Daytime television newcomer Eric Winter portrays Rex, a young man who has traveled a great distance to Salem, on NBC's number one daytime drama, Days of our Lives.
Born in La Mirada, California, Eric spent most of his childhood in nearby La Puente. An only child, Eric attended Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights, where he excelled in football and volleyball. A stellar high school football career provided Eric with the opportunity to compete in the All Star Hall of Fame Game as a defensive lineman.

Eric attended UCLA, graduating with a degree in psychology. While in college, and after shedding approximately thirty pounds of football weight, a girlfriend suggested to Eric that he pursue work as a model to help pay the bills. He soon landed an agent and found himself juggling schoolwork and acting workshops with prestigious modeling assignments, many of which took him all over the world.

Eric's most high-profile print campaign was for Tommy Hilfiger. Eric has appeared in numerous national commercials, including campaigns for 7-UP and Mitsubishi.

Prior to landing the role of Rex on Days of our Lives, Eric guest-starred in several television shows, including Profiler, The Parkers and The Andy Dick Show.

In his free time, Eric enjoys playing basketball, hiking, snowboarding, and going to the movies; The Breakfast Club is his all time favorite film. He remains close to his father Wayne, who owns an Investigative Company, and his mother Gwen, who runs a theatrical fabric business.

Eric stands 6' 1" and has dark blonde hair and blue eyes. He celebrates his birthday on July 17th.

Meet Eric Winter
courtesy of Soap Opera Digest


Eric Winter: Is an emergency medical technician * Worked in Pizza Hut for six months * Makes a mean batch of chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies that his friends call "Eric's famous cookies" * Loves thrill seeking sports, like sky diving and bungee jumping * Is ridiculously addicted to Friends * Is called Eric But-But by his family for saying "but..but why" as a teen * Met "twin" Alexis Thorpe at an audition a few years ago.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I worry about the little things too much and it causes me to stress out. I'm always trying to work on letting go and moving on.
What do you look for in a friend?
I look for someone I can trust wholeheartedly, who really cares about what I'm doing and what I'm up to. I put a lot of energy into a relationship.
Who do you turn to for advice on the set?
Matt Cedeno (Brandon) He gives good advice, he's been there, done that and he's a good guy and gives an honest opinion
What was your biggest on-set gaffe?
When we were in a scene in the Brady kitchen, I was supposed to fling a spoonful of Jell-O over my shoulder. I flung it off the spoon and hit Alexis (Thorpe..Cassie) in the face and everyone started laughing. It was true, reality laughing because we thought they would say "Cut." But they kept the scene. Alexis flung some back in my face, which was not scripted. It was funny."
What would you be if you weren't an actor?
A firefighter or a paramedic, which I was in the process of doing before I got into acting.
What's your favorite season?
I have to pick two because I am a beach/summer person. I love the winter. I love the snow. I'm from Southern California, so anytime I can get up to the mountains and snow board or have cold, rainy nights, I love it. (* no wonder his last name is Winter! LoL! *)

Just The Facts (some more fun facts!)
presented by SOD

Hails from: La Puente, CA

Birthday: July 17

Parental Guidance: Winter's father, a private investigator, and mother, who works in a theatrical fabrics business, are divorced.

Biggest Indulgence: Chocolate chip cookies, I am a sweets person, but I'm always working out.

Drive My Car: I'm still driving the car that I've had for a long time, which is a Honda Accord. They're good Dependable cars.

Favorite Countries He Traveled To While Modeling: Italy, France and Spain.

How He Lost Weight After College Football: I took an aerobics class. My friend was like, why are you taking aerobics? There's nothing but girls in that class. I said, that's why I'm taking aerobics, because its 98 percent women. This could be fun.

Dressing Room D¨Ścor: I'm going for the sports thing. I have the basketball court (taped on the floor), the hoop, a little backboard and the free-throw line. I have some things I want to hang because I went to the NBA finals last year between the Nets and Lakers, and I took a photo.

