My Name is Henry Franklin Winkler was born on October 30, 1945 in Manhattan, New York. My parents, Harry Irving and Ilse Anna Maria Winkler, were Jewish immigrants who survived the German Holocaust, moving to the US in 1939. My dad was the president of an international lumber company and my mother worked alongside my father. I grew up with "a high level of low self-esteem". Throughout elementary school and high school, i struggled with academics. This was due to what I would later identify as dyslexia. My parents expected me to eventually work with them at the lumber company. However, I had other plans as i saw roles on stage as the key to my happiness. My acting debut came in the eighth grade when I played the role of Billy Budd in the school play of the same name. After that, I was cast on a new ABC series which was set in the 1950s called "Happy Days" (1974). I was given the role of high school dropout and greaser Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli. The character was seldom seen during the first few episodes as ABC initially feared I would be perceived as a hoodlum. However, the character became extremely popular with viewers and the show's producers decided to give Fonzie a more prominent role in the series. Following this, the show's ratings began to soar and Fonzie became a 70s icon and the epitome of coolness. His motorcycle, leather jacket, thumbs-up gesture, and uttering of the phrase "Aayyyy!" became television trademarks. The character become so popular that ABC considered renaming the series "Fonzie's Happy Days" but eventually decided against it.
