Pingu (fanon biography)

Paul Nathan Guy "Pingu" Winters OA MP*AC (born 6 July 1980) is an actor, musician, marine biologist, and television personality known for his eponymous show, Pingu. He is known for playing mischievous characters in his acting roles, introspective themes and storytelling in his lyrics, and for his experimentation in his music, performing in genres from folk to ambient and electronica. Pingu is the recipient for numerous accolades, including the AntScreen Award, the AntMusic Award, and the BAFTA Award. His work in marine biology in the Southern Institute of Biology has granted him the honorary title Plinguton.

Born in Zürich, Switzerland, he was partly raised in Hammersmith, London, where Pingu learned to act from his attending of theatres and plays and from his home movies that his parents recorded. After being scouted by a Swiss talent agent, Pingu moved to Russikon and began his career as a child actor by playing the lead role of the titular character in the television show of the same name, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award, and went on to achieve massive success around the world. After graduating from Coventry University, Pingu was drafted into the Swiss military in 2001. He was granted military leave after his show got revived by HiT Entertainment and subsequently moved to London to film the remaining series. After the cancellation of his reboot, he pursued voice acting projects while also balancing it with his music career. His voice acting roles include Jamesetta Jones in the Kew Gardens Already Grew!, Trixie Dalle in Portnoy, and Lloyd Sackman in VC. He returned to in-person acting after reprising his former role in Pingu in the City, a reboot based on the original series.

He began to do multiple side projects during his career, with the most notable being Icebreakers, who were a musical group consisting of his friends and sister. After the show ended, he went on to star in online projects and began to do some voice acting work, while focusing on his music career. Renowned as a Swiss cultural icon, he was celebrated with a series of stamps and was awarded the Order of Antarctica and the Order of the Merit of Penguins in 2015.

Early life
Winters was born on 6 July 1980 at the Balgrist University Hospital (German: Universitätsklinik Balgrist) in Zürich, Switzerland. The first of two children, his father, Paul Winters, is a British-American-Swiss former musician who now works as a courier, while his mother, Polly Margaret (née Mead), is a British musician who played saxophone in multiple bands. From his father's side, he is the grandson of Paul A. Henry (birth name: Paul Anthony Winters), a musician, engineer, and former weightlifter. Both of his parents were planning to reside in Russikon before he was born, but his parents drove to the nearby city of Zurich for a holiday, where he was born.

A month after he was born, the family moved to Hammersmith, London. Winters was an active child growing up, often visiting his friends' houses and homes, and loved playing sports, most particularly ice hockey. He has been described as strong-willed by peers, but is often prone to misbehaving. He has been described as "almost the polar opposite of his younger sister Mary, who is quite shy and reserved."

Winters attended the Outdoors School for Excelling Penguins in Zurich, Switzerland, which functioned as a mixed primary-secondary school. His classmates were Attin Page, Terry Goldberg, Peter Reginald, and school sweetheart Gabby Pascal. Pingu studied in Coventry University, majoring in music, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and marine biology. He later graduated in 2001.

Pingu: 1990–2006
Winters was inspired by frequenting movie theatres and plays as a child, due to his parents' leniency on television and video games. Although he was interested by theatre as a child, he was not particularly interested in acting; "I wanted to become a marine biologist, because I didn't consider acting to be a 'true profession'. As I grew up, I started to think more about acting, and I thought about it even more when I was in school." Learning from his experiences of watching other people and his home movies, he and his family took a holiday to Zürich, and auditioned for a supporting role as Hugo in an unnamed pilot. After a series of auditions, he found a letter from the acting company; the letter congratulated the family on being hired for the job. After Winters' parents read the letter to him, he became shocked and fainted from the news. The studio then began to record a pilot in 1986, which was not leaked until the 2010s. The role, which was previously tested on another actor 6 years earlier, was given to Winters, and the character was subsequently renamed in the process as "Pingu". He began to adopt the name for himself, even in real-life situations, and began introducing himself as Pingu Paul from then on. When asked whether it was "Pingu" or "Pingu Paul", he quipped, "generally Pingu, but in some situations I go by Pingu Paul instead. Either one of those two work."

Pingu's family began to buy a house near the studio in Russikon, and began to divide his time between school on weekdays and acting on weekends; his parents also set up a schedule for him, and he frequently moved between Whitby and Russikon. "I had a script that gave me the general idea of what I was going to do or say, and it's in this babble that sounds like a real language from a distance. That's what makes this series so endearing... well, besides the slapstick."

Soon after the first episode aired, the show made some revenue, and the company that produced it divided its equal worth amongst themselves and the family. In spite of the show's success, he kept the same schedule even until its final episode in 2006, stating that he "didn't want to fall into the trap of child actors" and "wanting to make sure [Pingu] was well behaved and not be a trainwreck of a person thereafter". After the show ended, the money largely came from re-tapings of the show, and were given some revenue from the distributors.

Voice acting: 2006–2017
Pingu shifted his focus to voice acting during this time period. His first voice acting credit was Waldron in the radio drama Manors of Love. He later took up roles in online animation and radio-dramas such as Portnoy in Trixie Dalle, Jamesetta Jones in The Kew Gardens Already Grew!, Courier Blackmarket in With My Little Eye, Jed in Rich Cottage, Lloyd Sackman in VC, and Dru Livingstone in HollyWorld. Pingu loved voice acting as it was more efficient, giving him more time to balance his schedule. He also appreciated how it and "It's all in the voice. You express more out of voice acting, you pretty much have to imagine. And that's what makes it great."

Personal life and relationships
Pingu and his family began to reside in Switzerland in 1980 while his mother was pregnant with him. In the set of his show, he became adequate with the writers and producers, and his family approved of Pingu taking German and Italian studies with Swiss tutors while filming. He is fluent in Swiss German and English, and demonstrates advanced skills in Italian, along with a conversational level of French.

Pingu's first real friend was Robby Brighton, who he met while fishing in a pond. They originally did not get along well, but after Brighton sustained some injuries after breaking his arm in an enclosure, they bonded together. Pingu still maintains this relationship to this very day, and Brighton has even joked about Pingu being his boyfriend. In Pingu's Admirer, Pingu first met Gabby Pascal during a school session, when she was a new student. Initially, they did not get along, as Pingu did not take kindly to her romantic feelings, but after taking shelter from accidentally destroying property, their relationship became more closer.

In reality, they first met after she was casted to play the role of Pingi. Pascal stated that her aunt drove from Geneva to Zürich for a casting call, which is where she met Pingu. While filming the episode, they began to form a relationship. In October 2021, the pair announced that they were expecting twins. On 17 May 2022, Pascal gave birth to twins Danielle and Joseph Pascal-Winters.

Residencies
Pingu lived with his family until the age of 18. He bought a small house in London and traveled constantly between his house and the studio in Russikon until the series ended in 2000. Pingu briefly lived in the Henson Gardens in London from 2003 to 2006, before moving back to his house. He moved to Queens, New York City sometime around 2012 and currently lives there with his partner.

Personal interests
Pingu occasionally plays music with his friends and younger sister, often performing gigs at his home in New York City. He is an avid sportsperson, recently taking up association football while living in New York City; his favorite pastimes are curling and hockey.

Awards and honours
On 2015, the 25th anniversary of Pingu, he was awarded the Order of Antarctica and the Order of the Merit of Penguins by the Antarctic Council in the UK.

Other notes
This is a fanon biography of Pingu, and as such those details are to be taken with a grain of salt. For the official biography of Pingu, go here → Pingu (canon biography)