Winona Ryder

Winona Laura Horowitz ( wi-NOH-nə; born October 29, 1971), known professionally as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Having come to attention playing "quirky" characters in the late 1980s, she achieved success with her more dramatic performances in the 1990s. Ryder's many accolades include a Golden Globe, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award.

Following her film debut in Lucas (1986), Ryder rose to prominence when she starred in the comedy Beetlejuice (1988). Major parts in Heathers (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Mermaids (1990), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) came next. She earned two consecutive Oscar nominations—Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress—for her portrayals of a socialite in The Age of Innocence (1993) and Jo March in Little Women (1994), respectively. Her subsequent work included starring roles in Reality Bites (1994), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), The Crucible (1996), Alien Resurrection (1997), Celebrity (1998), Girl, Interrupted (1999), and Mr. Deeds (2002).

After the significant negative media attention brought by her 2001 arrest for shoplifting, Ryder took a break from acting in the early 2000s. She returned with roles in films such as Star Trek (2009), Black Swan (2010), When Love Is Not Enough (2010), and The Dilemma (2011), before experiencing a career resurgence thanks to her role as Joyce Byers in the Netflix series Stranger Things (2016–2025), for which she received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama (her third Golden Globe nomination). She has since starred in the HBO miniseries The Plot Against America (2020) and the Beetlejuice sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).

Winona Laura Horowitz was born in Winona County, Minnesota, on October 29, 1971, the daughter of Cynthia Palmer (née Istas) and Michael D. Horowitz. Cynthia is an author, video producer, and editor, while Michael was an author, editor, publisher, and antiquarian bookseller. He also worked as an archivist for psychologist Timothy Leary, who became Ryder's godfather. Ryder has Irish ancestry through her mother, while her father was of Ashkenazi Jewish descent with roots in Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Growing up, she visited her paternal grandparents in Brooklyn for Passover every year. Her father later became an atheist and her mother became a Buddhist. She has a younger brother named Urie (in honor of Yuri Gagarin) and, from her mother's prior marriage, a half-brother named Jubal and a half-sister named Sunyata.

Ryder was named after Winona, Minnesota, the closest city to the rural farmhouse in which she was born. She was given the middle name Laura after writer Aldous Huxley's wife Laura, with whom her parents were friends. She derived her stage name from singer Mitch Ryder, of whom her father was a fan. Her family's friends have included poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and novelist Philip K. Dick. In 1978, when she was seven years old, she and her family relocated to a commune called Rainbow near Elk, California, where they lived with seven other families on a 300-acre (120 ha) plot of land. As the remote property had no electricity or television sets, Ryder began to devote her time to reading and became an avid fan of J. D. Salinger's book The Catcher in the Rye.

When she was 10, Ryder and her family moved to Petaluma, California. During her first week at Kenilworth Junior High School, she was bullied by children who mistook her for an effeminate boy. In 1983, at the age of 12, Ryder enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater in nearby San Francisco and took her first acting lessons. That same year, she nearly drowned, an experience that caused her to develop aquaphobia. This later caused problems in her career, such as during the filming of underwater scenes in Alien Resurrection (1997), which had to be reshot numerous times. Ryder continued to be bullied in high school, even when she achieved early film success with Beetlejuice (1988). She recalled in 2017, "I remember thinking, 'Ooh, it's like the number one movie. This is going to make things great at school.' But it made things worse. They called me a witch."

Ryder has said that she is a natural brunette who was "really blonde as a kid", and began dyeing her hair blue and purple around the ages of 11 or 12. At the time of her audition for Lucas (1986), her hair had been dyed black and the filmmakers asked her to keep it, which would later almost cost her a breakout role in Heathers (1988).

In 1985, Ryder sent a videotaped audition, where she recited a monologue from the novel Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger, to appear in the film Desert Bloom. Although the role went to Annabeth Gish, David Seltzer cast her in his high school drama Lucas (1986), which starred Corey Haim, Charlie Sheen, and Kerri Green. When asked how she wanted her name to appear in the credits, she suggested "Ryder" as her surname because a Mitch Ryder album that belonged to her father was playing in the background. Ryder's next film was Square Dance (1987), where her teenage character creates a bridge between two different worlds—a traditional farm in the middle of nowhere and a large city. She won acclaim for the performance, with the Los Angeles Times calling it "a remarkable debut". Both films were only marginally successful commercially.

