationary secret agent and Eggsy displays many of his father's strengths. Kingsman Harry Hart sees Eggsy's potential and trains him up as a Kingsman spy. Only Eggsy and one other trainee, Roxy, succeed in proving that they have what it takes to become a Kingsman. Together, with the help of Harry and their quartermaster, Merlin, they defeat psychopathic billionaire Richmond Valentine. Their mission is a success but in the process Harry is shot in the head.

Though Eggsy loses his mentor, life continues for the young spy and he becomes the Kingsman that Hart always knew him to be. As worldwide threats become known, the Kingsman are once again placed as the brink of extermination. Their headquarters and training grounds are blown up and Eggsy and Merlin must once again find a way to save the world.

Their hunt takes them to America and it's revealed that The Kingsman aren't the only highly secret organisation looking to protect the world; the two Brit's are introduced to Champagne, Jack Daniels and Tequila - three agents working for the Statesman, the US equivalent to Kingsman. With the help of their new American counterparts, Eggsy, Merlin and some other familiar faces might just stand a chance of saving the world all over again.

Absolution Trailer

An aging contract killer is about to experience the most dangerous emotion - regret. John Alexander (Steven Seagal) has been killing people in exchange for money for almost as long as he can remember. Finally, with his own age and mortality facing him, John realises that the time has come to do something good with his life, and redeem himself in some small way. Accidentally running into a young woman on the run, John lends a hand to help her escape her pursuers. Little does he know, the woman was a slave to a terrifying mob boss (Vinnie Jones), who is ready to wage an all-out war against John, in order to get the woman back. That, however, is something John will not allow.

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Gutshot - Clip

Jack is a gambler whose habits have increasingly got more and more out of control. Now finding his way into the criminal underworld of the city, he unwittingly winds up getting into a deadly wager with an unforgiving player, who drags him into the centre of a vicious murder conspiracy. It's all he can do to protect the lives of his wife and child by getting to the bottom of what's really going on, but in doing so he thrusts himself in the centre of the danger, with a vengeful plot now aimed at him. With the odds finally stacked against him, he finds help in the form of Paulie Trunks; a loan shark known for his brutal methods and high debt collection record. He might have the best of the best on his side, but after being jumped in his own apartment by a group of violent thugs and robbed of all the money he has, thinks are not looking in his favour.

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Reaper Trailer

The Reaper (Mike Michaels) was formerly an ordained minister before embarking on a rampant killing spree with a brutal murder cult that believed in the homicidal cleansing of a corrupt society. After slaughtering a handful of convicted criminals from drug dealers to prostitutes, the Reaper was imprisoned and sentenced to death by electric chair, but when a power cut thwarts his fate, he manages to make an escape from the prison. He takes to a hotel where he knows various dangerous criminals will be meeting with the intention of another crazed massacre, but when one feisty girl (Shayla Beesley) finds herself fighting for survival, she is forced to face the dread she has been trying to forget. Can the Reaper be stopped once again? Or is his presence an unshakeable force damning a crime-rife society forever?

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Vinnie Jones Is Diagnosed With Skin Cancer

By Joe Wilde in Lifestyle / Showbiz on 24 November 2013

Vinnie Jones Hugh Jackman

The ex-footballer and actor is currently undergoing treatment after doctors found malignant growth on his face

Vinnie Jones has been diagnosed with skin cancer and has said that he has already had "several lumps" removed from his body as he hopes to rid himself of the disease. The actor has also revealed that his wife, Tanya Jones, is also suffering from skin cancer as he told The Sun that he plans on fighting the disease with "everything I've got."

Vinnie Jones
Ex-footy star Jones blames his outdoor lifestyle for his developing of cancer

The 48-year-old revealed how he noticed what he assumed to be either "a blackhead or a wart" in February this year, but when he finally visited a doctor to have the growth checked, he was diagnosed with the most life-threatening form of skin cancer there is: melanoma. Melanoma kills 1,300 men and 900 women every year and Jones went to say that, despite already having some growths removed, more keep appearing and his battle with the disease is far from over.

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Escape Plan Review

By Rich Cline

Good

You know not to expect something deep and meaningful when a movie stars Stallone and Schwarzenegger, and indeed this is pretty much what we expect: a slick thriller that's utterly preposterous but not quite stupid. But the premise has a certain idiotic charm to it, and there are just enough clever touches to keep our brains engaged.

Stallone plays brilliant security expert Breslin, whose job entails being thrown into maximum-security prisons so he can find the weakness in the system. Clearly unbothered by being beaten and brutalised by guards and inmates, Breslin is backed up by a support crew (Ryan and Jackson) and his business partner (D'Onofrio) back in the office. But now the CIA wants Breslin to check out its new top-secret enemy combatant lock-down. To do this, Breslin must go off the grid. And when he realises that the evil warden Hobbes (Caviezel) isn't playing ball, he teams up with brilliant scientist inmate Rottmayer (Schwarzenegger) to, yes, plan an escape.

