Originally born in California but making his way to Hollywood via Georgia, Travis Van Winkle came to Los Angeles. when he was 20 and has been working in the business ever since.
On the TV side, Van Winkle currently is a series regular on TNT’s high-octane drama “The Last Ship.” Other recent credits include an arc on CW’s “Hart of Dixie,” and various guest roles, including “2 Broke Girls,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Raising Hope,” a recurring role on “Happy Endings,” a multiple-episode arc on “90210,” plus “Greek,” Veronica Mars,” “Campus Ladies” and “The OC.”
Previous film credits include lead roles in Paramount’s “Friday the 13th,” a role he got after working with director Michael Bay on “Transformers,” the Fox comedy “Meet the Spartans,” MGM’s “Asylum,” directed by David Ellis, and independent comedy “Last Call,” with Ryan Hansen and Christopher Lloyd.
Van Winkle was in the first “Transformers” film and had a supporting role in Universal’s “Accepted.” He also shot indie thriller “Rites of Passage,” opposite Christian Slater and Wes Bentley. Additionally, he has been seen in a series of high-profile Unilever spots shown throughout AMC’s run of “Mad Men” and was in the indie thriller “Bloodwork” opposite Tricia Helfer.
Van Winkle has been ramping up his philanthropic efforts, creating the Love:Life Foundation to rally others in Hollywood to give both their time and money to worthy causes. Love:Life’s first charity partner is buildOn, an international organization dedicated to building and empowering primary schools in impoverished U.S. inner-city & international locations. He will be leading buildOn’s “Team Hollywood” to Nepal and Malawi, in Africa. Van Winkle is also an active participant in the Big Brother/Big Sister program in Los Angeles, and has hosted their Big Bash Gala event.