After seeing her in Lucas, director Tim Burton cast Ryder in his film Beetlejuice (1988). She starred as a goth teenager whose family moves to a haunted house populated by ghosts played by Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, and Michael Keaton. The film was a success at the box office, and the film as well as Ryder's performance received mostly positive reviews from critics. She has since said that she owes her career to Burton. Also in 1988, she appeared alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Robert Downey Jr. in 1969, a drama about the Vietnam War and the tensions it created in American families.

Ryder next starred in the independent film Heathers (1989). The film, a satirical take on teenage life, featured Ryder and Christian Slater as high school sweethearts who begin killing off popular students. Her agent initially begged her to turn the role down, saying the film would "ruin her career". Critical reaction to the film was largely positive, and Ryder's performance was positively received, with The Washington Post calling Ryder "Hollywood's most impressive ingénue [...] Ryder [...] makes us love her teen-age murderess, a bright, funny girl with a little Bonnie Parker in her. She is the most likable, best-drawn young adult protagonist since the sexual innocent of Gregory's Girl." Despite its critical success, Heathers was a box-office flop, but has achieved the status of a cult film in following decades. However, soon after the film's release, Ryder had an offer to co-star in the 1990 film The Freshman rescinded because the production team was offended by the film's controversial subject matter. Later that year, she starred in the 1989 biopic Great Balls of Fire!, in which she played the 13-year-old bride (and cousin) of rock'n'roll idol Jerry Lee Lewis. The film was a box-office failure and received mixed reviews from critics. Ryder also appeared in 1989 in the music video for Mojo Nixon's "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child".

Ryder began the 1990s with three starring roles. In the fantasy film Edward Scissorhands (1990), she reunited with director Tim Burton to play the female lead alongside her then-boyfriend Johnny Depp. The film was a significant box office success, grossing $86 million and receiving much critical devotion. Ryder's second role of the year was in the family comedy-drama Mermaids (1990), which co-starred Cher, Bob Hoskins, and Christina Ricci. Mermaids was a moderate box-office success and Ryder's performance was acclaimed; critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "Winona Ryder, in another of her alienated outsider roles, generates real charisma." For her performance, Ryder received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and a National Board Review award for the same category. Following Mermaids, Ryder had the lead role as a troubled teenager in the comedy-drama Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990). The film co-starred Jeff Daniels and was deemed a commercial flop. In 1990, Ryder also made a cameo in Roy Orbison's music video "A Love So Beautiful" with Matthew Modine, and was awarded 'ShoWest's Female Star of Tomorrow' by The National Association of Theatre Owners. She was next slated to appear as Mary Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III, but withdrew from the project in the beginning of filming in 1990 due to nervous exhaustion.

In 1991, Ryder played a young taxicab driver in Jim Jarmusch's independent film Night on Earth. The film was given a limited release, but received critical praise. Ryder then starred in three big-budget adaptations of literary classics. The first was Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), directed by Francis Ford Coppola and featuring Ryder in the dual role of Mina Murray and Count Dracula's past lover, Princess Elisabeta. The script was originally intended for a television adaptation but Ryder liked it so much she brought it to Coppola's attention. The film premiered in November 1992 to critical and commercial success.

Ryder continued her work in period films with Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993), an adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel that co-starred Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis. Ryder considers Scorsese "the best director in the world". For her portrayal of May Welland, the fiancée of Newland Archer (Day-Lewis), Ryder won a Golden Globe and received Academy Award and BAFTA nominations as well. Although not a commercial success, the Age of Innocence received critical praise upon its release in October 1993. Vincent Canby in the New York Times wrote, "Ms Ryder is wonderful as this sweet young thing who's hard as nails, as much out of ignorance as of self-interest."

Ryder next starred alongside Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Antonio Banderas, and Glenn Close in the melodrama The House of the Spirits (1993), based on Isabel Allende's novel. Also released in October 1993, the film was poorly reviewed and a box-office flop, grossing just $6 million on its $40 million budget. Ebert wrote that Ryder "seems an unlikely casting choice but she is more convincing, with more abandon and passion, and she makes her character work." Ryder was next set to star in Broken Dreams with actor River Phoenix. The project was put on hold due to his death on October 31, 1993. In 1993, Ryder also appeared on the music video "Without a Trace" by Soul Asylum, whose member Dave Pirner was her boyfriend at the time.

