Henry Winkler opens up about the unexpected career he considered before becoming an actor

Henry Winkler is opening up about what career path he would have chosen had he not gotten into acting.

During a recent interview on the " You Could Make This Beautiful " podcast, the 80-year-old actor shared that he almost decided to become a child psychologist, because he was so dyslexic that "whatever I could do, with the least amount of education" was what he wanted to do.

"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 said.

"Yes, I would work with children." Ultimately, the actor found fame playing Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on "Happy Days" from 1974 to 1984, a role which earned him three Emmy Award nominations. 'HAPPY DAYS' STAR HENRY WINKLER FILMED HIS FIRST-EVER NUDE SCENE AT 79 The actor has spoken about his lifelong struggle with dyslexia many times in the past and about how he learned to manage it in his career.

"Destiny is very strange, because I've chosen a profession that is so unbelievably difficult, not only to survive in, but to participate in for me," he told "PBS News Weekend" in November 2023.

"When we were doing ' Happy Days ' or any table read, which is the whole cast all the producers, the directors, everybody on the crew listening, for the first time to the script.

I couldn't read off the page.

And it was embarrassing.

It was humiliating.

I covered it with humor." To manage the obstacles dyslexia presented in his career, Winkler explained that he would "literally read one word at a time" and ask for the script to be delivered to him ahead of time so that he would "almost memorize it" so that by the time it came to the table read, "I could read it with a flow." While the actor had struggled with dyslexia his whole life, he didn't receive a diagnosis until he was in he was 31, and his young stepson was diagnosed with it, telling PBS that he was initially angry after getting a diagnosis.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER "I was because I was humiliated.