Henry Winkler

Winkler met Stacey Weitzman at a Beverly Hills clothing store in 1976, and they married on May 5, 1978, at the synagogue where he had his bar mitzvah. Stacey had a son, Jed, from a previous marriage, and the couple later had two children, Max and Zoe.

Winkler is a cousin of the late actor and comedian Richard Belzer. His parents, Harry Irving Winkler and Ilse Anna Maria Hadra, were German Jews who left Berlin for the United States in 1939 as Nazi persecution intensified.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1973, Winkler appeared in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and auditioned for Happy Days. He won the role of Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, known as Fonzie or the Fonz, despite producer Garry Marshall initially imagining a taller, blond actor for the part. Fonzie first appeared as a minor character in January 1974, but his leather jacket, motorcycle, thumbs-up gesture, and “Ayyy!” catchphrase quickly made him the show’s breakout figure.

Fonzie was originally written as a foil for Richie Cunningham, played by Ron Howard, but the character became increasingly central as the series progressed. Winkler and Howard remained friends, and Winkler has described Howard as a close colleague from the show. Winkler stayed with Happy Days until its conclusion in 1984 and received three consecutive Emmy nominations for playing Fonzie from 1976 to 1978. He won Golden Globe Awards for the role in 1977 and 1978.

A 1977 episode in which Fonzie water-skied over a shark inspired the expression “jump the shark,” which came to describe a television series making an absurd or damaging change. In 1980, Winkler donated one of Fonzie’s leather jackets to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and a statue called the Bronze Fonz was unveiled along Milwaukee’s Riverwalk in 2008.

The success of Fonzie made it difficult for Winkler to find varied acting roles after Happy Days ended. He responded by moving into producing and directing, including work through Fair Dinkum Productions. He was directly involved in the development of the original MacGyver television series and produced programs including Sightings, So Weird, and The Hollywood Squares.

Winkler directed the television special All the Kids Do It, which won a Daytime Emmy in 1985. His theatrical directing credits include Memories of Me (1988), starring Billy Crystal, and Cop and a Half (1993), starring Burt Reynolds. During this period, he also appeared in films such as Heroes, The One and Only, and Ron Howard’s Night Shift.

Winkler gradually returned to acting in the 1990s, with appearances in Scream, The Waterboy, and The Practice. His collaboration with Adam Sandler began after Winkler thanked Sandler for mentioning Fonzie in “The Chanukah Song” on Saturday Night Live. Sandler then cast him as Coach Klein in The Waterboy and later as Sandler’s father in Click, along with cameo appearances in several other films.

Beginning in 2003, Winkler played the incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn on Arrested Development. He later portrayed Dr. Saperstein on Parks and Recreation, Eddie R. Lawson on Royal Pains, and other comic and dramatic characters.

In 2018, Winkler began playing acting teacher Gene Cousineau on HBO’s Barry, created by Bill Hader and Alec Berg. The performance earned him his first Primetime Emmy Award, for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He also received Critics’ Choice Television Awards for the role in 2019 and 2023.

Winkler struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia throughout childhood and school. He recognized the condition during his years on Happy Days, after his stepson was diagnosed with a learning disability. His experiences became the basis for the Hank Zipzer children’s book series, which he co-wrote with Lin Oliver beginning in 2003.

The original Hank Zipzer series was followed by Here’s Hank, Ghost Buddy, Alien Superstar, and Detective Duck. The Hank Zipzer books were adapted into a British television series that ran from 2014 to 2016, with Winkler appearing as music teacher Mr. Rock. He and Oliver also created the television film Hank Zipzer’s Christmas Catastrophe.

Winkler’s other books include the memoirs The Other Side of Henry Winkler: My Story, I’ve Never Met an Idiot on the River: Reflections on Family, Photography, and Fly-Fishing, and Being Henry: The Fonz ... and Beyond. His work addressing dyslexia and literacy earned him an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2011 and recognition as one of the United Kingdom’s Top 10 Literacy Heroes in 2013.