Alex Winter facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Alex Winter
Winter in 2013
Born	London, England
Occupation	Actor filmmaker
Years active	1978–present
Spouse(s)	Sonya Dawson (m. 1995; div. ?) Ramsey Ann Naito ​ (m. 2010)​
Children	2

Alexander "Alex" Winter is an actor and filmmaker from both Britain and America. He is famous for playing Bill S. Preston Esq. in the movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and its follow-up films, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) and Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020). He also played Marko in the vampire film The Lost Boys (1987). Besides acting, Alex Winter has directed many movies, especially documentaries, which are films that tell true stories.

Early Life and Education

Alex Winter was born in London, England. His mother, Gregg Mayer, was a dancer from New York. She started the first modern dance company in London. His father, Ross Albert Winter, was an Australian dancer who also helped start a dance company in St. Louis, Missouri.

Alex learned to dance when he was a child. When he was five, his family moved to Missouri. Later, in 1978, he moved to New Jersey with his mother. There, he started acting in plays both on and off Broadway in New York City.

After finishing Montclair High School in 1983, Alex Winter went to Tisch School of the Arts at New York University (NYU). At NYU, he met another filmmaker named Tom Stern. They worked together on short films and both graduated with good grades.

Acting and Directing Career

Alex Winter started his career acting in Broadway plays like The King and I and Peter Pan.

He left NYU before finishing his last year to act in The Lost Boys. After that, he moved to Hollywood. He kept acting in movies like Rosalie Goes Shopping.

In 1989, Alex Winter became very well-known for his role as Bill S. Preston Esq. in the comedy movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. He played this role again in the sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, in 1991.

After the success of Bill & Ted, Alex Winter and his friends Tom Stern and Tim Burns created a comedy show for MTV called The Idiot Box. They also made a movie called Freaked in 1993, which they co-wrote, co-directed, and Alex also starred in.

Alex Winter at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival

Alex Winter started directing again in 1999 with the film Fever. This movie was shown at many film festivals around the world.

He also directed live-action movies based on the popular Cartoon Network show Ben 10. These movies, Ben 10: Race Against Time (2007) and Ben 10: Alien Swarm (2009), were very popular and had high ratings.

In 2013, he acted in the thriller movie Grand Piano, alongside Elijah Wood and John Cusack.

More recently, Alex Winter has focused on directing documentaries. These are films that explore real-life topics. Some of his documentaries include:

• Downloaded (2012), which was about internet file sharing and Napster.
• Deep Web (2015), which looked into the Silk Road, bitcoin, and the dark web.
• The Panama Papers (2018), about a big leak of financial documents.
• Trust Machine: The Story Of Blockchain (2018), which explained how blockchain technology works.
• Showbiz Kids (2020), a documentary about the lives of child actors in Hollywood.
• Zappa (2020), a film about the musician Frank Zappa. This film was special because it was the first documentary to use Frank Zappa's personal archives.
• The YouTube Effect (2023), which explores the impact of YouTube.

In 2020, Alex Winter returned to play Bill S. Preston Esq. in Bill & Ted Face the Music. This movie showed Bill and Ted still trying to write a song that would save the world. There have even been hints about a possible fourth Bill & Ted movie! In 2024, he also appeared in the horror film Destroy All Neighbors.

Interest in Technology

Alex Winter has a strong interest in technology and the internet. He found the idea of many people discussing different topics online very interesting. He has also talked about how some media companies might have made it seem like more people used Napster for illegal file sharing than actually did. His interest in technology and online privacy led him to make documentaries like Downloaded and Deep Web.

Personal Life

Alex Winter was married to Sonya Dawson, and they have a son born in 1998. They later divorced. In 2010, he married Ramsey Ann Naito, and they have two children together.

Alex Winter holds citizenship in both Britain and America.

Filmography

Film Roles

Directing

Acting

Television Roles

Directing

Acting

Music Videos

Theatre Roles

See Also

In Spanish: Alex Winter para niños