QUICK FACTS
BIOGRAPHY
Actress Winona Laura Horowitz, known as Winona Ryder, was born on October 29, 1971 in Winona, Minnesota, USA. Her mother was a video producer and her father was an editor. She grew up in a commune in Northern California that had no electricity. She moved to Petaluma, California when she was ten years old and she began taking acting classes at the American Conservatory Theatre.
At age 13 she auditioned for the film Desert Flower (1986), but she did not get the role. However, director David Seltzer saw her and offered her to participate in Lucas (1986). When asked how she would like her name to appear in the credits, she asked for Ryder to be named after her father’s Mitch Ryder album. She was chosen to play Mary Corleone in The Godfather: Part III (1990), but she had to abandon the role due to health reasons.
She participated in Beetlejuice (1988), School for Young Killers (1988), Welcome Home (1990), Mermaids (1990) and Reality Bites (1994), films that made her a popular icon of generation X and the millennial.
In 2000 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, California. The following year she was arrested for theft by leaving a store without paying for the merchandise and charged with using illegal drugs, she was sentenced to three years of probation and psychological treatment.
The series Stranger Things , by the Duffer brothers, revived his career. Among his latest projects are the HBO television series, Show Me a Hero, and the film Destination Wedding (2018), alongside Keanu Reeves.
