Winona Ryder has built up a reputation for being the actress to call on for difficult roles. Her ability to see beyond the surface and to create characters that others couldn't was built through a life spent outside of the mainstream. Winona Laura Horowitz was born on October 29th, 1971 in Winona, Minnesota. She was named after the town she was born in by her hippy parents Cindy and Michael.
Her parents were more involved with political activism at the height of the hippy movement than they were with drugs. This is not to say that they were completely divorced from the hallucinogenic side of the life. Her godfather was Dr. Timothy Leary, the L.S.D. guru who was influential in the drug counter-culture. Her father worked intimately with Leary, and for a time he ran a bookstore called "Flashback Books." They were more interested in protesting Agent Orange than in preaching the benefits of mind alteration, however. Winona grew up in this atmosphere, sometimes living on electricity-free compounds. When she was eight, her parents moved back to the city. During her first week at the new school, the tom-boyish waif was jumped by a group of boys who mistook her for a gay boy rather than a girl. This pummeling resulted in something good. After some time spent learning at home, she was enrolled in the prestigious American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. It was while performing onstage at the Conservatory that she was discovered. Winona auditioned for the role of John Voight's daughter in Desert Bloom. She didn't get the part, but she got representation in the form of Triad Artists after they saw her tape.
Triad soon lined her up for her first role in Lucas. Lucas wasn't great but Winona's solid performance provided her a springboard into further films. It was also at this point that Winona Horowitz became Winona Ryder for the first time. When asked how she would like her name to appear in the credits, she chose the name Ryder from Mitch Ryder, who was one of her father's favorite musicians.
She followed Lucas with a string of decent but unmemorable movies. Then came her big break. She appeared in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. Her role as the black-clothed, angst-ridden teenager captured the attention of late-eighties audiences. A year later, she played a similar character in the dark high school comedy, Heathers.
The fact that she could bring these darkly witty characters to life so beautifully guaranteed that when Burton was casting for Edward Scissorhands, she would be the first considered. While her role was less angst-filled than previous outings, she did an admirable role in this one as well. Wearing a blond wig, she played the beauty opposite then-fiance Johnny Depp's beast. This marked her last outing in the role of a teenager.
After a small role in the indy film Night of Earth, her next role would have been her biggest to date, as Michael Corleone's daughter in Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather Part III. Unfortunately, she had to pull out at the last minute due to a respiratory infection brought on by exhaustion. Instead, the role was played by the totally-inadequate-for-the-task, Sophia Coppola.However, Winona Ryder and Francis Ford Coppola would work together yet. When Ryder found the screenplay for an adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, she approached Coppola and he signed on. The sexually and sensually charged adaptation provided Ryder with her first truly grown-up role. She followed Dracula with Age of Innocence, which garnered her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Having made two costume dramas, she signed on for a third. Little Women had been one of Ryder's favorite novels and her performance as Jo March resulted in another Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress.
Winona Ryder Confirms Heathers SequelPaste Magazine, GABut original Heather-destroyer Winona Ryder has confirmed it. We heard it from Perez who heard it from Us Weekly who heard it from Ryder herself: The estrogen-tinged horror-comedy is back. This news comes in on the heels of a possible Heathers musical,
Watching With Kids in MindWashington Post, United StatesSpock struggles with emotions when his Vulcan father (Ben Cross) and human mother (Winona Ryder) are in peril. And thanks to a "disrupted time continuum," young Kirk meets an old Spock (Leonard Nimoy, who else?), who offers crucial advice.
"Star Trek" Reminds Me Why I Liked Winona RyderHuffington Post, NYNothing surprised me more, however, than my deep delight at seeing Winona Ryder on screen. Winona! Ryder! Star Trek cakes her in old-age make-up to play Spock's mother, but she's obviously still the pixie-faced charmer that made me want to welcome Roxy
Winona Ryder has a thing for Vulcans? Who knew? The veteran Los Angeles Times, CAWinona Ryder has a thing for Vulcans? Who knew? The veteran actress has a cameo in the "Star Trek" reboot as Spock's human mother, and she's not the only surprising face to pop up in the latest journey into the "Trek" universe.
Another trip through Bret Easton Ellis' yuppie hall of horrors The Star-Ledger - NJ.comMoview review: The Informers ** Toledo BladeChicago Reader - Denver Postall 142 news articles
Celebrity news and gossip from the man with the unpronounceable New Zealand Herald, New ZealandRumour has it she's talking about old BFF Winona Ryder. Folklore says that the two had a fall-out after some brouhaha about the script for Shakespeare In Love (a role which gained Gwynnie an Oscar). Rumour has it that Ryder had her eye on the part for
The Dirty Dozen: 12 Films We're Ashamed to LoveNewsweekOh, pre-shoplifting-scandal Winona Ryder. Oh, pre-rehab Kirsten Dunst. Oh, pre-salt-and-pepper Gabriel Byrne. (Seriously, who isn't in this movie?! I'm not even halfway through.) This movie represents the first time a lit-to-film adaptation was as
Celebrating Allen's first NY movie since 2004San Francisco Chronicle, USAWorld premiere fictional films include Irish playwright Conor McPherson's "The Eclipse," starring Aidan Quinn; the Polish brothers' "Stay Cool," a high school reunion movie with Winona Ryder; "Accidents Happen," a family drama with Geena Davis;
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