A Winter Tale
SOD-January 28, 2003

Written by Stephanie Sloane

Eric Winter(Rex, Days Of Our Lives) was your average college student majoring in pre-med when a passing remark from his then-girlfriend changed the course of his life. "She was like, 'Why aren't you modeling? Why aren't you doing something like that?'" recalls the actor. "My thought was, 'Because everybody in this town does that.'" But the gal, who was pursuing an acting career herself, set him up with her manager and within a week, Winter secured a print agent and was modeling professionally. Over the next six years, he traveled through Europe doing print campaigns and commercials and met future soap hunks Matt Cedeno(DAYS, Brandon) and Josh Duhamel(ex-Leo, ALL MY CHILDREN) along the way.

Successful, yes, but it took some time for his mother to adjust to his new career. "My mom was not happy at first," recalls the actor. "It's like, 'My son's going to be a doctor, it's so great.' Then, 'What? You're going to be a model?' She was very supportive, but a little shocked. I got really fortunate because in my first six months I booked Tommy Hilfiger." Winter then went on to do some guest roles on CHARMED and MTV's UNDRESSED and got his psychology degree. And the girlfriend? They split, but Winter is forever grateful to her. "I'm saying thank you now. My life has changed because of her comment."

For better, of course, now that he's playing Rex, the math-whiz "alien" twin on NBC's No. 1 soap. When he was auditioning, Winter was in the dark about the curious nature of the part. "When I was reading for it, they said, 'Just have fun with it, take it for what it is.' I was like, 'Okay, this guy doesn't know what goosebump is? What is he, a freak?'" says the actor. "After I got the role, I was told, 'Oh, you're going to be playing an alien.' It was a shocker but cool becaue it's so different from any other soap role. It wasn't typical, so I was game."

Game enough to go along with the rather skimpy wardrobe that Rex wore in the beginning. "A tinfoil skirt?" he laughs. "Let me tell you, not easy to pull off. Never in my life have I thought I'd be wearing a tinfoil skirt on TV. It was so bad." At least the ice had already been broken with co-star Alexis Thorpe(Cassie). "We met three years ago and didn't see each other much since," he explains. "I went to high school with her roommate in L.A. One night, a bunch of buddies got together, and Alexis and I met again. We saw each other at an audition a year-and-a-half later and it was, 'Oh, yeah, you're Roger's friend, nice to see you again.' Then, we tested on the same day here, didn't recognize each other and then it dawned on her when she heard my name. It made us really comfortable with each other right away."

As he was with vets Deidre Hall(Marlena) and Drake Hogestyn(John). "Deidre has guided me along," praises Winter. "We've had dinner at the commissary, just talking about where I'm headed in my career, and the show and how to always look out for myself. She laid it right down for me: She said, 'If you ever need anything, let me know.' That was so nice coming form her. Same with Drake. He's such a down-to-earth guy. Loves to talk; loves to tell stories. They made me feel right at home."

Home, though, is with his wife, Allison, a model whom Winter met in his former career. "We met doing a modeling job together about four-and-a-half years ago." he says. "We were forced to kiss all day on the job; it was instant sparks. We had some other things going on in our lives at the time that we were sort of drifting out of. We dated for a while, did a long engagement and have been married for more than a year."

As for the future, "I've tired to keep myself from thinking too far ahead and am kind of enjoying it for what it is now." Winter reflects, "I really love the lifestyle on the show; it's pretty tough to pass up. The money's great, the people are great, and it's like having a nine-to-five job."

More Work And Some Play for Days' Eric Winter
Credits go to Soapcity.com

Days of our Lives fans are seeing more of Eric Winter these days -- and not just because Rex's storyline has heated up. "I've been trying to put on a lot of size and get [physically] bigger," the athletic actor says. "I've been eating right and working out five to six days a week to gain some muscle." Shirtless summer and sexy bedroom scenes prompted the model turned actor to hit the gym on a more regular basis. "They've certainly been incentive to bulk up," he says. "Since I started on the show last year, I've gained about ten pounds of muscle."

