As Gene Cousineau, Barry’s jaded but talented acting teacher, Henry Winkler doesn’t quite embody the dark side of Hollywood.
As we saw in a single very telling scene in Episode 4, Gene is on the lowest rung of the acting profession.
Barry wants to be an actor and an artist, but he’s terrible at it.
Gene represents “the sadness of wanting to be somebody and maybe not becoming that person you want be,” Winkler tells TV Guide, “so you create it in this artificial space.”