Alex Winter

Born Alexander Ross Winter in London on July 17, 1965, Alex Winter is an English-American actor and filmmaker. His early life involved training in dance, influenced by his mother, Gregg Mayer, a dancer who founded a modern-dance company in London. His father, Ross Albert Winter, also a dancer, co-founded the Mid American Dance Company in St. Louis. The family moved to Missouri when Winter was five, and he later moved to New York City with his mother, where he began performing in theatre. He appeared in Broadway productions such as “The King and I,” “Peter Pan,” and “Close of Play” at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In 1983, he enrolled in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he began collaborating on short films with Tom Stern.

Winter left NYU before his senior year to pursue a career in Hollywood, focusing on writing and directing short films and music videos. He continued acting, securing roles in notable productions like the 1987 vampire film “The Lost Boys.” His international recognition grew significantly in 1989 with his co-starring role as Bill S. Preston, Esq., alongside Keanu Reeves in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” He reprised this role in the 1991 sequel, “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey,” and again in “Bill & Ted Face the Music” in 2020. Following the success of “Bill & Ted,” Winter co-created and co-directed the sketch comedy show “The Idiot Box” for MTV in 1991. He made his feature film directorial debut with “Freaked” in 1993, a film that, despite limited release, gained a cult following.

Over the years, Winter transitioned more into directing and producing, particularly focusing on documentaries. His directorial credits include “Fever” (1999), “Ben 10: Race Against Time” (2007), and “Ben 10: Alien Swarm” (2009). He gained critical acclaim for his documentaries such as “Downloaded” (2012), exploring internet file sharing, and “Deep Web” (2015), which delved into the Silk Road and Bitcoin. Other significant documentary works include “The Panama Papers” (2018), “Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain” (2018), “Zappa” (2020), and “The YouTube Effect” (2022). In 2025, he is set to produce, direct, and star in the feature film “Adulthood” and will return to Broadway, co-starring with Keanu Reeves in “Waiting For Godot.”