Henry Winkler

His parents, Ilse Anna Maria (Hadra) and Harry Irving Winkler, were German Jewish immigrants who escaped the Holocaust by moving to the US in 1939. His father was the president of an international lumber company while his mother worked alongside his father. Winkler is a cousin of Richard Belzer. Winkler grew up with "a high level of low self-esteem. " Throughout elementary school and high school, he struggled with academics. This was due to what he would later identify as dyslexia. His parents expected him to eventually work with them at the lumber company. However, he had other plans as he saw roles on stage as the key to his happiness. Winkler's acting debut came in the eighth grade when he played the role of Billy Budd in the school play of the same name. Following his graduation from McBurney High School, Winkler was able to incorporate his learning disability and succeed in higher education.

Henry Franklin Winkler was born on October 30, 1945, in Manhattan, New York.

After that, he was cast on a new ABC series which was set in the 1950s, Happy Days (1974). He was given the role of high school dropout and greaser Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. The character was seldom seen during the first few episodes as ABC initially feared he would be perceived as a hoodlum. However, the character became extremely popular with viewers, and the show's producers decided to give Fonzie a more prominent role in the series.

Had graduated from McBurney School, in Manhattan, New York, in 1963, at age 17. Winkler said he did not graduate with his class because of his learning disability and problems with a geometry class, which he finally passed after attending summer school.

He received a Bachelor's degree from Emerson College in 1967 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama in 1970.

Following this, the show's ratings began to soar, and Fonzie became a 1970s icon and the epitome of cool. His motorcycle, leather jacket, thumbs-up gesture, and uttering of the phrase "Aayyyy!" became television trademarks.

Unlike many other 1970s stars who rose to fame in a short period of time and developed "big heads", Winkler managed to stay well grounded and avoided falling into this trap. He was said to be more polite and agreeable, even after his popularity soared.

His first major film role was in The Lords of Flatbush (1974) in which he played a member of a Brooklyn gang.

He later received an honorary PhD in Hebrew Literature in 1978 from Emerson College. Following college, his top priority was to become an actor. However, if this was unsuccessful, he wanted to become a child psychologist because of his deep interest in working with children. Like many other actors, he began his career by appearing in 30 commercials.

Winkler has been married since 1978 to Stacey Winkler (nee Weitzman) with whom he has three children. Together, they are actively involved with various children's charities.

Founder and in charge of the film and TV company "Fair Dinkum Productions" in 1979. Fair Dinkum is an Australian slang word meaning honest, honestly or the truth or truthfully. He also founded Henry Winkler Productions and Monument Pictures in 1979, JZM Productions in 1983, Winkler/Rich Productions in 1984, Winkler/Daniel Productions in 1987 and Winkler/Levitt Productions in 2002.

In the mid-1980s, with his Happy Days (1974) now behind him, Winkler decided to change his focus toward producing and directing.

He remained on the series until its cancellation in 1984.

He produced and directed several television shows and movies, most notably MacGyver (1985) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996).

In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, he was able to re-establish himself with a younger generation of moviegoers and TV viewers, appearing in the popular films, Scream (1996) and The Waterboy (1998) and on shows such as The Practice (1997) and Arrested Development (2003).

In 1990, they co-founded the Children's Action Network (CAN), which provides free immunization to over 200,000 children. Winkler is also involved with the Annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon, the Epilepsy Foundation of America, the annual Toys for Tots campaign, the National Committee for Arts for the Handicapped, and the Special Olympics.

His father, Harry Irving Winkler, passed away on December 7, 1995, almost 4 months after his Happy Days (1974) co-star's Marion Ross's real-life brother, Gordon Ross, who passed away August 16 of that same year.

In 2000, he received an Emmy nomination for a guest appearance on the TV series Battery Park (2000). However, when the TV Academy discovered that his episode (which was originally scheduled to air in April, but was later burned off in June after the series had already been canceled) had aired outside the nominations period, his nomination was revoked and William H. Macy was instead nominated for his work on Sports Night (1998). The award eventually went to Bruce Willis.

Between 2003 and 2007, he co-authored 12 children's novels with Lin Oliver. The series is called "Hank Zipzer, the World's Greatest Underachiever. " The books are based on his early struggles with dyslexia, and they sold more than two million books in that time.

In September 2003, Winkler suffered a personal setback when John Ritter, unexpectedly passed away.

As a guest on The Paul O'Grady Show (2004) (Nov. 18, 2009), Winkler confessed that he could not ride a motorcycle. Despite his image as an inveterate biker on the hit sitcom Happy Days (1974), Winkler never actually rode the bike on the series. During his one and only attempt at mastering the machine, Winkler took a tumble and stayed away from motorcycles after that nasty experience.

In the fall of 2005, appeared in the season premieres of three different series: Crossing Jordan (2001), Arrested Development (2003), and Out of Practice (2005).

In 2006, he worked on Out of Practice (2005), which reunited him with former Happy Days (1974) co-star Marion Ross. He credits her as being his acting mentor/best friend. She took him under her wing when he was 27, and he has highly praised her for his stardom in acting.

Member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Actors Branch) [2007-].

Appeared at The World Of Wheels in Birmingham, Alabama for a Happy Days Reunion along with costar Don Most. [February 2009]

Received an Honorary Order of the British Empire award (OBE) from Queen Elizabeth II (April, 2011) in recognition of his work with British children with learning challenges, via his My Way! Campaign.

In 2018 after over 45 years in the entertainment industry, he won his first ever Prime Time Emmy Award: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on the HBO series Barry (2018). In addition to his movie and film credits, Winkler is a well accomplished author.

Nominated for the 2019 Golden Globe Award in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television category for his role as Gene Cousineau in Barry (2018), but lost to Ben Whishaw for A Very English Scandal (2018).