Henry Winkler felt such a pull toward the world of acting that he left behind a dream his parents had for him for the bright lights of Hollywood.
The Barry star admitted that his parents were “embarrassed” when he walked away from the family business they had built from the ground up to start over at the bottom as an actor. He realized at the time that choosing Hollywood meant taking a major risk, even if it disappointed the people closest to him.
Henry Winkler Revealed His Parents Weren’t Proud of His Career Choice
In a commencement speech to 2026 graduates at Emerson College, Winkler encouraged students to embrace uncertainty, take creative risks, and pursue the path that feels true to them even when it doesn’t come with a clear roadmap.
“I wanted to be an actor. My father wanted me to take over the lumber business that he brought from Europe,” Winkler explained. “I said, ‘I’m not interested in wood.’ He said, ‘Why do you think I brought it over here?'”
The actor continued, “Besides being chased by the Nazis, Dad, was there a bigger reason than that?” He said, “The only wood I was interested in was Hollywood.”
He was told, “I would never achieve. I am in the bottom 3% academically in America. Everything except for lunch, was difficult.”
“I took geometry for four years, the same course. Regular school and summer school,” over and over until he finally passed with a D-minus. Winkler added, “If I didn’t get that D minus, I could not come to the one college that said yes of the 28 I applied to: Emerson.”
“I started to get work in commercials. And of course, my parents were not happy with me at all. I embarrassed them. But I had a dream, and I never let that dream out of my mind.”
He shared one piece of advice he hoped the graduates would take to heart. “I live by two words, tenacity and gratitude. Tenacity will get you where you want to go. Gratitude will make you enjoy the journey, no matter how bumpy.”
Henry Winkler’s Drive Led Him to Become One of the Most Recognizable Faces in TV History
After graduating from Emerson, Henry Winkler attended the Yale School of Drama, reported PEOPLE Magazine. However, his road to stardom wasn’t an easy one.
Before finding stardom as “Happy Days” Fonzie, Winkler worked in live theater, appeared in television commercials, and had guest-starring roles on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” and “Rhoda.” The actor also appeared in the films “The Lords of Flatbush (co-starring Sylvester Stallone) and “Crazy Joe.”
Then, he was allowed to audition for Garry Marshall and the series that would ultimately change his life, “Happy Days.”
Winkler said of the opportunity in an interview with Build Series, “When I was younger, I had very little sense of self. I bought into the fact that I was stupid. You take that along with you.”
However, he decided he was going to change the way he perceived himself when he auditioned for the role of Arthur Fonzarelli. “I was 27 when I auditioned [for ‘Happy Days’]. I changed my voice,, and I changed my body. Then I finished, and I threw the script up in the air and sauntered out of the room. How did I do that?”
He concluded, “Then they called me two weeks later on my birthday, October 30, 1973 and they said, ‘Would you like to play this part?'”
The television legend currently hosts the History Channel docuseries, “Hazardous History With Henry Winkler.”
