A boy of Jewish parents who throw off Germany before the beginning of WWII, Winkler was born around New York, New York. He received his Bachelor's degree from Emerson College in 1967, and received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama in 1970. He received his Ph.D. in Hebrew Literature in 1978 from Emerson College.

Winkler began his career by appearing around the total of television commercials before landing the role in The Lords of Flatbush (1974) (which also starred so-unknown Sylvester Stallone). He quickly had a role of Fonzie inside Happy Times that equivalent season. When you took his decade in Happy Times, Winkler too starred within the total of picture show including swimming the riotous Vietnam Vet in Heroes (1977) and a morgue attendant in Night Shift (1982), which was directed by Happy Days co-star Ron Howard.

Fallowing Happy Times, Winkler slowed his acting career down when he began concentrating in producing & directing. He has producer credits in many moving picture & tv show including MacGyver and Mr. Sunshine & directed many moving-picture show including a Billy Crystal movie Memories of Me (1988) and Bull & ½ (1993) with Burt Reynolds.

When a 1990s continued, Winkler began a link to to acting including roles around Scream (1996), The Waterboy (1998), Down To You (2000), and Holes (2003).

Within September 2003, Winkler's friend of nearly Twenty-five years John Ritter suddenly passed away. A day that Ritter died, Winkler was slated to guest star in Ritter's ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter. Winkler wwhen devastated & began to produce a cycles in as several TV outlets (like Entertainment Tonight, Hollywood Squares, and a Emmys) as imaginable to pay his respects to his fallen friend. It was likewise rumored that he would choose across Ritter's voiceover role on the PBS Kids show "Clifford the Big Red Dog", but that did non happen (instead, the cartoon according to "Clifford's Puppy Days" replaced it).

Winkler presently hwhen the revenant role as incompetent attorney Barry Zuckerkorn in the Fox Television comedy, Arrested Development. He stars alongside Stockard Channing and Paula Marshall in CBS's Out of Practice. His role when a Bluth personal attorney in Arrested Development is taken across by Winkler's Happy Times co-star Scott Baio in the fall of 2005.

Winkler has guest starred in television series like South Park, The Practice, The Simpsons, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Third Watch, Crossing Jordan and King of the Hill.

He is the full cousin of Richard Belzer who is best known for swimming Detective John Munch in Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.