Currently, Rex is romancing Mimi, while moving heaven and earth to keep everyone from finding out that he's not actually a DiMera. "It's so fun to play," Winter says of his character's duplicitous nature. "It's so unlike me. I consider myself a very laid back person. It's a lot of fun to get out there and explore different areas."

In addition to pumping iron at the gym, Winter says he stays active by playing baseball. Recently, he took part in an all-star ball game at Dodger stadium in Los Angeles. "I played in a celebrity baseball game," Winter shares. "I was just jazzed. It was two celebrity teams playing against each other. Jon Lovitz (Saturday Night Live) was on the team I was on. He's very funny. Tony Danza was the captain of the other team. We had a fun time. I grew up watching [his series] Who's The Boss. He came over and introduced himself to me and later he said, 'Hey, Eric, you want to play catch?' He was very cool."

Transcript of Eric & Farah's interview

A sleepy Farah Fath (Mimi) enters Eric Winter's (Rex) dressing room at DAYS OF OUR LIVES wearing a hoodie over her wardrobe for the day (a short-sleeved shirt and pants) because the studio air-conditioning is on high. "It's freezing in here," she shivers, then settles comfortably onto Winter's couch for a hilarious discussion about their alter egos, Rex and Mimi (or "Rimi" as they're called on the internet).

Digest: When did you first know that they were going to pair you up?
Farah Fath(to Winter): When did we first know they were going to pair us?
Eric Winter: We had a kiss under the mistletoe...
Fath: Oh, Yeah.
Winter: ...at a Christmas party. And I didn't really know we'd be paired as a couple but that was our first kiss kiss, I think.
Fath: Cross out his answer and put mine, which is when mimi was sick in bed.
Winter:We Bicker like a couple, too, so it'll be a good interview...Okay, I agree, that's when we knew we were offically a couple. When Mimi was sick in bed and she accidentally spilled cough syrup.
Fath:Agreed [they laugh.]

Digest: This is your first really big love story with sex and all. Are you excited to finally have a romance on-screen?
Fath:Oh, I thought you were going to say, "Were you excited to finally have sex?" No, Yeah, it's good;we like it.
Winter:Wow, you're all out of it--it's a good thing we called you into the room. [Mocking Fath] "Yeah, it's good; we liked it."
Fath:No, acutally, I like the way it's been written, even though Rex is a psycho. [Everyone laughs.] And I do think, when it's good, it's really good, but when it's bad it's really bad. And aside from all the paternity questions and the DNA stuff, it could be a realistic relationship were you break up and you make up by having sex. That's very realistic, if you ask me.
Winter:I agree with her. They play a part in each other's lives. It's fun because it's so extreme, but in a way, realistic with young relationships because when you jump into something so quickly, like this couple did, you don't think about learning about the other person first. You just jump in and have fun.
Fath:Now, all the kinks are coming...

Digest: Well, Mimi seems to feel quite comfortable in the DiMera mansion [laughter].
Fath: Yeah, she can just take a shower in there whenever she wants. Sleep over whenever she wants. Interrupt Tony whenever he's talking: "Tony, hey where are the Advils, brother?"
Winter: To the housekeeper and the maids and the servants, she's like, "You have sandwiches up there?"
Fath: She feels at home.
Winter: There's a separate drawer full of her stuff.

Digest:That's very sweet.
Fath:Finally, I talked the wardrobe people into letting me change the next day because Mimi always wakes up in the same clothes, and I have to wear that for a whole day. I'm like, "Please let Mimi have new outfits there."
Digest:Can't Mimi pack an overnight bag?
Fath: I know, that's what I said!

Digest:What are the qualities about Mimi that Rex find so attractive?
Winter: I think her carefree attitude about life, that she never stresses or worries about a damn thing [laughter]. It's very similar to Farah in a way. I think that's what Rex, as anal as he is about everything...
Fath: ...That's how Eric is in real life, anal [laughter]. Just kidding.

Digest: What does Mimi like about Rex?
Fath: Well, he's smart and powerful and sweet--when he wants to be--and I think she likes the challenge of getting him to be sweet all the time. She has that woman nature and wants to help him through his mood swings and stuff. She thinks he's really cute and, um, he makes her feel beautiful.

