Winona Ryder's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) 100 Greatest Teen Stars Winona Ryder 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons Winona Ryder

Main Movie Roles 2011 - The Dilemma 2010 - Black Swan 2009 - Star Trek 2009 - The Private Lives of Pippa Lee 2009 - Stay Cool 2007 - The Ten 2006 - The Darwin Awards 2006 - A Scanner Darkly 2004 - The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things 2002 - S1m0ne 2002 - Mr. Deeds 2001 - Zoolander 2000 - Lost Souls 2000 - Autumn in New York 1999 - Being John Malkovich 1999 - Girl, Interrupted 1998 - Celebrity 1997 - Alien: Resurrection 1996 - The Crucible 1996 - Boys 1996 - Looking For Richard 1995 - How To Make An American Quilt 1994 - Reality Bites 1994 - Little Women 1993 - The House of the Spirits 1993 - The Age of Innocence 1992 - Bram Stoker's Dracula 1991 - Night on Earth 1990 - Edward Scissorhands 1990 - Mermaids 1990 - Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael 1989 - Great Balls of Fire! 1989 - Heathers 1988 - 1969 1986 - Lucas

BIOGRAPHY:

Winona Ryder was born Winona Horowitz and named after 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), 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 The Godfather: Part III (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 The Age of Innocence (1993) which was directed by Martin Scorsese, who she believes to be "the best director in the world".


TRIVIA:

• 'Billy Wilder' (qv) and 'William Holden (I)' (qv) are two artists for whom Ryder has great respect.
• She is also into music and plays the guitar. Her favorite band at one point was 'The Replacements', but she also loves 'Tom Waits' (qv), 'Cocteau Twins' (qv), 'Wilco' (qv) and many others.
• Had to turn down the role of Alice Sutton in _Conspiracy Theory (1997)_ (qv), which went to 'Julia Roberts (I)' (qv), because of scheduling conflicts.
• Although there was no electricity on the commune where they lived, when Winona was seven, her mother began to run an old movie theater in a nearby barn and would screen movies all day. She allowed Winona to miss school to watch movies with her.
• (1997) Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.
• Suffers from insomnia. She allegedly has had a habit of talking on the phone with actor 'Al Pacino' (qv), who also suffers from insomnia.
• Born at 11:00am, CDT.
• Her friendship with best friend 'Gwyneth Paltrow' (qv) ended in the late 1990s because their lives grew apart.