Alex Winter

Alexander Winter (born 1965) is a British-born American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, he is best known for playing Bill S. Preston, Esq., in the 1989 film '' Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' and its sequels '' Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' (1991) and '' Bill & Ted Face the Music'' (2020). He is also known for his role as Marko in the 1987 vampire film '' The Lost Boys'', for co-writing, co-directing, and starring in the 1993 film '' Freaked'', and for directing documentaries in the 2010s.

Early life

Winter was born in London, England. His mother, Gregg Mayer, is a New York-born dancer who trained with Martha Graham, and founded a modern-dance company in London in the mid-1960s. His father, Ross Albert Winter, is an Australian who danced with Winter's mother's troupe and co-founded the Mid American Dance Company in St. Louis. His father has English ancestry and his mother is Jewish, of Ukrainian Jewish descent. His family wasn’t observant with their Judaism although he went to Jewish summer camp and learned Yiddish through his grandmother.

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 (later, Modern American Dance Company), while his mother taught dance at Washington University in St. Louis. The two divorced in 1973.

In 1978, Winter moved to the New York City area, where he and his mother lived in Montclair, New Jersey. During this time Winter began performing as an actor on and off Broadway, commuting into New York City. He reports his experience in New Jersey as being positive.

In 1983, after graduating from Montclair High School, Winter was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. While at NYU, he met fellow aspiring filmmaker Tom Stern. The two collaborated on a number of 16 mm short films.

Career

Acting & directing

As an actor, Winter spent many years on Broadway with supporting roles in productions of ''The King and I'', '' Peter Pan'', and the American premiere of Simon Gray's ''Close of Play'' at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

Winter dropped out of NYU film school before his senior year and moved to Hollywood, where he began to write and direct 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, playing William "Bill" S. Preston Esq. in the smash-hit comedy '' Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'', a role he reprised in 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 canceled after six episodes. Winter, Stern and Burns accepted a $12 million deal from 20th Century Fox with Winter making his feature film directorial debut and starring in the 1993 science-fiction comedy '' Freaked''. The film was never widely released, despite positive reviews from ''The New York Times'' and ''Entertainment Weekly''. It has since become a minor cult favourite.

Winter did not return to directing until 1999, when he filmed the psychological thriller ''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."

After a seven year hiatus, Winter directed and acted in the live-action adaptation of the hit Cartoon Network series '' Ben 10'', which aired on Cartoon Network in November 2007 and garnered the highest ratings in the channel's history. He also 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. As of 2008, he was attached to write the screenplay for the Howard Stern-produced remake of '' Rock 'n' Roll High School''. In 2010, he was attached to direct a 3D-remake of the 1987 horror film '' The Gate'', which was scheduled for release in 2011 but the film was never made.

Winter's 2012 VH1 rock doc '' Downloaded'' earned worldwide critical acclaim at theatrical and festival screenings. Winter's multiple award-winning 2015 documentary ''Deep Web'' had its world premiere at SXSW and a broadcast premiere in the U.S. on the Epix network alongside a global festival tour. The film went wide in September 2015, opening as the #1 documentary on iTunes.

In 2013, he returned to feature films with a role in the thriller ''Grand Piano'', starring Elijah Wood and John Cusack, playing The Assistant.

In 2016, Winter released a short documentary entitled ''Relatively Free'' about journalist Barrett Brown's release from prison. This was followed in 2017 by another short documentary, ''Trump's Lobby''

In 2018, Winter released two documentaries, ''The Panama Papers'', about the Panama Papers, and ''Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain'', which premiered in Los Angeles on November 16, 2018. 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. Released on November 27, 2020, ''Zappa'' was not only the first documentary with access to his archives, but this project was the highest funded documentary in crowdfunding history, via Kickstarter.

In April 2011, Winter's ''Bill & Ted'' co-star Keanu Reeves confirmed that a third installment of the film series was under way; the film was in development for most of the 2010s. Winter returned as Bill Preston in the film, '' Bill & Ted Face the Music'', which was released on August 28, 2020; with Reeves describing the plot as, "Basically, they're supposed to write a song to save the world and they haven't done that." In January, 2024, Alex hinted about a possibility of a 4th film "Bill & Ted 4".

Winter’s latest feature documentary is The YouTube Effect, produced by Winter and his company, Trouper Productions, in partnership with Gale Anne Hurd and Glen Zipper. The film premiered at Tribeca in June 2022, completed a sold-out theatrical run in July 2023, and was released worldwide on digital from Drafthouse Films on August 8, 2023.

In 2024, Winter produced and co-starred in the gonzo horror-comedy '' Destroy All Neighbors'' which premiered o
Shudder
and in limited theaters in January 2024.

Winter's next project which he is producing, directing and acting in is the feature film ''Adulthood'', which is set to release in 2025. In the fall of 2025, Winter will return to Broadway, co-starring with Keanu Reeves in Waiting For Godot, directed by Jamie Lloyd.

Technology and piracy activism

Winter began devoting a lot of his attention to the internet not just because he liked technology, but also because "I found this community there." Winter liked the idea of large numbers of anonymous users discussing a variety of topics in an anonymous space. "I found that really striking then. And it seemed liked the beginning of something." He has criticized media companies and news outlets for exaggerating how many people used Napster for digital piracy.

Winter's interest in technology, the Internet and privacy inspired him to make the 2012 documentary film '' Downloaded'', about internet file sharing and Napster, and the 2015 film '' Deep Web'', about the Silk Road, bitcoin, and the dark web.

Activism against Elon Musk

In response to the political activities of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, in February 2025, Winter helped amplify national Tesla Takedown protests outside of Tesla showrooms. He has stated that the intention was to be anti-Elon Musk and not Tesla. Winter, an avid electric vehicle owner, called Musk a “toxic figurehead” for the company and had a goal for Tesla to part ways with Musk.

Personal life

Winter was married to Sonya Dawson, with whom he had a son, born in 1998. The couple later divorced. In 2010, he married Ramsey Ann Naito. They have two children.

Winter maintains dual British and American citizenship.

In 2018, Winter revealed that he was molested by an older man at age 13 while acting on Broadway. Winter refused to name his abuser, stating he is deceased, but revealed he has coped with PTSD since the incident, saying "I had extreme PTSD for many, many years, and that will wreak havoc on you."

Filmography

Film

;Directing

;Acting

Television

;Directing

;Acting

Music videos

Theatre

References

External links

*
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Alex
Living people
American documentary film directors
American male film actors
American Ashkenazi Jews
American film producers
American male screenwriters
American male television actors
American male television writers
American male voice actors
American music video directors
American people of Australian descent
American people of English descent
American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
American television directors
British documentary filmmakers
English emigrants to the United States
English film producers
English male film actors
English male television actors
English male voice actors
English music video directors
English people of American descent
English people of Australian descent
English people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
English television directors
English television writers
Film directors from London
Film directors from New Jersey
Film directors with disabilities
Film producers from London
Jewish American male actors
Jewish American screenwriters
Jewish American television writers
American television writers
Jewish English male actors
Male actors from London
Montclair High School (New Jersey) alumni
Male actors from Montclair, New Jersey
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Writers from London
People with post-traumatic stress disorder
20th-century American male actors
20th-century English male actors
21st-century American male actors
21st-century English male actors
20th-century American screenwriters
20th-century English screenwriters
21st-century American screenwriters
21st-century British screenwriters
Writers from Montclair, New Jersey
1965 births