Honestly, if you close your eyes and think of Henry Winkler, you probably see a leather jacket. You hear a "Heyyy!" and see a thumb pointed toward the ceiling. It’s unavoidable. For ten years, Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli was the center of the American pop culture universe. But here is the thing about henry winkler actor movies and tv shows: that iconic character almost ended his career before it really began.
Winkler is 80 years old now. He just celebrated that milestone in October 2025 with a big chocolate cake at a diner in LA, and he’s somehow busier than ever. Most actors who hit it big in the '70s are long retired or doing autograph circuits at dusty conventions. Not Henry. He’s currently filming a role as the Mayor in the 2026 thriller Normal alongside Bob Odenkirk. He’s also developing a new NBC legal comedy called Last Chance Lawyer. He’s a guy who refused to stay in the 1950s Milwaukee bubble of Happy Days.
The Curse of the Leather Jacket
It’s hard to overstate how famous the Fonz was. By the mid-70s, Winkler was getting 50,000 fan letters a week. ABC was terrified of the character at first. They thought the leather jacket made him look like a criminal. They actually forced him to wear a windbreaker unless he was standing next to his motorcycle. Eventually, the leather won out, and a legend was born.
But when Happy Days wrapped in 1984, the phone stopped ringing.
Winkler has talked openly about the "psychic pain" of that era. He was typecast. Nobody wanted to hire the "coolest guy on TV" to play a regular human being. He spent nearly a decade behind the camera because he couldn't get an acting gig. He produced MacGyver. He directed Memories of Me and the kids' comedy Cop and a Half. He was basically trying to outrun his own shadow.
🔗 Read more: The Reality of Sex Movies From Africa: Censorship, Nollywood, and the Digital Underground
The breakthrough came from an unlikely place: Wes Craven. When Winkler showed up uncredited in the 1996 horror hit Scream as Principal Himbry, it signaled to Hollywood that he was ready to be a character actor. He wasn't the Fonz anymore. He was a guy who could get stabbed by Ghostface and make it feel real.
A Comedy Resurgence: Adam Sandler and the Bluths
If the '70s belonged to the Fonz, the late '90s and 2000s belonged to Winkler’s "funny weirdo" phase. He became a staple in Adam Sandler movies. You’ve definitely seen him as the eccentric Coach Klein in The Waterboy or as the sweet, somewhat confused father in Click. There is a specific kind of warmth he brings to those roles that keeps them from becoming caricatures.
Then came Barry Zuckerkorn.
In Arrested Development, Winkler played the Bluth family’s incompetent lawyer. It was genius casting. He was the opposite of "cool." He was bumbling, ethically flexible, and hilariously out of his depth.
💡 You might also like: Alfonso Cuarón: Why the Harry Potter 3 Director Changed the Wizarding World Forever
- Arrested Development: Playing the world's worst lawyer.
- Parks and Recreation: As Dr. Saperstein, the father of the nightmare twins Jean-Ralphio and Mona-Lisa.
- Childrens Hospital: Sy Mittleman, the hospital administrator.
He found a second life in these guest spots. He wasn't the lead anymore, and he seemed totally fine with that. He was having a blast.
The Barry Era and the Emmy Win
The real "third act" of the henry winkler actor movies and tv shows saga is Barry. When Bill Hader cast him as Gene Cousineau, a narcissistic, washed-up acting teacher in a dark comedy about a hitman, people were skeptical. Could the guy from Happy Days play someone that... pathetic?
He didn't just play it; he owned it.
Winkler finally won his first Primetime Emmy in 2018 for this role. It took 42 years from his first nomination for Happy Days to actually hold the trophy. In Barry, he’s terrifying, funny, and deeply tragic all at once. It’s a performance that strips away any lingering "cool" and replaces it with raw, desperate humanity.
📖 Related: Why the Cast of Hold Your Breath 2024 Makes This Dust Bowl Horror Actually Work
Beyond the Screen: Dyslexia and Detective Duck
You can't really talk about his career without mentioning his books. Winkler is severely dyslexic. He didn't even know he had it until he was 31 years old. He spent his entire childhood being told he was "lazy" or "slow" by his parents.
He turned that trauma into the Hank Zipzer series. He’s written over 30 children’s books with his partner Lin Oliver. Just this past September 2025, they released a new book in the Detective Duck series. It’s a side of him that doesn’t always make the highlight reels, but for a whole generation of kids with learning differences, those books matter more than any TV show.
Looking Ahead to 2026
Right now, Winkler is leaning into darker, more complex stuff. His role in the upcoming film Normal is a crime thriller—a far cry from a sitcom set. He’s also looking at bringing the Israeli show Chanshi, where he plays an Orthodox Jewish father, to American audiences.
The guy just doesn't stop. He’s a reminder that your biggest success doesn't have to be your only success. Whether he's playing a corrupt lawyer, a desperate acting coach, or a mayor in a small town, Henry Winkler has proven that the person inside the leather jacket was always more interesting than the jacket itself.
If you want to see the full range of his work, start with Night Shift (1982) to see his early comedic timing, then jump straight to Barry to see the masterclass in character acting he’s doing today.