ALEX WINTER: BIO

An accomplished actor, writer and director, Alex Winter's driving ambition has lifted him to an impressive level of success in each discipline. He has had 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 cult favorite THE LOST BOYS and Percy Adlon's ROSALIE GOES SHOPPING.

As a writer, Mr. Winter collaborated on the Twentieth Century Fox release FREAKED, which Mr. Winter also starred in, co-directed and co-produced. Voted one of the ten best videos of 1994, FREAKED is a brash, high-velocity escapade that travels freely between social relevance and distortion. FREAKED melds the wicked satire of Monty Python, the vicious slapstick of the Three Stooges with the hyper-kinetic pacing of a classic Tex Avery cartoon. The New York Times said about FREAKED; "Anything can happen at any moment. Freaked has the candy-colored glow of a goofy psychedelic comic book and the irreverent sensibility of Mad Magazine." Entertainment Weekly praised FREAKED has having "...more laughs than a decade of Saturday Night Live. It stuns you into a state of giddy delirium." The film also stars Randy Quaid, Keanu Reeves, Brooke Shields, Bobcat Goldthwait as a human sock puppet and Mr. T as the Bearded Lady. The soundtrack features original songs by Henry Rollins, Parliament Funkadelic, The Butthole Surfers and Blind Idiot God.

Currently, Mr. Winter is working between his New York home base and London, where he has been directing music videos and television commercials. Under the aegis of his own video production company, Dynamism, he has directed music videos for the likes of Helmet, including "Milquetoast" from the feature film soundtrack of THE CROW, and "Exactly What You Wanted" from their new Interscope release; two videos ("Bug Powder Dust" and "One to One Religion") for Britain's very hot Bomb the Bass which he filmed in such exotic locales as the jungle in Belize and Marrakech, Morocco; London jazz artist Ronny Jordan's popular "The Jackal;" and Sony Records' video "Verklemmt," for Jim Thirwell's band Foetus'. which was shot on location in Manhattan. He also photographed the still art for the cover of the album which was shot in Times Square. He also recently completed a video for Bootsy Collins.

His commercial work in England has been produced through The Brave Film Company, founded by several former members of Propaganda Films, including Winter and Howard Greenhalgh (director of Soundgarden's Grammy -winning video). Highlights of his commercial work include the new Ford campaign and the launch of the National Lottery Instants which stars England's own comedy star Ronnie Corbett. He has recently completed the final installment in the popular "Thelma & Louise" commercial series for Peugeot, which was filmed in Marrakech and the Sahara desert.
Mr. Winter is currently working on developing his next feature project. He is a contributing film writer to the New York-based magazine Paper and the London newspaper The Guardian.

As a teenager, Mr. Winter spent five years on and off Broadway as Louis in THE KING & I starring Yul Brynner, John Darling in PETER PAN starring Sandy Duncan and in the American premiere of Simon Gray's CLOSE OF PLAY at the Manhattan Theater Club. In 1983 he enrolled at New York University to study film. In his first production with former partner Tom Stern, SQUEAL OF DEATH, Mr. Winter not only co-wrote and directed, but also portrayed ten different characters. SQUEAL OF DEATH has become an underground cult favorite and is currently enjoying a successful distribution through the insolent film journal Film Threat.

Mr. Winter and Mr. Stern amassed a body of directorial work, notably the hit MTV series "The Idiot Box," which Mr. Winter co-wrote, co-produced and starred in. They also directed a spot for the CBS Earth Day Special, "Hard Rock Cafe Presents: Save The Planet," where Mr. Winter reprised the character "Howie" from SQUEAL OF DEATH in an educational sequence on the environment. In addition, they produced music videos for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice Cube, and Extreme among others.

Mr. Winter has just completed FEVER, a psychological thriller that he wrote and directed which stars Henry Thomas, Teri Hatcher, Bill Duke and BRAVEHEART'S David O' Hara. The film was an official selection at several festivals worldwide, including the Director's Fortnight at Cannes '99 and the Toronto Film Festival. According to Godfrey Cheshire in Variety, FEVER is " ...an eerie, insinuating tale of urban dread and mental breakdown, [and] reps an impressively sophisticated solo directorial debut by Alex Winter." In writing about the films at Cannes, Cheshire wrote "[Fever's] display of style was the most dazzling I saw from a young director." The New York Daily News praised the film as "a claustrophobic mindbender. Winter sustains an aura of creepiness worthy of Roman Polanski." FEVER was released by Lionsgate Films in fall 2000.

Alex is currently working on an MTV movie about Napster and its creator, Shawn Fanning entitled: "Downloaded: the Rise and Fall of Napster"and a comedy entitled "Acts of Charity." He has also completed a groundbreaking DVD for Bill Laswell's side-project "The Tabla Beat Science" in which the viewer is able to watch a different performer at any time throughout the performance. Alex also directs for the talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and directed the VH1 pilot "Dirty Famous."

Alex has recently revived his acting career a bit by appearing on the popular FOX TV Show, "Bones" in episode 2:13, "The Girl in the Gator" and being featured as a voice on Tom Stern's new live action Cartoon Network Show "Saul of the Mole Men." Alex has directed another live action project for Cartoon Network, "Ben 10: Race Against Time." His next feature will be "Acts of Charity" which has been tentatively retitled: "We're Here to Help."

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