Real People in Amy Winehouse Biopic
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) and written by Matt Greenhalgh (Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool), both BAFTA nominated Brits, Back to Black has been in and out of production for over a decade with various teams working on the Amy Winehouse biopic.
Telling the tragically short career of the multi-Grammy Award-winning artist, the film portrays Winehouse’s rise to fame and parallel fall into substance abuse. Through her story, the audience also meets the real people in her orbit.
Here’s who’s playing who in Back to Black.
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Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse
Image Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features English actress Abela made her television debut in 2020 appearing alongside Trainspotting’s Robert Carlyle in Sky’s political thriller COBRA. Later that same year, the RADA graduate starred as one of the leads in HBO office drama, Industry. Most recently, Abela graced the big screen as “Teen Talk Barbie” in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Coincidentally, the actress is currently 27 years old — the same age Winehouse was when she died. Abela uses her own singing voice in the movie.
Winehouse shot to fame in 2006, after a commercially lukewarm reception to her debut album Frank, with the three-time Grammy Award-winning hit single, “Rehab.” Her follow-up long player, Back to Black (which lends its name to the movie), was No. 1 throughout the world (and No. 2 in the U.S.) selling 16 million copies. After years of very public substance abuse and mental health issues, Winehouse died of an accidental alcohol poisoning in 2011.
As a sidenote, Winehouse was a staple feature at Camden bar, The Hawley Arms — now known to be the bar fictionalized in Netflix’s Baby Reindeer where its lead, comedian Richard Gadd, worked.
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Jack O’Connell as Blake Fielder-Civil
Image Credit: Manny Carabel/Getty Images; Courtesy of Focus Features The English actor gained recognition for playing Pukey Nicholls in This Is England (2006) but came to popular acclaim in horror-flick Eden Lake, which co-starred Michael Fassbender, two years later. In the U.K., O’Connell came to mainstream prominence as one of the leads in teen comedy-drama series, Skins. The year 2025 will be big for the 33-year-old, as he’s set to star in the as-yet-untitled Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan film and also in Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who is married to Back to Black’s director, Sam Taylor-Johnson).
The villain of the piece, as seen by many, Fielder-Civil was a video production assistant when he and Winehouse met in North London. And just two on-again/off-again years later, they were married in Miami Beach, Florida. Their tumultuous relationship became a tabloid target and was marked by drug abuse and legal troubles. Believed to be the inspiration for her second album, he also spent some time in jail. He is now a father with two children. According to an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain last month, he has been “clean for years” and shares regrets over both using and introducing Winehouse to heroin. “I was a very young person,” he said, “I thought I had all the answers. Of course, I regret any drugs. If I had known it was going to develop, I would have been far more careful. I had no one looking out for me either.”
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Eddie Marsan as Mitch Winehouse
Image Credit: Kate Green/Getty Images; Courtesy of Focus Features The East End boy from London has been a very familiar face on television and movies for three decades, and is one of few actors who can straddle the worlds of art-house and blockbuster movies with ease. Marsan garnered numerous nominations and wins for supporting roles in 2004’s Vera Drake and 2008’s Happy-Go-Lucky, both helmed by legendary Brit director Mike Leigh. Since then he’s stared in such diverse fare as 2008 superhero film Hancock, Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Deadpool 2, Tyrannosaur, and Mission: Impossible III as well as his memorable role as Terry in Showtime’s Ray Donovan.
Winehouse’s father was a prominent figure in the press, often seen accompanying his daughter in public. He was seen by some as a controversial figure in her life. Asif Kapadia’s 2015 documentary film Amy suggested that Mitch Winehouse was exploiting his daughter’s fame for his own ends. A singer now in his own right, he has toured the U.S. paying tribute to jazz legends.
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Juliet Cowan as Janis Winehouse
Image Credit: John Phillips/Getty Images Known for her comedy roles in shows such as Skins, PhoneShop and Fresh Meat (all from U.K. broadcaster Channel 4), Cowan found fame with recurring roles in the television adaptation of Henry Winkler’s Hank Zipzer book series and in the Doctor Who spinoff, The Sarah Jane Adventures (both from the BBC’s children’s department, CBBC). More recently, Cowan impressed in the BBC comedies Back to Life (an International Emmy nominee); Am I Being Unreasonable? (airing on Hulu in the U.S.), which has been commissioned for a second season after winning numerous Royal Television Society awards and a BAFTA; and heist-drama Culprits on Disney+.
Amy’s mother, Janis, split from husband Mitch when their daughter was 9 years old. She remarried in 2011 to partner Richard Collins. Janis was diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2003 and, in 2019, she was named an MS Society Ambassador. On what would have been Amy’s 30th birthday, Janis skydived in aid of the charity. In 2015, Janis’ book Loving Amy: A Mother’s Story was published revealing the softer side of her daughter. She now goes under the name, Janis Winehouse-Collins.
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Lesley Manville as Cynthia Winehouse
Image Credit: Lia Toby/Getty Images; Courtesy of Focus Features Seen as a national treasure in her home of the U.K., Manville made her screen debut in the 1970s and hasn’t stopped working on television, stage and film since, picking up numerous BAFTA nominations and a prestigious Olivier award along the way.
Although known for her work with Mike Leigh — in films such as Secrets & Lies (1996), Vera Drake (2004), and Another Year (2010) — Manville was no stranger to bigger Hollywood productions, like Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol (2009) (which also featured her ex-husband Gary Oldman), and Disney’s Maleficent and its sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. Manville’s collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson for 2017’s Phantom Thread saw the actress nab a best supporting actress Oscars nomination (ultimately losing out to Allison Janney for I, Tonya).
More recently, she portrayed Princess Margaret in the final two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown and wowed critics and audiences alike as the titular lead in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022). Approaching 70, there’s no slowing down for Manville with currently 10 films and television shows in various stages of production, including Disclaimer, a psychological thriller television miniseries written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón and also starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, and Sacha Baron Cohen for Apple TV+.
Cynthia Winehouse was born in the late 1920s London and had an enormous impact on her granddaughter’s life — so much so, that Amy had her name tattooed on her right arm. Influencing her clothes and music, Cynthia was a big jazz fan and even embarked on a relationship with world-renowned saxophonist Ronnie Scott. Mitch Winehouse once claimed that Scott introduced Cynthia to big band legend Glen Miller. Sadly, Cynthia didn’t get to enjoy the heights of her granddaughter’s fame, dying in 2006.
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Jeff Tunke as Mark Ronson
Although Canadian actor Tunke was cast and filmed many scenes as the now worldwide famous music producer, the part was ultimately cut from the theatrical version. Tunke recently graduated from LAMDA (London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art) and Back to Black would have been his big screen debut.
Ronson took Winehouse to new creative and commercial heights with hits such as the aforementioned “Rehab” and “Valerie.” The DJ/producer/songwriter would go on to release the global smash hit single “Uptown Funk” (featuring Bruno Mars) and win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award for “Shallow,” which was sung by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in 2018’s A Star Is Born. And just this year, Ronson won an OSCAR for co-writing “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie (2023).
Back To Black is now in cinemas.
