Connor

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Winters' first credited on-camera appearance was on Homicide: Life on the Street. He had met creator Tom Fontana while working as a bartender, eventually agreeing to appear on a three-episode arc. Fontana subsequently wrote the part of Ryan O'Reily with Winters in mind for Oz, appearing on 56 episodes between 1997 and 2003. Following Oz's conclusion, Winters had a recurring role on Rescue Me, playing Johnny Gavin between 2004 to 2011. Winters has appeared in two of the Law & Order television series: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where he was a regular in the first season, and as a guest star in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Purgatory". He also made an appearance in Season 2 of the television series Sex and the City as John McFadden. More than ten years after his final appearance on SVU, he again portrayed Detective Brian Cassidy in the 13th-season finale "Rhodium Nights", became a recurring character in the 14th season and, in the 15th season, and also became Captain Olivia Benson's love interest. He has also made guest appearances on Third Watch, NYPD Blue, CSI: Miami and as Dennis Duffy in 30 Rock. He starred in the 1999 romantic comedy Undercover Angel with Yasmine Bleeth and the 2002 direct-to-video horror film Hellraiser: Hellseeker. He played Tom in P.S. I Love You. Winters played Detective Sam Tyler's father in the US version of Life on Mars. He also played Charley Dixon, Sarah Connor's love interest, in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Winters was cast in the ABC drama pilot Happy Town, from the creators of October Road, but was replaced by Steven Weber after shooting the pilot. Winters was away from acting until 2010, when Tina Fey brought him back to 30 Rock. Also that year, Winters was introduced as "Mayhem", a recurring character in a television and radio advertising campaign for Allstate Insurance created by the advertising agency Leo Burnett Chicago. In 2019, Fey joined Winters in a series of "Mayhem" commercials. Winters played Avi in John Wick. Winters co-starred in one season of the CBS cop drama series Battle Creek, playing a small-town police force detective opposite Josh Duhamel, the FBI resident agent assigned to the town. The series was canceled in May 2015. He had a recurring role on Brooklyn Nine-Nine as The Vulture and had a supporting role as a divorce attorney on the HBO series Divorce. In 2018, he was cast as Mr. Town in the second season of Starz's American Gods. In 2019, he appeared in the film Framing John DeLorean.

In Their Own Story

Winters was born in New York City on July 20, 1964. He was raised on Long Island. He is of Irish and Italian descent, and speaks fluent Italian. He has two brothers, actor Scott and writer Bradford, and a sister, Blair. Winters spent his teenage years in Scottsdale, Arizona. He attended Chaparral High School and graduated from Brophy College Preparatory, a Jesuit school in Phoenix, in 1982, and from Colorado College in 1986. Winters has neuropathy, resulting in numbness and sensitivity issues in his hands and feet. In 2009, Winters contracted a bacterial infection and went into cardiac arrest. He underwent multiple surgeries and developed gangrene, resulting in the amputation of two of his toes and half of one of his thumbs.

Reader's Guide

Winters played Avi in John Wick. He co-starred in one season of the CBS cop drama series Battle Creek, playing a small-town police force detective opposite Josh Duhamel. He had a recurring role on Brooklyn Nine-Nine as The Vulture. He played Tom in P.S. I Love You. He played Charley Dixon, Sarah Connor's love interest, in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. He played Detective Sam Tyler's father in the US version of Life on Mars. He starred in the 2002 direct-to-video horror film Hellraiser: Hellseeker. He appeared in the 2023 Netflix film The Out-Laws and the 2024 AMC series Monsieur Spade.

Did You Know?

• Dean Winters was born in New York City on July 20, 1964.
• He is of Irish and Italian descent and speaks fluent Italian.
• He graduated from Brophy College Preparatory in 1982 and from Colorado College in 1986.
• In 2009, Winters contracted a bacterial infection, went into cardiac arrest, and had two toes and half of one thumb amputated due to gangrene.
• He played Avi in the 2014 film John Wick.