Born Winona Laura Horowitz on October 29, 1971 in Winona, Michigan, Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her debut in the drama Lucas (1986). In many of her early films, she played quirky roles: the eccentric Lydia in 1988′s horror comedy Beetlejuice and a teenager who falls for the title character in Edward Scissorhands. In 2001, she started making headlines for her trouble with the law, but she has since returned to acting in such films as A Scanner Darkly and The Darwin Awards.
Winona is the daughter of Cynthia Palmer, an author, as well as video producer and editor, and Michael Horowitz, an author, editor, publisher, and antiquarian bookseller. Her parents named her after the town in which she was born, Winona, Minnesota. Ryder is Jewish on her father’s side, and has described herself as Jewish. Her paternal grandparents were immigrants from Russia and Romania; her father’s family was originally named “Tomchin”, but was wrongly assigned the surname “Horowitz” by U.S. immigration officials at Ellis Island. Ryder’s mother is a Buddhist and her father is an atheist. Ryder has one full sibling, a younger brother, Uri (named in honor of the first Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin), an older half-brother, Jubal, and an older half-sister, Sunyata. Ryder’s family friends included her godfather, LSD guru Timothy Leary, as well as the Beat Movement poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and the science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick.
She attended Kenilworth Junior High but was bullied during her first week by a group of her peers who mistook her for an effeminate, scrawny boy. As a result, she was homeschooled that year. In 1983, when Ryder was 12, she enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater in nearby San Francisco, where she took her first acting lessons. Ryder graduated from Petaluma High School with a 4.0 GPA in 1989.
She made her film debut in the coming-of-age drama Lucas (1986). In many of her early films, she played a variety of roles. She was the eccentric, gothic Lydia in 1988′s horror comedy Beetlejuice directed by Tim Burton. Ryder soon appeared as teenager who falls for the unusual title character in Edward Scissorhands (1990) with then-boyfriend Johnny Depp. In the dark comedy Heathers (1989), she played a high school girl battling for her place in the popularity food chain. Ryder graduated to more grown-up roles with Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Her work on The Age of Innocence (1993) earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Two years later, she received another nod from the academy with a Best Actress nomination for her role as Jo in Little Women (1995). While she gave a strong performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999) as a young woman in a mental institution, Ryder made several forgettable films around this time, including the box office dud Autumn in New York (2000).
Ryder appeared in a leading role in the Ron Howard-directed film, The Dilemma, previously called Cheaters and What You Don’t Know. The film, which also starred Vince Vaughn and Kevin James, began filming in Chicago in May 2010 and was released in January 2011. It was recently announced that she will be reunited with Tim Burton for a role in his upcoming animated 3D feature film Frankenweenie. It is scheduled for a March 9, 2012 release date.
Ryder was engaged to actor Johnny Depp for three years beginning in July 1990. She met Depp at the Great Balls of Fire! premiere in June 1989; two months later they began dating. During their relationship, Depp had a tattoo placed on his arm reading “Winona Forever”, which he had altered to “Wino Forever” after their separation.
Winona Ryder Photo Gallery