Digest: How is your relationship off-screen?
Winter:It's good.
Fath:Yeah, real natural. Look at my card I gave him for his birthday. It's a pickle.
Winter: Yeah, she gave me a pickle card.
Fath:And it says, "I bet you didn't expect to get a pickle for your birthday [laughter]."
Winter: And that was so random. Farah is just a real easy person to get along with, and I trust her completely in our work. When you trust someone completely, you can give 100 percent to the character, too. She's just like a lot of friends that I have: fun outgoing, funny, pretty much can take any kind of crap you dish to her and can dish it right back. Working with her is so easy.

Digest: How's you feel when you started reading all the sex scenes were coming up?
Fath: We were laughing.
Winter:Yeah, and then when it came down to the day, a little nervous.
Fath: We weren't laughing so much, but once it was done, we werre like, "It wasn't so bad."

Digest:What's been the reaction from the fans?
Winter:Extremely positive from my end.
Fath:Everyone likes us, except they have one problem: They think we should have more romance.
Winter: Yeah, on a lot of message boards that I check, they think Rex should take Mimi on a date.
Fath: We've never been on a date.
Winter:Their first romance was like the first time we, you know, made love. That was romantic, and then it just became sex all the time.
Fath: He gave me a diamond that day.
Winter: Yeah, what woman wouldn't sleep with Rex after that [laughter]?
Winter: Let me give you a quote that her mom had siad when she was here. She said, "I love seeing you 2 together. You go up there, you become such a better actress working with Eric [laughter]" Direct from her mom!
Fath: I was pissed off
Winter: And she was angry!

Digest: Why do you think Mimi is so willing to keep Rex's secrets?
Fath: Well, cause she loves him. When you're in love, you do crazy, stupid things. When ever he asks her to do something she'll say no at first, and then all he has to do is just look at her a little bit longer....
Winter: A little touch on the cheek.
Fath: Yeah, and then she just caves.
Digest:I hope he appreciates that.
Fath:She's whipped. She's whipped.
Winter: He does appreciate it and I think Rex is pretty whipped, too, because everytime he world is falling apart, the one person he looks for any kind of support is Mimi. But then he yells at her again.

Digest:What would you say your dynamic is like when you're on-set? Do you good around? Are you serious?
Winter: I try to be serious, but Farah is so difficult to work with [laughs]!
Fath: We can't even look at each other sometimes. We really can't. Just today, I had one line in a scene with him out by the garbage cans. Jack, Tony, Bart and Rex were all fighting and then he tells Mimi to like get lost and..
Winter:We were laughing everytime.
Fath:...and we just, I could barely even take it.
Winter: We laugh quite often. Every show, there'll be so many times before takes when it's like, we'll have joked about somthing and then as soon as we make eye contact [laughter], we both have to kind of look away and start breathing real slow.
Fath:We're bad sometimes. Right before they count down, he knows, like if we have an inside joke or if something funny happens earlier, he'll mention it right before just to make me mad.
Winter: I'll mention a word of it, just something to spark her memory and she'll say, "Jerk!" and then she'll pull it together.
Fath: But what I do, to not laugh in a scene, is bite my tongue, so sometimes you can't really understand what I'm saying because I'm biting my tongue or I have a swollen tongue. If I bite my tongue, I won't laugh cause it hurts.
Winter: I like to confuse her because a lot of times Mimi will seem to linger around for an entire scnee and not say anything, and like 5 seconds later say 2 words and [laughter]...
Fath:Well, when Rex has like scenes with other people, and I'm just kind of the girl friend in the background.

[The conversation turns to Fath's wardrobe. She mentions that she asked the wardrobe department to cute pockets off her pants.]

Winter:"Do this for me, please." That's what it's like when you're Farah Fath on this show.
Fath: Yeah, I know [laughs].
Winter: Mimi calls the shots, Rex just tags along [laughter].

::landing...(home)::

::Winter In Canada::Loving Winter::