The Surprising Reason Henry Winkler Almost Didn't Become an Actor

HenryWinkler wasn’t set on being an actor.

The Happy Days star shared his interest in being a child psychologist during a recent appearance on the You Could Make This Beautiful podcast.

“I understand children. I’m able to listen, I think, to children. I’m interested in what they have to say and how they are. I marvel at their prowess in the universe,” Winkler explained. “Yes, I would work with children.”

The 80-year-old actor admitted there was a less traditional reason he was drawn to the career path, stating, “Being so dyslexic, whatever I could do, with the least amount of education [is what I wanted to do].”

Winkler starred in Happy Days as Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli. It ran from 1974 to 1984 for 11 seasons and 255 episodes. It followed a group of friends in Milwaukee throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

In May 2025, Winkler reflected on his experience after the show ended while giving a commencement address at Georgetown University. He was struggling with his dyslexia and couldn’t get a new role.

“I was doing a Broadway play. I went back to L.A.; I couldn’t get hired,” he recalled. “They said, ‘Oh well, you know you’re the Fonz and you were so funny and you’re a lovely guy, but you were the Fonz.’ ”

“And I went to a friend, I said, ‘I can’t get hired. I need help,’” he continued. “He said, ‘Write books for children about your learning challenge.’ I said, ‘Well, I can’t do that because I’m learning challenged.’”

The actor ended up publishing 18 volumes of the children’s series Hank Zipzer: The World’s Greatest Underachiever with LinOliver. The books follow a 4th-grade boy who navigates growing up with dyslexia.

“There is not one way to do anything,” Winkler said. “There is only your way. You’re not hired to fill just time and space. You are hired to fill that time and space with your imagination, with that power that you’re going to find. You are wonderful. And everything is possible. Everything is possible.”