After a dyslexia diagnosis at 31, Henry Winkler was finally able to rebuild himself
Vivian Rashotte | CBC Arts | Posted: November 25, 2024 7:52 PM | Last Updated: November 26
In a Q interview, the Emmy winner discusses the shame he felt as an actor who struggled with reading
Henry Winkler spent 11 seasons playing The Fonz on Happy Days, and for much of that time, he was struggling with an undiagnosed learning disability. He only realized he had dyslexia at age 31, when his stepson was diagnosed.
"My stepson, who is now 53, was in the third grade," Winkler tells Q's Tom Power in an interview. "We had him tested and everything they said about him was true about me. I realized I was not stupid — I had something with a name. I had different wiring in my brain."
As an actor who struggled to read, Winkler had to work extremely hard to memorize his lines. "I couldn't read, but I could memorize very quickly once I got it," he explains. "I would memorize as much of a script as I could, go in and audition and make it up, improvise. They would say, 'You're not reading the script as we wrote it.' I'd say, 'I'm giving you the essence of the character."
WATCH | Henry Winkler's full interview with Tom Power:
But even as a successful adult, Winkler carried a lot of shame, embarrassment and sadness about his learning disability. For most of his young life, he was yelled at, put down and punished for failing in school.
I want every child to know that no matter how difficult it is for them to learn to read, that has nothing to do with how brilliant they are. - Henry Winkler
"As soon as I found out [I had dyslexia], my entire paradigm of thinking about education and children shifted in a second," he says. "It was a release for sure. But I will tell you, the component of all of the self-doubt and lack of self-worth takes a toll…. I had to rebuild myself in order to come out into the sun."
Until he was diagnosed, Winkler says he had never read a book cover to cover. Now, he's co-authored dozens of bestselling children's books with his writing partner, Lin Oliver, including the popular Hank Zipzer and Here's Hank series, which both follow a young boy who's struggling through school because of his dyslexia. Winkler's latest series, Detective Duck, is for emerging readers who are just starting to read.
"Lin and I both feel humour is the gateway to getting some young person to read," Winkler says. "I want every child to know that no matter how difficult it is for them to learn to read, that has nothing to do with how brilliant they are in their brain, how brilliant they are in their imagination."
The full interview with Henry Winkler is available on our YouTube channel and on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Henry Winkler produced by Vanessa Greco.