Biography

Alex Winter began his career as a child actor, with co-starring roles in 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, directed by Lynne Meadow.

After attending NYU film school, Winter went on to have starring roles in several feature films, including Orion’s huge hit Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its sequel Bill And 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, co-directed, and 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 heralded by critics, including The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly, who included the film on their list of "Top Ten Greatest Comedies of the Nineties." Winter’s first solo-directed feature came next, with 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 accomplish with the sparest of means."

Winter is the founder of Trouper Productions, which services his narrative and documentary work. Previous feature documentaries include multiple award-winner The Panama Papers, executive produced by Laura Poitras, about the largest global corruption scandal in history, and the journalists who worked in secret and at considerable risk to break the story. And Trust Machine, about the controversial rise of Bitcoin and the blockchain. The documentary Deep Web examines the online black-market Silk Road and the trial of its creator Ross Ulbricht. The film premiered on the MGM network, 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 in 2013, garnering worldwide acclaim.

In 2020, Winter co-starred in the highly anticipated third installment in the Bill & Ted franchise, Bill & Ted Face The Music, which opened as the number one movie in the U.S. and internationally. That year, Winter released two new documentary feature films, Showbiz Kids, which premiered on HBO to widespread praise, garnering a Critics Choice nomination for Best Score by Tweedy-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, which was a Critics Pick in the New York Times, and nominated for Best Music Documentary by the Critics Choice Awards.

Winter’s feature documentary, The YouTube Effect, was produced by Winter in partnership with Gale Anne Hurd and Glen Zipper. The film premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival before a sold-out theatrical run in July 2023.

Recent acting projects include co-starring roles in the gonzo horror-comedy Destroy All Neighbors, which premiered on Shudder and in theaters in January 2024, Absolute Dominion from director Lexi Alexander, and as Hefty Smurf in Paramount’s animated movie, The Smurfs.

Winter directed and co-starred in the feature film Adulthood, starring Josh Gad, Kaya Scodelario, Billie Lourd and Anthony Carrigan. Adulthood opened in theaters and digitally, in the fall of 2025, to positive reviews, following a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and garnering a nomination for Best Independent Film at the 2026 Saturn Awards. Winter recently returned to Broadway, co-starring with Keanu Reeves in the hit revival of Waiting For Godot, directed by Jamie Lloyd.

Winter will next be seen in Lance Oppenheim’s film Primetime, for A24, starring Robert Pattinson.
- IMDb mini biography by: Trouper Productions