Henry Winkler knows a thing or two about Hollywood, having spent nearly three decades enjoying success in the business.  Happy Days is history and the black leather jacket worn by "The Fonz" has hung in the Smithsonian since February 13th, 1980 and recently has been joined by "Fonzie's" lunch box.  This certainly confirms the status of the long-running television series' lovable central character, portrayed by Henry, as an American pop-culture icon. The character's appeal made Winkler an international star...a status he maintains today.  "The Fonz" continues to live in the past on Nick At Nite and T.V. Land while Henry lives very much in the present as an actor, director, producer and now an award-winning author.

In 2003, he began writing a series of 10 children's novels with his partner Lin Oliver for Penguin Putnam entitled, Hank Zipzer: The World's Most Amazing Under-Achiever.  The books are inspired by Henry's struggle throughout his education due to his learning challenges.  The first six books of the series are in bookstores now and have really taken off.  They have appeared on several Best Seller lists including The Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review and Barnes and Noble.

In 2004, Winkler has been busy producing and acting along with continuing work on the Hank Zipzer series.  He was Executive Producer for Hollywood Squares with his partner Michael Levitt and Executive Producer on Wintuition for the Game Show Network. Along with this, Henry appeared on FOX's highly acclaimed new series Arrested Development, on which he has a recurring role and had a successful appearance on a three-arc episode of NBC's Third Watch.  Henry did voice-over work for an upcoming episode of King of the Hill, in which he will be playing himself.  He was the voice of Norville the Bird on the Award Winning animated children's series Clifford: The Puppy Years, and appeared along side Jon Voight and Sigourney Weaver in the highly acclaimed film adaptation of the Newbery Award-winning book, Holes, released by Disney. 

In 2003 he was Executive Consultant on Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, a new Saturday morning adventure series on NBC produced by Discovery Kids and in 2002, enjoyed a villainous role on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In 2001, Winkler starred on Broadway in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party.  The production made its world premiere at the Mark Taper

Forum in Los Angeles.  An engagement at the Eisenhower Theatre at

the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. led to its Broadway run, marking Winkler's return to the Broadway stage after an absence of 30 years.  In 2001, the cast of The Dinner Party won the Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement Award for Best Ensemble.  The play ran for 9 months.

In 1999, he received an Emmy nomination for outstanding actor for his appearance on ABC's The Practice and in 2000 starred in Down To You with Freddie Prinze, Jr. for Miramax and also did a cameo in Little Nicky for his friend Adam Sandler.

In 1996 Winkler co-starred opposite Sandler in Disney's The Water Boy, which grossed over 70 million dollars in its first two weeks of release and earned him a Blockbuster Award nomination as Favorite Supporting Actor.  Previous to that, he made his return to the big screen in Wes Craven's Scream followed by three independent films: Punks, Dill Scallion and Ground Control with Kiefer Sutherland and Kelly McGillis.

Winkler served as Executive Producer for television's Dead Man's Gun (TNN), Sightings (Sci-Fi Channel) and the Disney series So Weird, starring Mackenzie Phillips, which was named one of the Top 10 New Children's Programs by TV Guide two years in a row.

In 1979, Henry formed his first production company, Fair Dinkum Productions.  Its first venture was Who Are the DeBolts and Where Did They Get 19 Kids?, a television documentary about Dorothy and Robert DeBolt's remarkable children-13 of them adopted-and most of them physically and/or emotionally challenged.  Henry served as on-camera host and executive producer of the ABC presentation, which went on to win the prestigious Humanitas Prize.

Fair Dinkum's first made-for-television movie, Scandal Sheet, starring Burt Lancaster, aired in January 1985 on ABC-TV.  The movie won the night and was the highest rated film for ABC that week.  A network rerun in September 1988 proved equally successful when Scandal Sheet again trounced its competition.

In 1983, Fair Dinkum also produced the critically acclaimed series Ryan's Four for ABC.  And, in 1984, Henry recalled his "Fonz" character when he hosted Strong Kids, Save Kids, an educational video cassette dealing with child abuse.  The 40-minute program, designed to teach parents and children basic skills for the prevention of child abuse and abduction, was distributed by Paramount Home Video.

