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Winona Ryder (born October 29, 1971) is
a two-time Academy Award nominated and Golden
Globe-winning American actress. She has received a
Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and two
Academy Award nominations in 1993 and 1994,
respectively.
Ryder made her screen debut in Lucas (1986) playing a
teenage girl with a crush on the film's title character,
Lucas. In 1988 she had what some may consider her
breakout 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 high-school set black comedy, Heathers
(1989) alongside Christian Slater. Since then, Ryder's
acting career has developed greatly.
Her 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 not only critical acclaim but also many film awards.
In 2000, Ryder received her Star on the Walk of Fame in
Hollywood, California, certifying her as one of the most
successful actresses of her time.
Ryder is also well known for her high profile romance
with Johnny Depp in the early 1990s. Her film career
slowed down considerably after her arrest for
shoplifting from a Saks Fifth Avenue store on December
12, 2001 — which attracted worldwide media attention.
However, despite the penalty and negative controversy,
Ryder has established a balanced and moderately
successful film career well into the 2000s.
Early life and education: Born Winona Laura
Horowitz in Olmsted County, Minnesota, she was named
after the nearby city of Winona. She was given her
middle name, Laura, because of her parents' friendship
with Aldous Huxley's wife, Laura Huxley. Her mother is
author Cindy Horowitz (née Istas), and her father is
author and editor Michael Horowitz. Her paternal
grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and her
maternal grandparents from Romania. Records show her
father's family were originally named Tomschin when they
arrived on the Kroonland at Ellis Island in 1906, but
went under the name Horowitz when they resided in
Manhattan. Ryder has one sibling, a younger brother,
Yuri (named after Yuri Gagarin), an older half-brother,
Jubal, and an older half-sister, Sunyata. Notable family
friends include her godfather, LSD guru Timothy Leary
and beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
In 1978, when Ryder was seven years old, she and her
family relocated to Rainbow, a commune near Elk,
California, where they lived with seven other families
on a 300-acre (1.2 km²) plot of land. As the remote
property had no electricity or television sets, Ryder
took to reading. Her mother did, however, show her some
films on a screen in the barn and consequently, she
developed an interest in acting.
At the age of ten, Ryder and her family moved on again
to Petaluma, California. During her first week at the
Petaluma High School, she was bullied by a group of her
peers who mistook her for an effeminate, scrawny boy. As
a result, she ended up being homeschooled that year. In
1983, when Ryder was twelve years old, she enrolled at
the American Conservatory Theater in nearby San
Francisco, where she started taking her first acting
lessons. Her graduation from Petaluma High School saw
her receive a GPA of 4.0.
Ryder also revealed she suffers from aquaphobia due to a
trauma she received when she nearly drowned at the age
of 12. This caused problems when she had to act in some
of the under-water scenes in Alien: Resurrection in
1997. The scenes had to be retaken endless times because
of this.
Career, Early works, 1985–1990: In 1985, Ryder
sent a video taped audition to appear in the film Desert
Bloom however she 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 Sqaure 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
induced by the extreme consumer worldview her parents
represent.
Lydia's family move 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 and sympathy toward the
ghosts and their situation. The film was a moderate
success at the box office, and received mostly positive
reveiws from critics. In addition, commercially and
critically, Ryder also received noteworthy attention.