As the story develops we get the feeling that the screenwriters sat around thinking of ways they could make this prison increasingly impossible to believe. Indeed, one mid-film twist is so incredible that it actually makes us admire the writers' audacity. Arthouse director Halstrom gleefully indulges in all of this silliness, keeping the imagery sharp and cool while name-checking pretty much every cliche of both prison and heist movies. There's even a bit of political context in the way a private contractor is abusing the system to profit from the War on Terror.

Continue reading: Escape Plan Review

Escape Plan Trailer

Ray Breslin is an expert in structural-security and has been able to break out of every prison he has been placed in using highly skilled and unusual methods. However, when he is asked to design an escape proof prison for the country's biggest life-sentenced felons, he finds himself betrayed when he is subsequently kidnapped and incarcerated by a masked figure in that prison with no way of getting out. It is there he befriends Swan Rottmayer; a smart but aggressive inmate who takes a shine to Ray when he explains his determination to escape. Swan agrees to help, but this time it's going to take more than just clever methods to break free and find the people who double-crossed him.

Continue: Escape Plan Trailer

Fire With Fire Trailer

Jeremy Coleman is a firefighter who is looking forward to a night of celebrations with his workmates after a particularly taxing day on the job. However, as he stops by a convenience store to pick up some snacks his life takes a horrific turn when a racist gangster by the name of David Hagan shoots dead the owner and his son. Jeremy manages to escape scot-free and is able to identify the killer through a two way mirror at the police station. However, Hagan wastes no time in letting him know that he knows who he is and where to find him so Jeremy is put under witness protection under the name of Jeremy Douglas. He soon becomes romantically attached to his FBI escort Talia Durham so when she is nearly shot dead by one of Hagan's men, Jeremy ignores police orders and vows to hunt his adversary down.

'Fire With Fire' is a US crime thriller set to be released worldwide soon. It has been directed by movie stuntman David Barrett (who has worked as a TV director on episodes of 'V', 'The Mentalist' and 'Castle') in his feature film debut and written by Tom O'Connor who also makes his screenwriting debut. It will hit worldwide theatres from March 8th 2013.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted Review

By Rich Cline

Instead of developing the characters or situations for comedy gold, the filmmakers instead just crank up the chaos. So while some scenes are both funny and visually impressive, this second sequel is simply too inane to make us hope there will be a part 4. Very young kids may be distracted by the hectic pacing and hyperactive characters, but everyone else will quickly be bored by the nonstop mayhem, simply because there's nothing interesting going on.

Anxious lion Alex (Stiller), chatty zebra Marty (Rock), nerdy giraffe Melman (Schwimmer) and silly hippo Gloria (Smith) are living a Lion King-style existence in Africa, although their only hope for escape has just flown away. Namely, the brainy penguins and their monkey assistants. So our heroes follow them to Monaco, where they all end up on the run from the notorious animal control agent Dubois (McDormand). They run straight into a failing circus, which they set out to bring back to its glory days so they can catch the eye of an American promoter and go home to New York. To do this means working with the current circus acts: sultry cheetah Gia (Chastain), dorky sea lion Stefano (Short) and tetchy tiger Vitaly (Cranston).

The circus premise lets the filmmakers have a lot of visual fun with the characters, most notably in a riotously colourful Cirque du Soleil-on-acid performance in London. But the plot makes no sense at all (if they can get to Monaco, surely they could get to New York, right?), and there are so many new characters that the central quartet feels almost sidelined. Especially since they've also wedged in an under-developed romance for the lemur king (Baron Cohen). Yes, it's all over the place, and being busy is not the same thing as being clever or funny.

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A Week In Movies 21st September 2012

By Rich Cline in Music Reviews on 21 September 2012

Kylie Minogue turned up in London on Tuesday night for the red carpet premiere of her new movie Holy Motors, which opens next week in the UK and next month in the US. A hit at Cannes, the film is a surreal masterpiece that really does your head in. And Kylie's great in it.

The big release in the US this weekend is Dredd, which isn't actually a remake of the 1995 Sylvester Stallone action romp. It's a completely reimagined thriller based on the same series of comics, a surprisingly intelligent blockbuster, and a rare 18-certificate film that topped the UK box office chart a couple of weeks back.

Continue reading: A Week In Movies 21st September 2012

Luke Goss and Vinnie Jones - Luke Goss and Vinnie Jones The film also stars Tamer Hassan who was involved in a bloody brawl against Jones back in April, at the The Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles Baton Rouge, Louisiana - filming on set of his new movie 'Blood Out' Wednesday 12th May 2010