Henry Winkler's Real Name: Henry Franklin Winkler

Quick answer: Henry Winkler's documented full name is Henry Franklin Winkler. Encyclopaedia Britannica gives that full name with a birth date of October 30, 1945, in Manhattan, and Encyclopedia.com independently records Henry (Franklin) Winkler, born October 30, 1945, in New York, N.Y. (Britannica; Encyclopedia.com).

Real name and early life

He is known professionally as Henry Winkler. Britannica says he was the younger of two children of Harry and Ilse Winkler, a Jewish couple who escaped Nazi Germany in 1939, and that most of his extended family perished in the Holocaust. It places his birth in Manhattan; Encyclopedia.com says New York, N.Y., without naming the borough. Britannica records a difficult childhood, including dyslexia that went undiagnosed until adulthood and parents who sometimes mistook the disability for low intelligence. Encyclopedia.com lists a bachelor's degree from Emerson College in 1967 and an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama in 1970; Britannica also describes study at Yale under Stella Adler and Norma Brustein, after he attended Emerson College in Boston, won the lead in a production of Peer Gynt, and graduated with a bachelor's degree despite nearly flunking out.

Career highlights

The role that made him famous was Arthur Fonzarelli—"Fonzie" or "the Fonz"—on the sitcom Happy Days (1974–84), both sources record. Britannica calls the leather-jacketed character one of the decade's pop-culture sensations and says it also typecast him. Encyclopedia.com lists early television work including Nightmare (1974) and Katherine (1975), the Happy Days run itself, and later titles including An American Christmas Carol (1979). Britannica traces a later shift into directing and producing, then a 21st-century return as a character actor in Arrested Development (2003–05, 2013, 2018–19) and Parks and Recreation, and as acting coach Gene Cousineau in Barry (2018–23), a role that brought a Primetime Emmy in 2018. Britannica also notes the film Night Shift (1982), later typecasting after Happy Days ended, the Hank Zipzer children's books about a boy with learning differences, and the 2013 memoir I've Never Met an Idiot on the River. Encyclopedia.com also notes Golden Globe recognition in the Happy Days years; Britannica specifies Golden Globes in 1977 and 1978 and Daytime Emmys in 1985 and 2005.

Name notes for searchers

Henry Franklin Winkler is the documented full name; the professional name is Henry Winkler. Searchers looking for Fonzie on Happy Days or Gene Cousineau on Barry are usually aiming at the same person.