Alexander Ross "Alex" Winter is an English-born American actor, film
director and screenwriter, best known for his role as Bill S. Preston, Esq. in
the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and its 1991 sequel Bill &
Ted's Bogus Journey. He is also well known for his role as Marko in the 1987
cult classic The Lost Boys, and for co-writing, co-directing and starring in
the 1993 film Freaked. Personal life
Winter was born in London, England. His mother, Gregg Mayer, is a New York-born
American who was a former Martha Graham dancer and founded a modern-dance
company in London in the mid-1960s. His father, Ross Albert Winter, was
Australian and danced with Winter's mother's troupe. Winter received
training in dance as a child. When he was five, his family moved to Missouri,
where his father ran the Mid-American Dance Company, while his mother taught
dance at Washington University in St. Louis. The two divorced in 1973.
Winter is Jewish. He was married to Sonya Dawson with whom he had a son,
Leroy Winter, born in 1998. Winter maintains dual British and American
citizenship. Career
Winter moved to New York City in 1978 and began performing as an actor on and
off Broadway. In 1983, he was accepted into the Film School at New York
University. While at college, he met fellow aspiring filmmaker Tom Stern. The
two collaborated on a number of 16mm short films and both graduated with
honours. As an actor, Winter spent many years on
Broadway with supporting roles in productions of The King and I, Peter
Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, and the American premiere of Simon
Gray's Close of Play at the Manhattan Theatre Club. After completing NYU film
school, he and Tom Stern moved out to Hollywood, where the two wrote and
directed a number of short films and music videos. Winter continued to find
work as an actor, landing notable roles in such big productions as The Lost Boys
and Rosalie Goes Shopping. In 1989, Winter found international success when
he co-starred with Keanu Reeves as Bill S. Preston in the smash-hit comedy Bill
& Ted's Excellent Adventure and its 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.
Following the success of Bill & Ted, Winter and creative collaborators Tom
Stern and Tim Burns were hired to develop a sketch comedy show for MTV.
The result, 1991's The Idiot Box, was a success for the network, but the
channel's budgetary problems prevented them from filming additional seasons,
and it was canceled after six episodes. Winter, Stern and Burns accepted a $12
million deal from 20th Century Fox to film their own feature film, which would
end up becoming 1993's Freaked. While the film was never widely released,
despite positive reviews from The New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly,
Freaked went on to become a cult favourite, through festivals, TV and
DVD, and was cited by Entertainment Weekly, on their list of Top Ten
Comedies of the Nineties. Winter did not return to directing until
1999, when he filmed Fever. The film was shown at film festivals worldwide,
including Official Selection in the Director's Fortnight at Cannes. New York
Daily News praised the film, calling it "a claustrophobic mind bender. Winter
sustains an aura of creepiness worthy of Roman Polanski."
Winter works between his American home base and London, where he directs music
videos and commercials. Highlights of his work include directing several
installments of the popular Peugeot Thelma & Louise advertising campaign, as
well as campaigns for Ford, the global launch of the all CGI Tony the Tiger for
Frosties, and award-winning spots for Supercuts and Google in the United
States. In 2007, Winter returned to acting after
a nearly 14-year absence in a guest spot on the crime series Bones. He has a
recurring role as the voice of "King Mole Man" on the Adult Swim show, Saul
of the Mole Men, which was created by long-time friend Tom Stern, and has
directed the live-action adaptation of the hit Cartoon Network series Ben 10,
which aired in November 2007 and garnered the highest ratings in Cartoon
Network history. He directed its sequel, Ben 10: Alien Swarm which aired on
Cartoon Network in November 2009 and captured over 16 million viewers in its
premiere weekend. He has reportedly been chosen to write the screenplay for the
Howard Stern-produced remake of Rock 'n' Roll High School. His latest project is
a 3D-remake of the 1987 horror film The Gate which was scheduled for release in
2011. In April 2011, Winter's Bill & Ted
co-star Keanu Reeves confirmed that a third installment of the film series was
underway. Winter's confirmed work on Bill & Ted 3 was still in progress in a
2014 article on the original film's 25th anniversary.
In October 2011, he made an appearance on the eighth-season finale That Metal
Show, attempting to stump Eddie Trunk. In July 2015, Winter began work on a
biographical documentary of the rock guitarist and composer Frank Zappa. The
Zappa Family Trust publicly gave its approval to Winter's plans for the film.
Filmography = As director =
Theatrical feature films Freaked
Fever Downloaded
Deep Web: The Untold Story of Bitcoin and the Silk Road
Smosh: The Movie TV and home video
NYU Sight & Sound Project Squeal of Death
Aisles of Doom Stuart S. Shapiro's Impact Video
Magazine, includes, among others, Entering Texas a.k.a. Bar-B-Que Movie
Howie Meets the Ghost of Environmental Disasters Yet to Come
The Idiot Box Meals on Wheels
Tabla Beat Science: Talamanam Sound Clash
Dirty Famous Ben 10: Race Against Time
Ben 10: Alien Swarm Jimmy Kimmel Live! segments
The Andy Milonakis Show Level Up
Music videos Red Hot Chili Peppers — "Knock me down"
Ice Cube — "Who's the Mack?" Human Radio — "Me & Elvis"
Extreme — "Decadence Dance" Ronny Jordan — "The Jackal"
Helmet — "Milquetoast" Helmet — "Wilma's Rainbow"
Bomb the Bass feat. Carlton — "1 to 1 Religion"
Foetus — "Verklemmt" Axiom Funk — "If 6 Was 9"
Bomb the Bass feat. Justin Warfield — "Bug Powder Dust"
Helmet — "Exactly What You Wanted" = As actor in works by other directors =
Theatrical feature films Death Wish 3 — Hermosa
Medium Rare — The Lost Boys — Marko
Haunted Summer — Dr. John Polidori Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure — Bill
S. Preston, Esq. Rosalie Goes Shopping — Schatzi
Greenspace Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey — Bill S.
Preston, Esq./Granny Preston/Evil Robot Bill
The Borrowers — TV Gangster Grand Piano — Assistant
TV The Equalizer episode "Mama's Boy" —
Jeffrey Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures — Bill
S. Preston, Esq. Sex, Shock and Censorship in the 90's —
Stinx on Ice Bones episode "The Girl in the Gator" —
Monte Gold Saul of the Mole Men 5 episodes — King
Mole Man Robot Chicken 1 episode — Bill S.
Preston, Esq., Steve Burns Music videos
Red Hot Chili Peppers — "Higher Ground" Red Hot Chili Peppers — "Knock Me Down"
Brother Cane — "Hard Act to Follow" Notes
References External links
Official website Official Facebook Page
Alex Winter at the Internet Movie Database
Alex Winter at the Internet Broadway Database