Vinnie Jones has been a household name in England since the 1980’s when he started his career as football’s favourite badboy as part of Wimbledon’s infamous ‘crazy gang’ but his retirement from football saw the former Whites favourite scale new heights, becoming a well-known name to people across the globe after roles in Hollywood movies like X-Men, Eurotrip and Gone In 60 Seconds.

It all started when Guy Ritchie cast Jones in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, appearing alongside Jason Statham who’s also gone on to huge success across the pond. Jones played an enforcer in Lock Stock, a similar role to which he was cast in the next Guy Ritchie movie Snatch (very NSFW clip below) which also starred Statham and was arguably the better of the two, if only for Brad Pitt’s brilliant and totally believable performance as the ‘pikey’ boxer.

In recent years, Jones has also made appearances in hit US TV shows Psych and Elementary – the latter an OKish crime-of-the-week adaptation of the BBC’s Sherlock starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. Previous TV work for Vinnie has been limited to brief one-off guest starring roles but it seems he’s looking to become a major player in US TV shows, debuting in a recurring role on the hugely popular Arrow last night and set to star in the forthcoming mini-series Galavant, a “fairy tale-themed musical comedy” which doesn’t sound like a Vinnie Jones role, but I pulled that description straight from Wikipedia so it must be true…

Arrow runs a few weeks behind the US here in England and last night’s episode won’t air on Sky One until February the 12th so I won’t give away any major spoilers, but as you’d probably expect, Jones plays a sadistic villain looking to wreak havoc on Starling City. There’s a teaser trailer here for anyone who wants a peek.

There’s more Vinnie Jones here in an hysterical comedy sketch he did for American TV and below singing ‘Marching On Together’ on his recent return to Elland Road.