Consistent with his long-standing concern for quality children's programming on television, Henry formed JZM Productions (1983) to create worthwhile projects geared for a young audience.  The JZM tag was derived from the initial of the first names of his three children:  Jed, Zoe and Max.

JZM's initial project was the animated one-hour special Happily Ever After for PBS' Wonderworks series.  The program, about a young girl coming to terms with her parents' divorce, was written by Bill Scott with Bill Melendez supervising the animation. Happily Ever After aired in 1985.  A sequel, Two Daddies to Love Me, aired on PBS in 1989.

JZM also produced the 1983 ABC After School Special, Run, Don't Walk; and the 1984 CBS Schoolbreak Special, All the Kids Do It, the latter of which was directed by Henry.  All the Kids Do It, which dealt with teenage drunk driving, won the daytime Emmy for Best Children's Program that year.  Both specials starred fellow Happy Days alumnus Scott Baio.

Henry, in association with partner and Emmy-Award winning producer/director John Rich, sold two series to ABC-TV for the 1985-86 season:  Mr. Sunshine and MacGyver.  Both shows were produced under their Henry Winkler/John Rich Productions banner and MacGyver ran for seven successful seasons.

In 1987, Henry teamed with Ann Daniel, former Vice President of Series Development/Prime Time Entertainment at ABC-TV, to form Winkler/Daniel Productions.  Winkler/Daniel's initial project, A Family Again, which aired in October 1988, starred Michael Tucker and Jill Eikenberry as parents of a family trying to recapture some semblance of a normal life after the death of their eldest daughter.  The one-hour special, originally scheduled as an ABC After School Special, was moved to prime time when the network saw the finished product -- only the second time that ABC has done so.

In 1991, they produced The UFO Report: Sightings a documentary for the Fox Television Network which proved to be the highest rated Friday (10/18/91) night show since Fox's inception.  "Sightings" is currently in its 6th season.

Henry is most active, yet ironically least recognized, in the area of theatrical film production.  The critical and box office success of The Sure Thing, which was directed by Rob Reiner and starred newcomers John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga, changed that perception.  Henry served as executive producer for his Monument Pictures banner.

The Sure Thing was followed by Young Sherlock Holmes.The Paramount Pictures film was developed by Monument Pictures and produced in association with Steven Spielberg's Amblin' Productions.  It was released in November 1985.

In spite of his already demanding schedule, Henry continues to add television feature film projects to his workload.  "The good fortune of my success as an actor has afforded me the luxury of being able to develop, produce and, in an increasing number of instances, direct projects I feel are worthwhile and that I would like to see on the screen," he explains.

"There are a lot of hungry, talented and creative people out there and I want to work with them," Henry says.  "I try to be totally open because one never knows where the great ideas will come from."

"Success, to me, is making a positive contribution," he maintains. "My goal is to infuse and maintain a level of integrity in every project I undertake; to be true to myself and the things I believe in."

Henry Winkler was born in New York City, the son of Ilse and Harry Winkler.  His father was president of an international lumber corporation.  Henry made his acting debut as Billy Budd in the eighth grade and played Wintergreen in Of Thee I Sing in the eleventh grade at McBurney School for Boys in New York City. During his high school and college years, he studied in Lausanne, Switzerland and worked in a lumber mill in a small German town.

He received his B.A. degree from Emerson College in Boston(which, in 1978, presented him with a Doctorate of Humane Letters), where he majored in drama and studied child psychology.  He continued his education in advanced drama and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale School of Drama.

With the Yale Repertory Company, he appeared in East Hampton, Long Island, in a summer of story theatre and received critical acclaim as the original Grosbard in Philip Roth's Defender of the Faith.

Returning to New York, he worked in radio and did some 30 television commercials before starring in The Great American Dream Machine and Masquerade for National Educational Television.  He then toured with the Children's Story Theatre, receiving $19.00 per performance.  With friends, he put together Off the Wall, an evening of improvisations which played off-Broadway.

