Winona Ryder, whose filmography is about fifty films, many of which have already become popular since their release on the screen, was twice nominated for the Academy Award. In 1993, she became a winner of the Golden Globe. In October 2000, for her contribution to the development of cinema, this woman with a charming little face was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Childhood
Actress Winona Ryder, whose real name is Laura Horowitz, was born in 1971 in a small American town in Minnesota with her parents - prominent representatives of the underground culture of that time. Michael and Cynthia were descendants of Jewish immigrants from Romania and Russia. Her grandmother Ethel was an immigrant from the Russian hinterland. Winona's parents were ardent activists of the 60s movement such as hippies. They were called "intellectuals and psychedelic scientists." The father of the future actress at that time worked as a personal secretary and biographer of the famous American philosopher, who was called the seller of "expansion of consciousness" - Timothy Larry. It was he who became the godfather for the girl. Winona’s father had a bookstore called "Flashback Books", he was simply shifted to Eastern philosophy, as well as psychotropic and hallucinogenic substances. At the same time, Michael and Cynthia were terribly proud that they probably have the only library in the world, collected from books about drugs. Another famous friend of the family was a famous hipster poet, as well as a hippie preacher of ideas Ginsberg.
Winona Ryder, whose filmography does not include a single film about this movement of the sixties, grew up in a commune of representatives of the “generation of love” on a ranch where very free morals reigned, but there were no elementary conditions, including electricity. When the girl was eight years old, her family moved to California. Winona Ryder, whose films were watched all over the world, did not go to school, but studied at home.
First role
From this young age, at the insistence of her parents, she watched not “The Wizard of Oz”, like all children, but the works of John Cassavetes, and since then, her favorite actress has been Gina Rowlands. In her opinion, she spent most of the day with great benefit at the Theater of the American Conservatory, where very soon the talented girl was noticed by agents from the film studio. They offered her samples for a role in the film "Flowering in the Desert." But despite the fact that Winona Ryder, whose filmography is more than fifty main roles, did not receive this small role, however, this attempt failed for her to no avail. The film with its film screenings somehow fell into the hands of a representative of Triad Artists, who very soon invited the girl to star in a comedy melodrama called Lucas. Since that time, the screen pseudonym “Ryder” chosen by her father was assigned to the girl.
Winona Ryder - filmography and biography
In 1988 and 1989, the girl starred in three films at once: The Beetlejuice, The Deadly Passion, and The Big Balls of Fire, which brought her some fame. But the first deafening success to the actress came a little later. It was a role in the film directed by Burton under the title "Edward Scissorhands", the main character in which was played by the already popular Johnny Depp.
Jim Jarmusch helped the actress break out of the “children's movie”
, writing for her one of the main roles in the comedy drama entitled “Night on Earth”. Winona Ryder, whose films are mostly melodramas, was soon invited to Coppola’s cult trilogy “The Godfather III”, but she was soon replaced by another artist, since all the thoughts of the young girl at that time were busy with her boyfriend, and not the role.
Peak of popularity
However, despite everything, the actress became more and more popular from year to year. Almost all films with Winona Ryder enjoyed success. The list is quite impressive: this is Dracula, The Age of Innocence, Reality Bites and Little Women, Finding Richard, Alien 4: Resurrection, etc. The actress reached its peak in popularity in the late nineties . Then Ryder was even honored to be a member of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. Around the same time, she made her debut as a producer of the film “Interrupted Life”, in which she also played the main role. After that, Ryder performed about two dozen major roles in films, many of which failed at the box office. The girl experienced a prolonged series of setbacks rather firmly, confident that she would still have better images.
Interesting Facts
Winona Ryder has been featured on People's Magazine's list of fifty beauties. Christian Slater, Daniel Day-Lewis, musician David Pirner, David Duchovny were not indifferent to her. However, the actress considers her relationship with Johnny Depp as the most striking novel. After their breakup, the girl even spent five days in a psychiatric hospital. And this experience was useful to her on the set of a film called “Interrupted Life”, based on a book written by Winona’s father, Michael Horowitz.
The girl suffers from hydrophobia, and for this she has a reason: in her childhood she almost drowned.