Ryder's next film, the Generation X drama Reality Bites (1994), marked a departure from period films. Directed by Ben Stiller and co-starring Ethan Hawke, the film featured Ryder as a recent college graduate searching for direction in life. According to Hawke and Stiller, the film got greenlit only due to Ryder's star status. Her performance received acclaim but the film did not meet its studio's expectations in the box office. Ryder returned to period films later that year, appearing as Jo March in Little Women, an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel. The film received widespread praise; critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that it was the greatest adaptation of the novel and that "Ms. Ryder, whose banner year also includes a fine comic performance in Reality Bites, plays Jo with spark and confidence. Her spirited presence gives the film an appealing linchpin, and she plays the self-proclaimed 'man of the family' with just the right staunchness." Ryder received her second Oscar nomination for the role, this time as Best Actress. In 1994, Ryder also made a guest appearance in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Rival" as Allison Taylor, whose intelligence and over-achieving personality makes her an adversary of Lisa.

Ryder's next starring role was in How to Make an American Quilt (1995), an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Whitney Otto, co-starring Anne Bancroft, Maya Angelou, and Ellen Burstyn. The film grossed nearly four times its budget and received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The same year, Ryder narrated Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, for which she received a Grammy Award nomination. A review by Audiofile praised her performance, saying, "Winona Ryder is the perfect narrator for this work. Her voice sounds very young, matching the 14-year-old's enthusiasm and frustrations."

In 2001, Ryder began a four-year career hiatus. Apart from a guest role on Friends as Rachel's college sorority sister and a brief cameo in the comedy film Zoolander (2001), she appeared in no new releases in 2001. She was scheduled to appear in Lily and the Secret of Planting, but withdrew from the project after being hospitalized for a severe stomach issue in August 2001.

Following Ryder's December 2001 arrest for shoplifting, it became difficult for her to be insured for further film projects. After her courtroom appearances in Marc Jacobs clothes were noted in the media, she appeared in Jacobs' Spring 2003 advertising campaign. Woody Allen wanted to cast Robert Downey Jr. (who was also facing legal issues) and Ryder in his film Melinda and Melinda (2004), but was unable to do so: "I couldn't get insurance on them. [...] We couldn't get bonded. The completion bonding companies would not bond the picture unless we could insure them. [...] We were heartbroken because I had worked with Winona before [on Celebrity] and thought she was perfect for this and wanted to work with her again."

In 2002, Ryder appeared in two films shot before her arrest. The first was a romantic comedy, Mr. Deeds, with Adam Sandler, grossing over $126 million in the United States alone. The film was not a critical success; film critic Philip French called it a terrible film, saying that "remakes are often bad, but this one was particularly bad." The second film was the science fiction drama Simone, in which she portrayed a glamorous star who is replaced by a computer simulated actress due to the clandestine machinations of a director, portrayed by Al Pacino. On May 18, 2002, Ryder hosted Saturday Night Live. In 2005, Ryder co-produced and co-narrated the documentary The Day My God Died (2004) with Tim Robbins, which focuses on international child sex trafficking.

Ryder made a career return with appearances in several independent films in 2006 and 2007. The first was The Darwin Awards (2006), in which she acted alongside Joseph Fiennes. The second was Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly, a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel, in which she co-starred opposite Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey, Jr. and Woody Harrelson. The film was made entirely with rotoscope software, which was used to turn live-action scenes into animation. The next year, Ryder appeared in David Wain's comedy The Ten, and reunited with Heathers screenwriter Daniel Waters for the surreal black comedy Sex and Death 101. She also starred in the Kirsten Dunst-directed short horror film Welcome and made a brief appearance in the music video for "We're All Stuck Out In The Desert" by Jonathan Rice.

In 2008, Ryder played the female lead opposite Wes Bentley and Ray Romano in Geoffrey Haley's offbeat romantic drama The Last Word. She then starred as a newscaster in the film adaptation of The Informers. She also appeared in director J. J. Abrams's Star Trek, as Spock's human mother Amanda Grayson. Several media outlets noted Ryder's return to film during this time. In 2009, Ryder starred alongside Robin Wright and Julianne Moore in Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009).

The next year, Ryder had a prominent supporting role as an aging ballet star in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. She also starred in the independent film Stay Cool alongside Hilary Duff, Mark Polish and Chevy Chase, and in the television movie When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story. For her performance as Lois Wilson, whose husband co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1930s, Ryder was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Ryder played her character with wide eyes of both innocence and terror." Ryder next appeared in a leading role in Ron Howard's The Dilemma (2011), co-starring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James.

Ryder then played Deborah Kuklinski, the wife of contract killer Richard Kuklinski, in the thriller The Iceman (2012), co-starring Michael Shannon. She also appeared with her The Iceman co-star James Franco in The Letter (2012). She reunited with director Tim Burton, who directed her in the music video for The Killers' single, "Here with Me", and cast her in the animated 3D feature film Frankenweenie (2012). Ryder also worked with the classic film channel TCM in 2012, guest hosting for a week in September, while Robert Osborne was on vacation, and introducing some of her favorite classic films in December.