Henry made his motion picture debut in The Lords of Flatbush.  That was followed by his first starring role on Broadway -- 42 Seconds from Broadway -- which ran only slightly longer than 42 seconds (from 8:00-11:00 p.m.) on March 11, 1973.  Undaunted, the very next week he flew to Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park, where he starred in Arthur Miller's, Incident at Vichy.

After signing to do his second feature film Crazy Joe, he moved to California in September, 1973.  His network television credits include The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Paul Sand Show and Rhoda. Then, on his birthday, October 30, 1973, he was cast as "The Fonz" on ABC-TV's Happy Days.

Henry's portrayal of "The Fonz" for 10 seasons (1974-84) made him one of the most recognized actors in the world.  He won two consecutive Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series (1976 and 1977), and three Emmy nominations in the same category. He was also honored with a "star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located directly in front of the forecourt of Hollywood's Pantages Theatre. 

During the 1976-77 season, in addition to Happy Days, he also starred in the TV movie Katherine for ABC and the stage production of Room Service for the Kenely theatre circuit in the Midwest.

In 1977-78, Henry starred in the feature films Heroes and The One and Only, and in two specials:  Richard Rodgers, in which he co-starred with Gene Kelly and Henry Winkler Meets William Shakespeare.  In December 1979, he starred in ABC-TV's An American Christmas Carol, an adaptation of the Dickens classic, and in 1983 he starred in his fifth feature film, Nightshift, directed by ex- Happy Days star Ron Howard.  His performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor.

In 1986, Henry directed his first made-for-television movie, A Smokey Mountain Christmas, starring Dolly Parton. 

In September 1988, Henry made his feature film directorial bow with the release of MGM's Memories of Me, starring Billy Crystal, Alan King and JoBeth Williams.  It was followed by Universal's Cop and a Half, starring Burt Reynolds, which was released in April 1993.

In 1991, Henry stepped in front of the cameras again, for the first time in eight years, starring in Absolute Strangers, a MOW for CBS directed by Emmy award-winner Gil Cates.  That same year, he hosted the 90-minute Happy Days Reunion special for ABC.  In 1993, Henry co-starred with his good friend John Ritter in ABC's MOW The Only Way Out, and then in 1994 in the Fox series Monty. That same year, Winkler launched Sightings, a one-hour series on the paranormal which was syndicated by Paramount.  A Child is Missing, in which he starred, aired on CBS in 1995 and in 1996 he starred in National Lampoon's Dad's Week Off for Showtime.  Then, in 1997, he co-starred with Rick Schroeder in ABC's Detention:  Siege at Johnson High.

As Henry became increasingly visible, he found that he could use his position to help others.  He says that had he not succeeded as an actor, he would have become a child psychologist because of his deep interest in working with children.  And work with children he does.  The list of groups with which he is associated is as long as his resume of acting credits and includes Honorary Chairman of United Friends of the Children (the support group for MacLaren Children's Center, a facility for abused children in Los Angeles); Founding Member of the Children's Action Network, an organization composed of entertainment industry leaders dedicated to raising the profile of children's issues through the media; co-host of the annual Cerebral Palsy Telethon; the first National Honorary Chairman of the Epilepsy Foundation of America; National Chairman of the annual Toys for Tots campaign; the National Committee for Arts for the Handicapped; the Special Olympics; the Los Angeles Music Center's Very Special Arts Festival for children who are physically challenged and numerous teenage alcohol and drug abuse programs.

While Henry's personal commitment to helping others is reward enough, his efforts have been recognized by a variety of prestigious organizations including B'nai B'rith ("Champion of Youth"), United Nations ("Peace Prize") and in 1988, Henry and his wife, Stacey (they were married May 5, 1978), were presented with Women in Film's Norma Zarky Humanitarian Award for their tireless efforts and devotion to the "improvement of the human condition."  In May of 1995 they received the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Support Group Service's Helping Hand Award in recognition for all they have done for the children of Los Angeles and on June 29, 1996, Henry received the Chevallier de l'Ordre des Artes et Lettres, the French Government's highest honor.

It should come as no surprise that Henry Winkler places great value on family.  He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Stacey and their three children, Jed, Zoe and Max.