ALEX WINTER, who plays the role, has been acting since he was seven. By 14 he was co-starring on Broadway, and at 21 was a graduate of the film school at New York University.
Born in London to a pair of professional dancers, Winter moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri, where he spent his childhood on the stages of local community theatres. Relocating to New York, he starred with Yul Brynner and Constance Towers in a hit revival of "The King and I," then toured with the show. He returned to Manhattan for a Broadway production of "Peter Pan," and stayed to appear off Broadway as well.
After completing his studies at NYU, where his senior project was a short comedy film entitled "Squeal of Death" – which he wrote, produced, directed and starred in – Winter moved to Los Angeles to begin his motion picture career.
Following his screen bow in "Death Wish III," he was among the adolescent vampires of the supernatural hit, "The Lost Boys," then co-starred with Eric Stoltz and Laura Dern in "Haunted Summer."
Biography from 1991 Bogus Journey Press Kit
ALEX WINTER (Bill) has had success both as an actor and
a producer-director-writer. Aside from the title role of Bill in "Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure," Winter has starred opposite Laura Dern in "Haunted Summer," and co-starred in a variety of character roles in such films as "The Lost Boys" and "Rosalie Goes Shopping."
Winter is co-founder of Stern-Winter Productions with partner Tom Stern, a company designed specifically for their own projects. Along with Stern, he is currently writing, producing, directing and starring in "The Idiot Box," a weekly half-hour comedy show on MTV.
Under the aegis of Propaganda Films, the team has amassed an impressive body of directional work, notably the CBS Earth Day special, "Hard Rock Café Presents: Save the Planet." They have also produced videos for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Human Radio, Ice Cube and other groups.
Born in London, Winter began studying dance at age four. He emigrated with his dancer parents to St. Louis the following year and at age ten landed a role opposite Vincent Price in the St. Louis Opera production of "Oliver!"
After a career in commercials, he relocated to New York City and won a role in the 1977 Broadway revival of "The King and I," starring Yul Brynner. He toured in the show to Los Angeles, where he appeared in the CBS-TV film "Gaugin," and the landed back on Broadway in the revival of "Peter Pan" and off-Broadway in "Close of Play."
It was while studying film at New York City University in 1983 that Winter started acting in films as a way of raising money for his own projects with classmate Stern. He co-wrote, directed and starred as ten different characters in their first film, "Squeal of Death," and followed that with the horror / comedy short "Aisles of Doom." Both films have aired on Night Flight and West Coast Cable.
Updated Biography
Both of Alex's parents were professional dancers. When Alex was five, his family moved to St. Louis, where his parents formed the Mid America Dance Company. In a August 12, 1991 article in People magazine Alex says, "Whenever other companies would tour St. Louis, these crazed bohemian dancers would sleep all over the floor. My memories of childhood are of waking up with a foot in my face." As you can probably tell, Alex did not grow up w
the 1977 Broadway revival of "The King and I," starring Yul Brynner. He toured in the show to Los Angeles, where he appeared in the CBS-TV film "Gaugin," and the landed back on Broadway in the revival of "Peter Pan" and off-Broadway in "Close of Play."
It was while studying film at New York City University in 1983 that Winter started acting in films as a way of raising money for his own projects with classmate Stern. He co-wrote, directed and starred as ten different characters in their first film, "Squeal of Death," and followed that with the horror / comedy short "Aisles of Doom." Both films have aired on Night Flight and West Coast Cable.
Updated Biography
Both of Alex's parents were professional dancers. When Alex was five, his family moved to St. Louis, where his parents formed the Mid America Dance Company. In a August 12, 1991 article in People magazine Alex says, "Whenever other companies would tour St. Louis, these crazed bohemian dancers would sleep all over the floor. My memories of childhood are of waking up with a foot in my face." As you can probably tell, Alex did not grow up with the burning desire to be a dancer! However, in the August 1-7, 1991 addition of Drama-Logue magazine he said, "I was raised around artists. I became attached at a very young age to theater and acting and film. Buster Keaton was my first big hero. That's what I wanted to do. Not necessarily just be a comedian, but wanted to make films."
Alex started acting at a young age, appearing in commercials and the stage. "Whenever the theater department needed a kid they would pluck me out of wherever I was and stick me in a Renaissance costume and put me on stage. I thought it was a lot of fun. The more physical it was, the more fun I had." His parents divorced before he was 11 and he moved to New York with his mother, where appeared in The King and I starring Yul Brenner, he played John Darling in Peter Pan starring Sandy Duncan, and portrayed a street urchin in a local production of Oliver! with Vincent Price. "I was working with a lot of great actors. Especially doing off-Broadway stuff. I just observed. I knew what I liked and what I didn't like. I would just observe those I like. And I read anything I could get my hands on. All the theory. I am still reading."
In his early 20's, Alex studied film making at New York University, where he met fellow student Tom Stern. The two hit it off and ended up leaving college (due to lack of funds, and perhaps enthusiasm for the accepted ways of doing things) and formed their own production company, "Stern Winter Productions." They completed and released several short film projects they had started in college as well as a short-lived series for MTV called The Idiot Box and the movie Freaked.
Of course, the "Big Break" that drew international attention to Alex was the role of Bill S. Preston, Esq. in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. He and Keanu hit it off at their first meeting. "Keanu and I auditioned together for the first time in the very early stages. Something clicked. The comedy was there. We were both improvising a lot. A lot of stuff we took with us to the screen; our sense of goofy comedy, our love of improv. The little studying I had done was with improv people. Most of my learning to act was doing theater, but I was a real big fan of Second City and that school of acting; so was Keanu. That's w
