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| Birth Name(s) : Winona Laura Horowitz |
Date of Birth: October 29, 1971 |
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| Profession:
Actor |
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Full 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". |
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Additional Winona Ryder Biography
Winona Ryder (born October 29, 1971) is a two-time Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning American actress. Ryder made her screen debut in Lucas (1986) playing a teenage girl with a crush on the film's title character. In 1988, she received attention for her role in Beetlejuice as a Gothic teenager named Lydia. After making various appearances in film and television, Ryder received her breakthrough role in the cult classic black comedy, Heathers (1989) alongside Christian Slater. Her subsequent performances in films such as Edward Scissorhands (1990), Mermaids (1990), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Little Women (1994), The Age of Innocence (1994), and Girl, Interrupted (1999), have won her critical acclaim and some film awards. In 2000, Ryder received her Star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California.. So far she has received a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and two Academy Award nominations in 1993 and 1994, respectively.
In 1985, Ryder sent a videotaped audition to appear in the film Desert Bloom and was rejected. Despite this, David Seltzer, a writer and director, soon noticed her and cast her for his 1986 film Lucas in the role of a friend of the main character. When asked how she wanted her name to appear in the credits, she suggested "Ryder" as her surname as a Mitch Ryder album which belonged to her father was playing in the background. Her next movie 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 Big City. The film considered the question of how much of our behavior derives from our genetic background, how much is influenced by society (i.e., the nature vs. nurture debate), and what the ethical implications are. The Los Angeles Times called Ryder's performance in Square Dance "a remarkable debut". However, both films failed to gain Ryder any notice, and were only marginally successful commercially. Ryder's next role was in Tim Burton's 1988 film Beetlejuice, in which she played a gothic-dressing teenager named Lydia Deetz, suffering from depression. Lydia's family moves to a haunted house populated by ghosts played by Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin and Michael Keaton. Lydia quickly finds herself the only human with a strong empathy toward the ghosts and their situation. The film was a moderate success at the box office, and Ryder's performance and the overall film received mostly positive reviews from critics.
In 1989, Ryder starred in the independent production Heathers. The film was a satirical take on high school life, with Ryder playing Veronica Sawyer, a character who is strongly opposed to violence as a way to resolve conflicts and is ultimately forced to choose between the will of society and her own heart. Upon taking the role, Ryder's agent begged her to turn it down, saying the film would "ruin her career". The film was a flop at the box office on its initial release, but has achieved cult classic status from high sales and rentals. Marked by controversy in its depiction of violence in teenage life, critical reaction was lukewarm, but Ryder's performance was critically embraced, with The Washington Post stating Ryder is "Hollywood's most impressive inge'nue ... 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". Later that year, she starred in Great Balls of Fire!, playing the thirteen-year-old bride of Jerry Lee Lewis. The film was a box office failure, but became a moderate success with critics. In April 1989, she played the title role in the music video for Mojo Nixon's Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child.
Ryder's next role was in the family comedy Mermaids (1990), a cast which included Cher, a young and then-unknown Christina Ricci and Bob Hoskins, which became a moderate success. For her role as Charlotte Flax, Ryder received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. At the same time Ryder performed alongside with Cher and Christina Ricci the video from The Shoop Shoop Song the theme from Mermaids. Following Mermaids was Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, which failed to generate much attention.
Ryder will also soon appear in David Wain's new comedy The Ten, along with Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Famke Janssen, Oliver Platt, and Adam Brody. The film centers around 10 stories, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments. Filming wrapped on September 7, 2006. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival 2007 on January 10, 2007. A theatrical release date has been set for August 3, 2007.
It has also been announced Ryder will play the female lead opposite Wes Bentley and Ray Romano in Geoffrey Haley’s offbeat romantic drama The Last Word. Filming is set to begin on March 19, 2007. Ryder signed up to act as a newscaster in the upcoming movie version of The Informers. |
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Winona Ryder Quote(s)
| 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. |
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