Alex Winter was born in London, to an American mother, Gregg Mayer, and an Australian father, Ross Albert Winter, both of whom were modern dancers and dance teachers, with his mother also having founded a dance troupe. His mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, while his father had English, German, and Irish ancestry.
Alex received dance training as a child. While still a youth, he relocated with his family to St. Louis, Missouri, where his father ran the Mid-American Dance Company and where Alex studied improvisation. He made his Broadway debut in "The King and I" and spent the next several years on stage, while studying film (writing and editing) at New York University. He had co-starring roles in "Peter Pan", and the American premiere of Simon Gray's "Close of Play" at the Manhattan Theater Club. Upon graduating, he took his first major film role, in the cult vampire movie, Génération perdue (1987). But it was two years later, that he landed the role for which he is most famous for - that of "Bill S. Preston, Esq.", who with his buddy Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) traveled through time in the cult comedy classic, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989). The film was a huge success, spawning two television series and a well-received sequel, Les folles aventures de Bill et Ted (1991).
With Tom Stern, Winter co-created many influential comedy projects which he wrote, directed and starred in. Among them are the hit MTV series, The Idiot Box (1991), and the Twentieth Century Fox release, La cité des monstres (1993), which was acclaimed by many critics, including "The New York Times" and "Entertainment Weekly", who heralded "Freaked" on their "Top Ten greatest comedies of the Nineties". The film also stars Randy Quaid, Keanu Reeves, Brooke Shields, Bobcat Goldthwait as a human sock puppet and Mr. T as "The Bearded Lady". Long a cult favorite, "Freaked" was recently re-released in a special edition DVD by Anchor Bay.
In 1999, he wrote and directed the critically-acclaimed thriller, Fever (1999), which made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival. "Fever" is a psychological thriller, starring Henry Thomas, Teri Hatcher, Bill Duke and Les infiltrés (2006)'s David O'Hara. The film has been invited to film festivals worldwide, including Official Selection in the Director's Fortnight at Cannes. In The New York Times, A.O. Scott praised the film as "Pure Hitchcockian panic. An arresting example of what a talented filmmaker can do with the sparest of means".
In 2007, Winter produced and directed Cartoon Network's live-action movie event, Ben 10: Race Against Time (2007). The television premiere grabbed the highest ratings in Cartoon Network history, and the DVD was the network's biggest seller. Next, Winter produced and directed the sequel, Ben 10: Alien Swarm (2009). The Cartoon Network original movie premiered in November 2009 and was another ratings smash, with over 16 million viewers in its premiere weekend and garnering an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects.
Recent work as an actor include a guest-starring role on the Fox TV Series, Bones (2005), and vocal roles on the Adult Swim series, Robot Chicken (2005) and Saul of the Mole Men (2007). Most recently, Winter co-starred in the Spanish-produced thriller, Grand Piano (2013), alongside Elijah Wood and John Cusack. "Grand Piano" was directed by Eugenio Mira and produced by Rodrigo Cortés (director of Buried (2010), starring Ryan Reynolds).
Also completed is Downloaded (2013), a feature documentary about the Digital Revolution, that Winter produced and directed for VH1 Rock Docs. Interview subjects include Napster co-founders Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning, as well as numerous musicians and industry executives of the era.
Alongside his feature and acting projects, Winter maintains a successful career directing TV shows and commercials, both in America and the UK.
Winter divides his time between New York and London, where he directs television commercials and music videos.
