Winona Ryder was born Winona Laura Horowitz in Olmsted County, Minnesota, and was named after a nearby town, Winona, Minnesota. She is the daughter of Cynthia , whom she believes to be "the best director in the world".
Her real hair color is blonde but when she made her first major film Lucas , her hair color was dyed black. She was told to keep it that color and with the exception of Edward Scissorhands , it has stayed that color since.
Her December 22, 1999 guest spot on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" was her second-ever appearance on a talk show. She did it to promote Girl, Interrupted , the first film on which she served as executive producer. She clearly had jitters but settled in comfortably. She made her first appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" with Mermaids co-star Cher.
Injured her knee while filming Girl, Interrupted on March 22, 1999.
Has been part of several public polls. In 1996, she was chosen as one of the "Top Players Under 35" list by People magazine. In 1997 she was chosen by People magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" and ranked #42 in Empire magazines the "Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. She has also ranked #49 on Empire magazines 100 sexiest movie stars, #7 on VH1s "100 Greatest Teen Stars" and #183 on the list of VH1 Greatest Pop Culture Icons.
Born at 11:00am CDT, in a farmhouse in Olmsted County, Minnesota.
She briefly checked herself into a hospital when she was 20, because she was suffering from depression, anxiety attacks and exhaustion, resulting from constantly working on films.
Attended and graduated from Petaluma High School in Petaluma, California with a 4.0 GPA.
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 6, 2000. She was voted Best Dressed Celebrity of the Week by Entertainment Weekly for the event. Her great friend Anthony Hopkins attended the ceremony.
Helped Italian designer Giorgio Armani promote his Manhattan chain of stores.
Began work on Girl, Interrupted , which took four more years to succeed to the screen.
The role of Nola in Celebrity was actually written for Drew Barrymore.
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.
Independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch wrote a role specifically for her in Night on Earth , as a tattooed, chain-smoking cabdriver who dreams of becoming a mechanic.
She dedicated the film Little Women to Polly Klaas, a young girl from her hometown of Petaluma, California, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered. She offered a $200,000 reward for anyone with information on the subject, and remains a strong supporter of the Polly Klaas Foundation.
Auditioned for the role of Marla Singer in Fight Club , which eventually went to Helena Bonham Carter.
Beat poet Allen Ginsberg was close friends with her parents.
Upset with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for refusing to pre-screen Autumn in New York , saying she was very proud of the film and that the studio was giving it a bad name before it was even released.
Refused to do promotion for the horror film Lost Souls .
Signed on to "The Girl You Want". After a few weeks of preproduction, she received a new version of the script, which she hated, and tried to get out of her contract. Touchstone Pictures threatened to sue her if she did, and so she completed the film. The films title was changed to Boys and sat on the shelf for more than a year. After it finally got its release, it was released in less than 100 theaters in North America and grossed less than five hundred thousand dollars.
In late 1999, she started her own music company, Roustabout Studios.
Has appeared on the season finale of "Saturday Night Live" as herself on May 19, 2001.
The film Lost Souls , though was released in late 2000, was actually shot in 1998, and New Line Cinema kept the film on the shelf for two years.
Had one date with Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller , who wrote the song "Rollerskate Skinny" about her.
She turned down the lead role in Sabrina because she felt she could not fill Audrey Hepburn s shoes and that the role was marked by sexism.
Her agent begged her not to do Heathers , saying her career would be over.
Enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco at age 12.
The first house she bought was in the Hollywood Hills. She soon moved, saying she never fitted in.
Says Sarah Miles performance in Ryans Daughter inspired her to become a professional actress.
First auditioned for the role of Blanca in The House of the Spirits when she was age 16, but the role went to Pernilla August. The film took years to get made, and when it finally did, August had to drop out at the last minute because of pregnancy, and Winona replaced her.
Dropped out of The Godfather: Part III . She said in an interview later that year that she arrived in Rome to film and simply could not get out of bed. A doctor was called and ordered her to return home and sleep.
Dated Johnny Depp for many years. He had a tattoo of her name and after they broke up, he had it reduced to "Wino forever".
