Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder biography

Winona Ryder was born Winona Horowitz and named after her the town in which she was born, Winona Minnesota. She grew up in a ranch commune in Northern California where there was no electricity. She is the Goddaughter of Timothy Leary and her parents were friends of Beat poet 'Allen Ginsberg' and once edited a book called "Shaman Woman Mainline Lady" an anthology of writings on the drug experience in literature - this included one piece by Louisa May Alcott. Winona Ryder was later to star as Jo in this author's Little Women (1994). She moved with her parents to Petaluma (near San Francisco) when she was ten and enrolled in acting classes at the American Conservatory Theater. At 13 she had a video audition to the film Desert Bloom (1986), but didn't get the part. Director 'David Seltzer (I)' (qv), however, spotted her and cast her in Lucas (1986). When telephoned to ask how she'd like to have her name appear on the credits, she suggested Ryder as her father's Mitch Ryder album was playing the background. Ryder was selected for the part of Mary Corleone in Godfather: Part III, The (1990), but had to drop out of the role after catching the flu from the strain of doing the films Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990) and Mermaids (1990) back to back. She said she didn't want to let everyone down by doing a substandard performance. She later made _Age of Innocence, The (1993)_ (qv) which was directed by Martin Scorsese, who she believes to be "the best director in the world".

Trivia

Her real hair color is blonde but when she made her first major film Lucas (1986) her hair color was dyed black and she was told to keep it that color and it has stayed that color since.

Quote

(When asked why is she always playing teenagers, during a press junket for Mermaids in 1990) "Like, I'm nineteen. What am I supposed to do, play a judge?!"
"I read biographies of the greats, and they were so messed up that I thought I'd better mess myself up. But I couldn't. I'm too small."
'For a long time I was almost ashamed of being an actress. I felt like it was a shallow occupation. People would be watching my every move.'(on Heathers (1989)) "It's a brilliant piece of literature, and I call it literature because it really is. I held it up next to 'Catcher in the Rye' and all the great books that I've read."

Salary Alien: Resurrection (1997) $2,800,000
Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: Raven-haired, mesmerizing young actress of considerable talent and range. The daughter of confirmed counterculture types (her godfather is Dr. Timothy Leary) who grew up on a California commune, Ryder performed on stage in small theaters as a preteen. Her fair skin, contrasted with dark, soulful eyes, made her a natural for sensitive teen types in Lucas (1986) and Square Dance (1987), but she really scored as the blackgarbed, death-obsessed daughter in Beetlejuice (1988), a high-profile hit comedy that opened doors for her. She was convincing as the child-bride cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire! a high-school conspirator in Heathers (both 1989), a small-town weirdo in Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael the longsuffering daughter of Cher in Mermaids and the sensitive blond girlfriend of Edward Scissorhands (all 1990). That nonstop work schedule caused her to bow out of The Godfather, Part III but her career picked up with the female lead in Francis Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), a project she brought to the director's attention. Martin Scorsese then chose her to play the deceptively docile fianc?e in The Age of Innocence (1993), for which she earned a Supporting Oscar nomination. She followed with The House of the Spirits (also 1993), then starred in Reality Bites and earned a Best Actress nomination for her enchanting work as Jo March in Little Women (both 1994), a pet project of hers.