- Born
- Birth nameTristen James Winger
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- Tristen J. Winger made his television acting debut in Issa Rae's HBO Original Series, "Insecure." Winger portrays the character of "Thug Yoda," an intimidating, yet comedic and loving father who also happens to be a local gang member. As Issa's neighbor in the series, Winger's character provides both "Yoda-like" wisdom as well as the occasional comedic relief throughout the show.
Born and raised in South Los Angeles, Winger became immersed in the arts at an early age. In 2000, he was enrolled in The Colburn School of Performing Arts and later joined the Amazing Grace Conservatory where he was inspired to develop his skills in acting, voice, and dance. Years later, Tristen landed a role on the critically acclaimed web series, "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl" as the unknowingly soft-spoken character, baby-voiced "Darius". Soon after, Tristen began taking improv classes at The Upright Citizen's Brigade in addition to courses at Lesly Kahn & Co.
He enjoys spending his off screen time writing, traveling, producing music, and impersonating characters and people from everyday life. Winger recognizes and credits his passion and growing success to his mother, a retired touring ballroom dancer who consistently sought out activities to foster his creative development.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tristen J. Winger - In 2022 Tristen J. Winger can be seen starring on CBS' brand new, comedy series "So Help Me Todd" opposite Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin. Slated to premiere on Thursday September 29th, the series follows Todd (Astin) a private detective who is offered a position as an in-house investigator at his mom's (Harden) uber-successful law firm as a way to get his act together. He reluctantly agrees, as long as Mom promises to let her adult son be who he wants to be. Winger shines on the show as Lyle, a silently judgmental, veteran know-it-all detective whose arched nemesis quickly becomes the newest addition to their team: Todd.
On the film front Winger can be seen starring as Tripp in the short "The Hostage" from Paul Feig and Powderkeg Media. The film - which was recently accepted into the Nantucket Film Festival - tells the story of a bored, middle-aged woman desperate for an adrenaline rush who becomes entangled with a crew of dangerous diamond thieves.
In television, Winger has played a variety of interesting characters that come from many different backgrounds. He may be best known for his role as Thug Yoda on the groundbreaking, award winning series "Insecure" from creator/writer/producer Issa Rae. For 5 years Winger made fans laugh as a loving father from Inglewood who just happens to have gang affiliations and provides "Yoda-like" wisdom as well as guidance to Issa and Lawrence Walker (Jay Ellis.) From 2019-2021, Winger starred on the inaugural BET+ comedy series "Bigger" appearing as Vince, a young at heart, up and coming DJ who is stuck in the early 2000's era hip-hop world. A self-proclaimed purist, Vince must figure out how to get out of his own way to achieve success not only in the world of DJ'ing, but also in his personal relationships. Vince was the only character to receive a bottle episode in the series, based on Tristen's life. The bottle episode was written by Devon Shepard and served as series creator Felischa Marye's directorial debut.
Previous credits for Winger include: "East of La Brea," "50 Central," "Almost 30" for Matthew Cherry, and his first big break; comedy web series "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl" opposite Issa Rae, which debuted on YouTube February 3, 2011. In film, Winger appeared in the award-winning short "Baldwin Beauty" (Powderkeg Media) which went to the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and was nominated for Short Film Grand Jury Prize, and Best Short Film. The project was also nominated for a NAACP Image Award in 2020 for Outstanding Short Form (Live Action).
Aside from working in front of the camera, Winger frequently lends his voice to projects. He voiced multiple characters in the highly popular PlayStation 5 video game, Horizon: Forbidden West. Recently, he starred in the podcast "We Stay Looking" (6 episodes), which was produced by HBO Max. The podcast was nominated at the 2022 Ambies for Best Scriptwriting, Fiction, and secured back-to-back wins at the 2021 and 2022 Webby Awards in the Podcasts - Scripted (Fiction) (Limited-Series & Specials) category.
Born and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, Winger discovered his love for acting at a young age. He notes he was a "TGIF" kid, looking forward to Friday nights where he could tune into "Family Matters" and see himself represented for the first time on television through Jaleel White, and his character Steve Urkel. Growing up Winger attended the Amazing Grace Conservatory (AGC) co-founded by Wendy Raquel Robinson, where he was able to further hone his craft in theater, bringing characters to life on stage. He went on to attend the King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, where he became friends with Issa Rae (who would eventually give him his first big break with "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl") graduating one year early. While Winger originally thought he would go into the medical field, even studying science, math, and engineering at California State University Northridge, the arts kept calling his name. He dabbled in music production and audio engineering learning to produce and make music while in college and took a few retail jobs while he auditioned for acting projects in Los Angeles. While working at the Apple store he landed one of his first big jobs on "Insecure," and he has been booking back-to-back film and television projects ever since.
In addition to his work on camera, Winger is passionate about giving back to his community and bringing awareness to the growing food desert issues in South L.A. where there are areas with extremely limited access to fresh food. Winger is also an advocate for shining a light on the stigma around mental health, and lack of adequate mental health resources for Black men as he has been on a personal journey through therapy and building deeper, meaningful relationships with others, and himself. Over the years Winger has continued to support the Amazing Grace Conservatory where he got his start so many years ago, supporting emerging artists and at risk youth in the performing and digital arts by offering a well-rounded and culturally enriching, educational program in an environment that is nurturing for their personal, artistic and professional growth.
Winger currently lives in South Central LA with his rescue dog, a Yorkiepoo named Frito.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Persona PR
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