She was considered for the role of Janet Wood in a big-screen remake of "Threes Company" opposite Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz , but the project was eventually cancelled.
(August 16, 2001) Suffered severe stomach pains and doubled over in pain. She was sent to her hotel room in London, England, and later was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with a severe gastroenterological disorder. She left the United Kingdom on August 24th. The sickness caused her to drop out of the (unreleased) film Lily and the Secret Planting and her role eventually went to Kate Winslet instead. Winona was said to have been very passionate about her role in the film and was heartbroken to leave. The incident brought to mind the similar 1990 stomach flu that caused her to drop out of The Godfather: Part III two days before filming began, causing a great deal of controversy.
(December 12, 2001) Was arrested in Beverly Hills for allegedly stealing clothing items and carrying illegal pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription. Her lawyer denied the accusations, and Winona was released later that evening on $20,000 bail. Despite her alleged crime, Beverly Hills police described her as "very friendly, polite and cooperative" and "a nice lady".
Has appeared on the cover of the June 2002 cover of W magazine wearing a "Free Winona" T-shirt. "Free Winona" T-shirts became popular over the Internet following her December 22, 2001 arrest, with many fans sporting them and purses in support.
Broke her arm during the filming of Mr. Deeds , in the scene where she and Adam Sandler are riding bikes down a flight of stairs.
(November 6, 2002) She was found guilty of vandalism and grand theft in connection with the shoplifting charges dating from back on December 12, 2001. Sentencing is scheduled for December 6, 2002. She was acquitted of a third charge, burglary.
(December 6, 2002) Sentenced to 480 hours of community service, three years probation, $3700 in fines, and $6355 in restitution for her arrest on shoplifting charges.
Was the host during Will Ferrell s final episode as a regular cast member of "Saturday Night Live" .
She turned down the role of Katrina in Sleepy Hollow , which went to Christina Ricci.
Is a huge fan of the documentary film Grey Gardens .
Suffers from insomnia. She allegedly has had a habit of talking on the phone with actor Al Pacino , who also suffers from insomnia.
Suffers from aquaphobia due to trauma she suffered at age 12 when she nearly drowned. This caused problems when she had to act in some of the underwater scenes in Alien: Resurrection . The scenes had to be reshot numerous times because of this.
Was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998.
Her friendship with best friend Gwyneth Paltrow ended in the late 1990s because their lives grew apart.
Persuaded Universal Pictures to turn the February 1994 Los Angeles premiere of Reality Bites into a benefit for the Polly Klaas Foundation. She also had enough clout to see that Louisa May Alcott s "Little Women" - Pollys favorite book - was made into Little Women , with Winona in the title role and the film dedicated to Polly Hannah Klaas.
Billy Wilder and William Holden are two artists for whom Ryder has great respect.
She serves on the Board of American Indian College Funds.
(March 17, 2000) San Francisco International Film Festival awarded the prestigious Peter J. Owens Award to her for brilliance, independence and integrity.
Had several films that were announced but later canceled in the mid-2000s: Robert Altman s "The Widow Claire", Norman Jewison s "Embers", Jonas kerlund s "Oskur Fishman", and lie Chouraqui s "Beyond Friendship". She also dropped out of Eulogy .
Her participation in The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things was reported by Italian newspapers months before the official announcements were made; Ryder claims she met author Laura Albert in 1993 at an opera.
She was harassed her first week of junior high school when a group of bullies mistook her for an effeminate, scrawny boy. Ryder said she came to school in Salvation Army clothes and one of the bullies cried out, "Hey, faggot!" They charged her and beat her down. She was injured so badly, she needed stitches. She was expelled from the school for her own "safety". She was then home-schooled from thereon in.
Received an honorary Masters degree in Fine Arts from the American Conservatory Theater.
In 1995, she made yet another significant artistic departure, recording a spoken word reading of the famous diary of Anne Frank, for which she received a Grammy nomination. Winona became one of the few non-musicians to have been nominated for both an Oscar and a Grammy for different projects.
She has a younger brother Uri Horowitz (named after Yuri Gagarin ), an older half-brother Jubal Palmer and an older half-sister Sunyata Palmer.
