Alex Winter(I)

Winter began his career as a child actor; co-starring roles include the Broadway productions of The King & I with Yul Brynner, Peter Pan with Sandy Duncan, and the American premiere of Simon Gray's Close Of Play at the Manhattan Theater Club.

After attending NYU film school, Winter went on to have starring roles in several feature films, including Orion's huge hit Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and its sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, the Warner Brothers cult favorite The Lost Boys, Ivan Passer's Haunted Summer and Percy Adlon's Rosalie Goes Shopping. Winter starred in and co-directed, co-wrote the hit MTV comedy series The Idiot Box, and starred in his theatrical co-directing debut, Freaked, released by Twentieth Century Fox. Freaked was acclaimed by critics, including The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly, who heralded the film on their list of "Top Ten greatest comedies of the Nineties." Freaked was followed by the critically acclaimed Fever for Lionsgate, which screened in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes. Written and directed by Winter, 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."

Winter is the founder of Trouper Productions, which services his documentary work. In 2020, Winter released two new documentary feature films, Showbiz Kids, which premiered on HBO to widespread critical acclaim, garnering a Critics Choice nomination for Best Score-followed by Zappa, the first all-access documentary on the life and times of Frank Zappa. The Kickstarter campaign for this project was the highest-funded documentary in crowdfunding history. Magnolia Pictures released Zappa to widespread critical acclaim. A Critics Pick in the New York Times, Zappa was nominated for Best Music Documentary by the Critics Choice Awards.

Previous documentary work includes The Panama Papers, about the largest global corruption scandal in history, and the journalists who worked in secret and at considerable risk to break the story. A multiple award-winner, The Panama Papers, executive produced by Laura Poitras, opened to a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Also released worldwide is Trust Machine, about the rise of bitcoin and the blockchain, from Breaker Studios.

Deep Web is about the online black market Silk Road and the trial of its creator Ross Ulbricht. The documentary premiered on the Epix network, opening as the #1 documentary on iTunes and earning a Cinema Eye nomination among several award wins. Downloaded is a VH1 RockDoc about Napster and the digital revolution. The film premiered at SXSW, garnering worldwide critical acclaim at theatrical and festival screenings.

In 2013, Winter returned to the screen in Grand Piano, directed by Eugenio Mira, from the Blacklist script by Damian Chezelle (La La Land), co-starring alongside Elijah Wood and John Cusack. Recently, Winter co-starred in the highly anticipated third installment in the Bill & Ted franchise, Bill & Ted Face The Music, which opened in 2020 to critical acclaim as the number-one movie in many countries worldwide, including the U.S.

Winter's latest feature documentary is The YouTube Effect. Produced by Winter in partnership with Gale Anne Hurd and Glen Zipper. The film had its world premiere at Tribeca in June, 2022, completed a sold-out theatrical run in July of 2023 and was released worldwide on digital beginning August 8, 2023, from Drafthouse Films.

Now in release is Winter's new acting project, the gonzo horror-comedy, Destroy All Neighbors, which premiered on Shudder and in limited theaters in January, 2024. Winter completed directing and acting in the feature film, Adulthood, starring Josh Gad and Kaya Scodelario, due for release in 2025.