--- name: "Vas Blackwood" canonical: "https://film.one/person/vas-blackwood" fi1m_id: "vas-blackwood" imdb_id: "nm0085997" tmdb_id: 995 wikidata_id: "Q2053238" roles: ["Actor"] born: "19 October 1962" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 60 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-10-01T19:29:32.629098+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Vas Blackwood ## Identity Vas Blackwood - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/vas-blackwood - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** vas-blackwood - **IMDb ID:** nm0085997 - **TMDB ID:** 995 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2053238 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vas_Blackwood, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2053238, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0085997/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/995 Actor. Born 19 October 1962 in England, UK. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 19 October 1962, England, UK - **Active:** 1998–2006 - **Average Fi1m score:** 60, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 78 (1), 2000s 42 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vas_Blackwood, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2053238, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0085997/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/995 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*Rollin' with the Nines*](https://film.one/film/rollin-with-the-nines.md) (42) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Vas Blackwood > Vas Blackwood has been a face in British gangster films for a quarter of a century on the strength of Rory Breaker in *Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels*. In the film of his we have reviewed, he was the best thing on screen. In *Rollin' with the Nines* (2006) Blackwood plays Finny, the nervous one in a crew where everybody else is shouting, and he is the only member of it who looks as though he might die. That is why we watched him. Julian Gilbey's film puts a lot of hard men in a room and asks them to be hard; Blackwood is the one who lets the fear show, and in a gangland picture where every scene arrives on schedule, a frightened face is the nearest thing to suspense. We were bored by most of that film, and we noticed that the boredom lifted whenever he came back, because he was the only person whose next move we could not predict. He did not start in gangland. He began in television in the early 1980s, in series like *Crown Court* and *Angels*, turned up in *Only Fools and Horses* in 1986 as Lennox Gilbey, and was a regular as Winston on *The Lenny Henry Show* from 1987 to 1988. There was a lead in the children's series *Spatz* (1990–92), and the usual rounds of *Casualty* and *The Bill*. For most of a decade he was a comedy and television actor, and it was the Lenny Henry work that brought him to Guy Ritchie's attention. Then came Rory Breaker in *Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels* (1998), and it is still the part most people mean when they say his name. We have not reviewed it and will not judge it here, but it is the hinge of the career: after it came *Mean Machine* (2001), *9 Dead Gay Guys* (2002), *Creep* (2004) and *Rollin' with the Nines*, and a long run of supporting parts in British crime and comedy that continues into the 2020s, with voice work alongside. Blackwood has said of Ritchie that "There was never a rehearsal. This is how sharp he was. He cast who he wanted for each role and you had to turn up and do it." That is a fair description of how Blackwood has been used ever since: cast for a face and a voice the audience already knows, and expected to deliver on arrival. The voice is the thing directors and interviewers keep mentioning, and it is what lets him play authority in ensembles without raising it. The trouble is that the ensembles are often the problem. He has made three films with Jason Flemyng and four each with Billy Murray, Tony Denham and Simon Phillips, which is to say he belongs to a particular British crime circuit, and that circuit does not often produce films we can recommend. We would like to see him somewhere with a script that notices what he did as Finny. Until then he is the reason to keep watching a film you have otherwise given up on, which is a real skill and a poor reward for it. ## Biography Vas Blackwood is a British actor. Born Vasta Roy Blackwood on 19 October 1962 in London, he has appeared in numerous television and film roles since the early 1980s. He played Winston in *The Lenny Henry Show* (1987) and David Sinclair in *Casualty* (1996–97), and appeared as Lennox Gilbey in *Only Fools and Horses* (1986). His film roles include Rory Breaker in *Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels* (1998), Massive in *Mean Machine* (2001), George in *Creep* (2004) and Finny in *Rollin' with the Nines* (2006). He also provided voice work for the video game *Fable II* (2008). Blackwood is the cousin of actor and media personality Richard Blackwood. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Rollin' with the Nines* (2006), Fi1m 42, as Finny — [page](https://film.one/film/rollin-with-the-nines.md) - *Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels* (1998), Fi1m 78, as Rory Breaker — [page](https://film.one/film/lock-stock-and-two-smoking-barrels.md) ## Complete filmography (60) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *A Gangster's Kiss* (2024), as Mus - *Bermondsey Tales: Fall of the Roman Empire* (2024), as Edgar Wallace - *The Phantom Warrior* (2024), as Sanka Sloane - *Hitmen* (2023), as Paul Ali Rahman - *Sumotherhood* (2023), as PC Ian - *Abomination* (2023), as Hercules - *Original Gangster* (2020), as Bobby Bravo - *The Loss Adjuster* (2020), as The Pawnbroker - *Next Door* (2020), as Harry - *Red Devil* (2019), as Father Barry Clifton - *King of Crime* (2018), as Mr. Mustaffa - *Two Graves* (2018), as Neville - *Fanged Up* (2017), as Shifty - *N.O.L.A Circus* (2017), as Marvin - *A Room to Die For* (2017), as Detective McQueen - *We Still Steal the Old Way* (2017), as David - *Amoc* (2017), as Mr. Benjamin - *The Comedian's Guide to Survival* (2016), as Dustin - *Longtails* (2016), as The Cleaner - *Cryptic* (2014), as Meat - *White Collar Hooligan 3* (2014), as The Pro - *The Guvnors* (2014), as Bill - *Essex Boys Retribution* (2013), as The Lawyer - *White Collar Hooligan 2: England Away* (2013), as The Pro - *All God's Children* (2012), as Mark - *BBC Comedy Feeds* (2012), series, as Coach - *Offender* (2012), as Detective Boaz - *Mercenaries* (2011), as Zac - *Daylight Robbery* (2008), as Lucky - *My Spy Family* (2007), series, as Des - *The Trouble with Men and Women* (2006), as Travis - *Rollin' with the Nines* (2006), as Finny — Fi1m 42, [page](https://film.one/film/rollin-with-the-nines.md) - *Heartbreak Hotel* (2006), as London taxi driver - *Manilla Envelopes* (2006), as Tyrone Morish - *A Bear's Tail* (2005), series, Actor - *Creep* (2004), as George - *One Love* (2003), as Scarface - *Rehab* (2003), as Cutlaas - *9 Dead Gay Guys* (2002), as Donkey-Dick Dark - *The Escapist* (2002), as Vin - *Mean Machine* (2001), as Massive - *Babymother* (1998), as Caesar - *Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels* (1998), as Rory Breaker — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/lock-stock-and-two-smoking-barrels.md) - *Crown Prosecutor* (1995), series, as Marcus Hooper - *Tight Trousers* (1990), as Roddy - *Tygo Road* (1990), series, as Gary - *Spatz* (1990), series, as Dexter - *The Modern World: Ten Great Writers* (1988), series, as (voice) - *The Lenny Henry Show* (1987), series, as Winston - *Da Silva, Da Silva* (1987), as Legba Cuffey - *Girls On Top* (1985), series, as Mikey - *In Sickness and in Health* (1985), series, as Pele - *Arthur's Hallowed Ground* (1984), as Henry - *The Bill* (1984), series, Actor - *Annika* (1984), series, as Alan - *Dramarama* (1983), series, as Rick - *To Turn a Blind Eye* (1982), as Caesar - *Only Fools and Horses* (1981), series, as Lennox Gilbey — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/only-fools-and-horses.md) - *The Holiday Hitman*, as Reggie - *Tales from the Trap*, as Uncle JJ --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/vas-blackwood