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." Ryder later
fired that agent.[citation needed] The film was a flop
at the box office on its initial release, but received a
cult classic status thanks to excessive sales and
rentals due to home video marketing. Marked by
controversy of its depiction of violence in teenage
life, critical reaction was lukewarm and Ryder's
performance was critically embraced, with The Washington
Post saying "[Ryder] will become one of Hollywood's
most impressive inge'nue. She [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 1990, Ryder appeared in three films, the first
playing the primary role in Edward Scissorhands (1990),
alongside her then-boyfriend Johnny Depp. The film would
reprise Tim Burton and Ryder, who had previously worked
together on Beetlejuice. Edward Scissorhands would
become one of 1990's highest grossing films, and was
deemed by The Austin Chronicle as an "utterly
enchanting fairy tale". Later that year, she
withdrew production on Francis Ford Coppola's The
Godfather Part III, after she had attended to Rome,
Italy for filming, and stated that one morning she
"could simply not get out of bed". The illness
caused Ryder to cancell the project. This caused a state
of difficulty for finding a role to replace Ryder,
eventually Coppola's daughter Sofia Coppola was given
the role. Rumours surfaced that Ryder had turned the
role down because of her pregancy to then-boyfriend
Johnny Depp. 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. Following Mermaids was
Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, which failed to generate
much attention.
Major success, 1991–1995: In 1991, Ryder played
a young taxi driver who dreams of becoming a mechanic in
Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth, challenging society's
widely accepted gender roles.[citation needed] The film
was only given a limited release at the box office, but
received critical praise. She also starred in 1991's
melodrama House of the Spirits, set in Chile in 1926 and
capturing the upevils of the political side of the
country. Ryder played the love interest of Antonio
Banderas. Principel filming was done in Denmark and
Portugal. The film was a box office flop, grossing just
US$6,265,311 on its US$40 million budget, and was
critically disemboweled. The following year, Ryder
starred in the dual roles of Dracula's reincarnated love
interest Mina Murray and Dracula's past lover Princess
Elisabeta, in Bram Stoker's Dracula, a project she
brought to director Francis Ford Coppola's attention.
In 1993, Ryder starred in The Age of Innocence
(alongside Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis), a
film based on a novel by Edith Wharton and helmed by
director Martin Scorsese, whom Ryder considers as
"the best director". Ryder portrayed a young
woman, captured in plots within plots within plots of
the society where every sentence pronounced has at least
three different meanings. Her surroundings reflect the
interpersonal and societal conflicts raging within and
around her via many scenic references and multi-layered
utterances. Her role in this movie won her a Golden
Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as an
Academy Award nomination in the same category.
Her next starring role was in 1995's How to Make an
American Quilt. Later in 1994, Ryder was handpicked to
play Josephine March in the classical literature film
adaptation of Little Women. Ryder drew immensley
positive reviews toward the film, with noted critic
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times remarking that
"[Ryder] gives a a strong and sunny
performance". She also received an Best Actress
Oscar nomination the following year. That same year,
Ryder starred in Reality Bites, playing a young woman
searching for direction in her life. Also in 1994, she
made a guest appearance in The Simpsons, in the episode
Lisa's Rival, as Allison Taylor.
Continued success, 1996–2000: Ryder made
several film appearances in 1996. Her first role was in
Boys, a film in which self seems to be pitted against
the whole world, with love her only true friend and
guide. The film failed to become a box office success,
and attracted strong negative critical reaction. Roger
Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times stated that "Boys
is a low-rent, dumbed-down version of Before Sunrise,
with a rent-a-plot substituting for clever
dialogue." In 1996, she starred in Al Pacino's
debut as a director, Looking for Richard, which became a
failure commercially, yet drew moderate critical
attention. She also starred as the lead in The Crucible
alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Joan Allen.
The film centered the Salem witch trials
and the hysteria that prompted the deaths of many
without trials. The film was hoped to be a success,
considering its budget, but became large failure at the
box office. Despite this, it received critical acclaim,
and Ryder's performance was given laudatory praise, with
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone Magazine saying
"Ryder offers a transfixing portrait of warped
innocence." Later that year, Ryder was described as
one of "world's most beautiful women" in the
"100 Most Beautiful" issue of People Magazine.
Ryder was turned down for the lead role in Conspiracy
Theory (1997), being called "too young", which
went to Julia Roberts.
In December of 1996, Ryder accepted a role as a humanoid
robot in 1997's Alien: Resurrection, alongside Sigourney
Weaver, who had appeared in the entire Alien trilogy.