Her fathers family was originally named "Tomchin", however she stated that they were wrongly assigned the name of the family that they were travelling with when they arrived at Ellis Island, in 1906.
Is an avid reader of 1960s literature (Allen Ginsberg , Jack Kerouac ), but also F. Scott Fitzgerald , Jane Austen , Aldous Huxley , Oscar Wilde and many more. Her all-time favorite book is "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.
She is also into music and plays the guitar. Her favorite band at one point was The Replacements , but she also loves Tom Waits , Cocteau Twins , Wilco and many others.
She owns some of Hollywoods stars most priceless possessions (Louis Armstrong s bongo drums among others). She also has a collection of vintage Hollywood costumes, including Russ Tamblyn s jacket from West Side Story , Leslie Caron s dress from An American in Paris , Claudette Colbert s gown from It Happened One Night , Olivia de Havilland s blouse from Gone with the Wind , and Sandra Dee s bikini from the "Tammy movies".
Most of her childhood was spent in Petaluma, Sonoma County, California. The family spent some time in Columbia with Chilean revolutionaries in the mid-1970s. They moved to a 300 acre commune in Elk, Mendocino County with seven other families in the late 1970s, where they lived for 4 years.
Her godfather is Timothy Leary.
She was considered for the role of Velma Kelly in Chicago , but Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast instead.
Good friends with Courtney Love and the late Brittany Murphy.
She was considered by director Neil LaBute for a role in The Wicker Man , which she turned down.
Took her last name "Ryder" from singer Mitch Ryder of Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels. She saw one of his albums in her fathers record collection.
Her idol is actress Sigourney Weaver. She was a huge fan of Alien and jumped at the chance of appearing alongside her idol for that reason. Ryder starred opposite Weaver in Alien: Resurrection .
Turned down two roles later taken by Julia Roberts ; Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie in Steel Magnolias and Alice Sutton in Conspiracy Theory . She also turned down the role of Nina Borowski in The Object of My Affection , which went to Jennifer Aniston , because of scheduling conflicts.
(March 2008) Was engaged to Blake Soper , having been in a relationship with him since October 2007.
Owns a three bedroom house on Union Street in San Francisco that she purchased in 1995 for $1,300,000 as well as her long time four bedroom mini-manse on North Doheny Drive in Los Angeles that she purchased in 1998 for $2,600,000.
Sold her Manhattan co-operative apartment located at 1 Lexington Avenue in the relatively halcyon Gramercy Park neighborhood for $2,200,000.
Joined Amnesty International at age 12.
(November 2008) Received the "Prix Marie Claire Icono Fashion" during the Marie Claire Awards Party in Madrid, Spain.
She was discovered by a casting director at Salmagundi.
Bought her current Spanish-style Beverly Hills home from Rene Russo s sister, Toni Lynn Russo, who is also the ex-wife of Bernie Taupin , Elton John s lyricist.
In early 2011, she maintained a personal box office record, when she for the first time in her career had two movies placed in top 5 of highest grossing movies over the weekend at the domestic box office - Black Swan and The Dilemma . Previously, when her two films Edward Scissorhands and Mermaids played in theaters over the 1990 holiday season, they were both placed in the box office top 10.
Is six years older than her Star Trek co-star Zachary Quinto , who plays her son in the movie. She was cast as Spocks mother Amanda because the opening scene originally featured her giving birth to Spock. However, the scene was deleted and replaced with a more action-packed scene. Incidentally, Captain James T. Kirks mother in the movie is named Winona.
Beat out Kate Beckinsale , Carla Gugino and Uma Thurman for the role of Geneva in The Dilemma .
She pitched Dracula to Francis Ford Coppola. She had been given a pile of scripts by her agent, one of which was titled "Dracula: The Untold Story". This was the first time Ryder had ever read anything to do with Dracula, let alone see a film about him. She gave Coppola the script, when they met to discuss a possible adaptation of Jack Kerouacs "On the Road". Coppola was interested in Dracula as he saw it as a bridge-building exercise between him and Ryder after she had inexplicably dropped out of The Godfather: Part III .
