Winona Ryder (Actor)
Born to authors and editors Cynthia Palmer and Michael Horowitz, who was also a bookseller, Winona Ryder moved with her family to Northern California at the age of 7. Her family moved to Petaluma, California when she was 10, and she began acting classes at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
Her acting debut was in Lucas, a romantic comedy and drama film that listed her name as Winona Ryder in the credits. She has kept the surname ever since. Beetlejuice (1988) was her first box office hit, and director Tim Burton went on to collaborate with her throughout her career on projects such as Edward Scissorhands (1990) opposite Jonny Depp. She starred as Veronica Sawyer in Heaters (1988), and she went on to appear in the gothic Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) directed by Francis Ford Coppola. She was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role of May Welland in The Age of Innocence (1993)and another Academy Award nomination recognized her performance of Jo March in Gillian Armstrong’s movie adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (1994).
Ryder went on to star in The Crucible (1996) as Abigail Williams, Alien Resurrection (1997) as Call, Girl, Interrupted as Susanna and Autumn in New York (2000) as Charlotte Fielding. More recent films in which Ryder starred include The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) and Star Trek (2009). She appeared in Black Swan (2010)and The Dilemma (2011), and she voiced Elsa Van Helsing in Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie (2012). Most recently, Ryder has anchored Netflix’s tentpole series Stranger Things through four seasons and is on board for the fifth and final one, in which she will reprise her role as Joyce Byers, mother to Noa Scnapp’s Will Byers, whose disappearance began the whole story. She also appeared in Disney’s Haunted Mansion (2023) and Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) sequel as Lydia Deetz, who she first portrayed as a teenager.
The actress has been dating Scott Mackinlay Hahn since 2011. Before that, she was engaged to her Edward Scissorhands costar Johnny Depp. It is unclear if she truly married Dracula costar, Keanu Reeves.
- First Name
-
Winona
- Last Name
-
Ryder
- Date of Birth
-
October, 29, 1971
- Place of Birth
-
Winona, Minnesota
- Notable Work
-
Beetlejuice (1988), Heathers (1988), Mermaids (1990), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), Little Women (1994), Alien Resurrection (1997), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Autumn in New York (2000), Star Trek (2009), Frankenweenie (2012), Stranger Things, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
- Notable Awards
-
Nominated for Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in The Age of Innocence (1993) and Best Lead Actress in Little Women (1994)