Ryder's brother, Suri, was a major fan of the film
series, and supplicated she took the role. The film
became one of the least successful entries in the Alien
film series, but was still a success considering,
grossing $161 million at a worldwide box office, however
Weaver's and Ryder's performance drew mostly positive
reveiws, and Ryder won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award
for Best Actress. Ryder then starred in Woody Allen's
Celebrity (1998), after Drew Barrymore turned down
Ryder's role, in an ensemble cast. The film satirzes the
life of multiple celebrities.
In 1999, she performed in and served as executive
producer for Girl, Interrupted, based on the 1993
autobiography of Susanna Kaysen. The film had been in
project and post-production since late 1996, however
took time to surface. Ryder was deeply attached to the
film, considering it her "child of the heart"
Ryder starred as Kaysen, who had a borderline
personality disorder. Ryder starred alongside Whoopi
Goldberg and Angelina Jolie. While the lead role of the
film was Ryder's character, and hoped to be a comeback
for Ryder, the film instead became the
"welcome-to-Hollywood coronation" for Jolie.
Also in 1999, Ryder was parodied in the South Park
movie. The following year, she starred in the romantic
comedy Autumn in New York, alongside Richard Gere. The
film was a major box office flop, and received mostly
negative reviews from critics. In 2000, she played a nun
of a secret society loosely connected to Roman Catholic
Church determined to prevent Armageddon in Lost Souls,
which did not do well at the box office. Ryder also
refused to do any promotion for Lost Souls. Later in
2000, she was one of the several celebrities whom made a
small cameo appearance in Zoolander.
Brief hiatus, 2001–2005: Ryder had a brief
hiatus after her shoplifting incident. In 2002, Ryder
appeared in two films, one a romantic comedy titled Mr.
Deeds, alongside Adam Sandler, where she played a
cynical reporter for an unscrupulous television program,
and the other an episodic role in the science fiction
drama S1m0ne—in which she portrayed a glamorous star
who is replaced by a computer simulated actress due to
the clandestine machinations of a director, potrayed by
Al Pacino.
2006–present: In 2006, after an extensive
hiatus, Ryder appeared in Richard Linklater's A Scanner
Darkly, a futuristic movie based on Philip K. Dick's
critically acclaimed novel. Ryder portrayed Donna
Hawthorne alongside Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr and
Woody Harrelson. Live action scenes were transformed
with rotoscope software and the film was entirely
animated. A Scanner Darkly was screened at the 2006
Festival de Cannes and the 2006 Seattle International
Film Festival. Critics disagreed over the film's merits.
Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times found the film
"engrossing" and wrote that "the
brilliance of [the film] is how it suggests, without
bombast or fanfare, the ways in which the real world has
come to resemble the dark world of comic books."
Similarly, Matthew Turner of of ViewLondon, believing
the film to be "engaging" and
"beautifully animated," also praised the film
for its "superb performances" and original,
thought-provoking screenplay. Ryder also recently
appeared in the comedy The Darwin Awards, starring
alongside Joseph Fiennes. The film premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2007.
Ryder also confirmed to Entertainment Weekly she is
reuniting with screenwriter Daniel Waters, who wrote
Heathers, for the surreal black comedy Sex and Death 101
(2007), following the sexual odysseys of successful
businessman Roderick Blank, played by Simon Baker, who
receives a mysterious e-mail on the eve of his wedding,
listing all of his past and future sex partners. Filming
wrapped July 6, 2006, and is set for release in early
mid-Spring 2007. "We will be doing a sequel to
Heathers next", Ryder said. "There's Heathers
in the real world! We have to keep going!" In a
recent interview for Entertainment Weekly Ryder was
quoted as saying,
“ I don't know how much of the movie is official; it's
a ways away. But it takes place in Washington and
Christian Slater agreed to come back and make an
Obi-Wan-type appearance. It's very funny. ”
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 began on March 19, 2007.