In 2009, on Paramount Pictures website with "For Your Consideration" banners for award season, they featured one for Winonas performance in Star Trek despite her limited screen time.
According to Francis Ford Coppola , much of the cast for Dracula was assembled as Winonas "dream cast".
For the first time in 17 years, she would have to audition for a role, as the film crew of The Dilemma wished to see what actress could create the right chemistry with Vince Vaughn. She originally auditioned for "Beth", put they found her perfect for "Geneva".
Has collaborated with Tim Burton , on film, three times now. There was a 21 year long gap between their second and third project. They also worked on the music video for the song "Here with Me" by the rock band The Killers.
She was Martin Scorsese s first and only choice for the role of May Welland in The Age of Innocence . For years, she kept the message she left on her voicemail, informing her she got the role.
She turned down the role of Maggie Hayward in Point of No Return , which went to Bridget Fonda.
She was considered for the role of Ravenna the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Huntsman , which eventually went to Charlize Theron.
When she was living with Johnny Depp in 1991, he once sent 200 packets of her favorite food, Oriental-flavored Ramen noodles, to her hotel room when she was away working on a film.
In 1997, former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano Jr. publicly referred to her as a negative role model for having done "more damage to young girls" than any other actress "because she smokes all the time in every movie she makes".
Her Walk of Fame star resides directly in front of the Johnny Grant building next to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard, where Grant says he can "watch over her every day".
Winonas father is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family (from Russia and Romania). Winonas mothers maiden name, "Istas", is Belgian.
Was due to appear at the 2nd Becketts Festival in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland but had to pull out due to a sudden bereavement.
Angelina Jolie thanked her in her Oscar acceptance speech when she won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Girl, Interrupted , adding that "Winona, youre amazing and thank you for supporting all of us through this.".
One of her favorite actresses is Barbara Stanwyck.
Wanted to be a competitive skateboarder when she was younger.
When Joyce Maynard released private letters from J.D. Salinger to the public for an auction, Ryder bid on them in hopes of sending them back to Salinger to honor his privacy or to ignite them if he did not wish to keep them. Salinger is one of her favorite writers.
Daughter of Michael Horowitz and Cynthia Horowitz.
Cut her eyelashes for her part as a city council woman in "Show Me a Hero" after writer David Simon sweet-mannered said they made her look too endearing.
In December 2015, she was announced as the new face of Marc Jacobs Beauty for the labels spring/summer 2016 campaign. She and the labels owner, Marc Jacobs have been close friends for years.
Was a member of the jury at Sundance Film Festival in 2015.
She portrays a ballerina in Black Swan . In real life, she only took several ballet lessons as a child, but quit because she was intimidated by her teacher.
Is admittedly a late bloomer in terms of electronic devices. She did not know what streaming was, when she was approached to do the Netflix series "Stranger Things" .
Did her own singing in Frankenweenie . She agreed to do this when director Tim Burton said this had to sound imperfect.
Audrey Hepburn used to send her clothes.
Woody Allen had initially wanted her for the title role in Melinda and Melinda , but was unable to insure her on the films low budget. The role eventually went to Radha Mitchell.
Before becoming an established actress, Winona once babysat for Tom Waits , one of her favorite artists.
She was considered to play the lead role in Passion of Mind , which went to Demi Moore.
Despite playing her granddaughter in The Age of Innocence , Ryder is just 30 years younger than Miriam Margolyes.
The rock band "The Winona Ryders" named themselves after her.
Her name is very much the same as her birthplace.
Counts "The Americans" as one of her favorite TV series.
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.
I still practice Buddhism to a certain extent and I believe in karma.
My father is an atheist. My mother is Buddhist. They encouraged my,siblings and me to take the best part of other religions to make our,own belief system.
Focus should be on the art of film, not on the business of film.
I remember one time in particular. I was in the middle of auditioning,and I was mid-sentence when the casting director said, "Listen, kid.
I thought it was a great commentary on that aspect of school life.
In my first apartment in L. A.
Usually, the roles that you get offered that are the mom roles are very much the mom role.