In 2013, Ryder appeared in the action thriller Homefront (2013), again opposite James Franco, this time playing a meth-addicted woman. Steven Boone of RogerEbert.com wrote: "Ryder often seems on the verge of laughing in Franco's face as he attempts to manhandle and pimp-talk her. But it's nice to see her raven eyes and regal cheekbones on a big screen again, in whatever capacity." Ryder also starred in a segment of the Comedy Central television series Drunk History (2013) called "Boston". She played religious protester Mary Dyer opposite stern Puritan magistrate John Endicott, played by Michael Cera. She then took on the role of Peggy Shippen, the wife of Benedict Arnold, in her appearance of the second season of Drunk History (2014). In 2014, Ryder appeared in the British television film Turks & Caicos (2014) and modeled in the Fall advertising campaign of fashion label Rag & Bone.

In 2016, Ryder began starring in the Netflix science fiction-horror series Stranger Things, created by the Duffer Brothers. She plays Joyce Byers, a single mother whose 12-year-old son Will vanishes mysteriously. The Duffers said that Ryder "has a very intense energy about her ... a wiry unpredictability, a sort of anxiousness that we thought we'd really lean into." The series' first season premiered in July 2016 to critical acclaim and high audience ratings. Ryder also received praise for her performance, and the cast won the SAG Award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2017. The second and third seasons of the series were released in October 2017 and July 2019. For season three, she was paid a reported $350,000 per episode. The filming for the fourth season had been halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed in September 2020. The first volume of season four premiered on May 27, 2022, and the second volume followed on July 1, 2022. Kate Bush's 1985 song "Running Up That Hill" achieved renewed commercial success after it was included in the season; Ryder had frequently worn Kate Bush T-shirts and lapel badges on set. The fifth and final season was released in November and December 2025.

In 2018, Ryder appeared in the film Destination Wedding, alongside Keanu Reeves. The same year, Ryder also starred in a L'Oréal shampoo commercial, and in H&M's spring collection campaign co-starring Elizabeth Olsen. In 2020, Ryder appeared in Squarespace's Super Bowl commercial, which aired during the first half of the game. Later that year, she starred in The Plot Against America, an HBO limited series based on Philip Roth's 2004 novel of the same name. David Simon, the creator of the series, said: "Winona always had the standing of the great American ingenue. Now we're ready for the second act, because she's always been a remarkable actor—always asking questions about the role, doing the research, and then feeling the camera instinctively once the work begins." The series was Ryder's second collaboration with Simon; in 2014, she appeared in his HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero.

In 2021, Ryder reprised her role as Kim Boggs in Edward Scissorhands alongside Timothée Chalamet in a Super Bowl ad for Cadillac. Her next film was Gone in the Night, co-starring Dermot Mulroney. As early as 1992, Ryder had expressed her willingness to appear in a sequel to Beetlejuice, hinting at such a return in a November 2013 interview, provided that Burton and Keaton were involved, and confirmed again in August 2015 that she would reprise her role in the sequel. The sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, wrapped filming in late 2023, and was released in October 2024.

Ryder resides in San Francisco, California, also maintaining a home in Los Angeles for work purposes and an apartment in the Williamsburg neighborhood of New York City.

Ryder met actor Johnny Depp at the Great Balls of Fire! premiere in June 1989 and they began dating after being reintroduced by a mutual friend in February 1990, when she was 18 and he was 26. They became engaged five months later, but split up in June 1993. She dated musician Dave Pirner from 1993 to 1996, English musician Jay Kay of Jamiroquai in 1997,, actor Matt Damon from 1998 to 2000, and musician Page Hamilton from 2003 to 2005. She has been in a relationship with fashion designer Scott Mackinlay Hahn since 2011.

Ryder has been involved in philanthropic work since her 20s for the American Indian College Fund, which sends low-income Native Americans to universities.

In 1993, Ryder offered a $200,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of kidnapped child Polly Klaas, who had lived in Petaluma, California, where Ryder partially grew up. After Klaas' death, Ryder dedicated her performance as Jo in the 1994 film adaptation of Little Women, one of Klaas' favorite novels, to her memory.

During a sentencing hearing related to her 2001 shoplifting arrest, Ryder's attorney Mark Geragos referred to her work with the Polly Klaas Foundation and other charitable causes. In response, Deputy District Attorney Ann Rundle said, "What's offensive to me is to trot out the body of a dead child." Klaas' father defended Ryder and denounced Rundle for her comments.