Personal life, Relationships: Ryder has had
several high profile relationships with actors. She was
engaged to actor Johnny Depp for three years, from July
of 1995 up until 1997. During their relationship, Depp
had a tattoo placed on his arm reading "Winona
Forever," which he had altered to "Wino (a
slang term) Forever" after their separation. Ryder
later had serious relationships with Soul Asylum's Dave
Pirner and actor Matt Damon, for a brief period in 2000.
Ryder also told W Magazine in a July, 2002 issue that
she is close friends with comedian and actor Jimmy
Fallon. She was also close friends with actress Gwyneth
Paltrow, until they reportedly "grew apart".
Polly Klaas: In 1993, Ryder became involved in
the Polly Klaas kidnapping case. Klaas lived in the same
town where Ryder grew up, Petaluma. Ryder offered a
$200,000 reward for the 12 year-old kidnap victim's safe
return. After Polly's death, Ryder starred in the 1994
film adaptation of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and
dedicated it to her memory. Little Women was one of
Polly's favorite novels. The producers at first wanted
to remove the dedication, but Ryder said she would not
do any publicity for the film if it was removed, so it
was retained. In December of 2002, during Ryder's
sentencing for shoplifting, her attorney Mark Geragos
detailed Ryder's efforts in the Klass kidnapping during
his defense arguments. DA assistant Ann Rundle then
accused Ryder of "building her career over the body
of a dead child." Ryder was visibly upset by the
accusation. Mark Klaas, Polly's father, was expelled
from the courtroom while attempting to voice protest.
2001 Shoplifting incident: On December 12, 2001,
Ryder was arrested for shoplifting $5,500 USD worth of
designer clothes and accessories at a Saks Fifth Avenue
department store in Beverly Hills, California. Los
Angeles District Attorney Stephen Cooley produced a team
of eight prosecutors and seized the opportunity to
prosecute the actress aggressively. Cooley filed four
felony charges against her in what was described by a
British newspaper The Guardian as a show-trial since the
prosecution demanded the trial be televised. Ryder hired
noted defense attorney Mark Geragos. Negotiations for a
plea-bargain failed at the end of summer 2002. As noted
by Joel Mowbray from the National Review, the
prosecution was not ready to offer the actress what was
given to 5000 other defendants in similar cases, an open
door to a no-contest plea on misdemeanor charges.
During the trial, she was also accused of using drugs
without valid prescriptions. According to a probation
report that can be found on the The Smoking Gun website,
she had filled up to 37 prescriptions written by 20
doctors, using six different aliases, in a three-year
period. The defense produced the written prescriptions
for the drugs that the police found in her purse, and
the prosecution consequently dropped the charge. Ryder
was convicted of grand theft and vandalism, but the jury
acquitted her on the third felony charge, burglary. In
December of 2002, she was sentenced to three years'
probation, 480 hours of community service, US$3,700 in
fines, and US$6,355 in restitution to the Saks Fifth
Avenue store—and was ordered to attend psychological
and drug counselling by the judge. The charges were
eventually reviewed, and on June 18, 2004 the felonies
were reduced to misdemeanors.
Charity work, other interests and political beliefs:
Since the age of fourteen, Ryder enjoyed skateboarding
but was encouraged to give it up by agents as she became
a successful actress. In her spare time, Ryder enjoys
reading 1960s literature, and many books by Jane Austen.
She has cited The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
as her favorite novel.
In January of 2005, Ryder was banned from signing a
letter encouraging President Bush to sign the
environmentally-friendly Kyoto agreement, because of her
criminal record. Ryder complained: "I was all ready
to sign, then this girl said, 'Hey, hold on, aren't you
a convicted felon?' I said, 'Yes, so what?' and she told
me I'm not eligible to sign official Senate petitions
because of my criminal record, which was pretty
embarrassing." |
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