ACTOR
Winona Ryder
- Known for
- Black Swan (2010), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Mr. Deeds (2002), Little Women (1994)
82 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Winona Ryder is an actor best known for Black Swan, Edward Scissorhands and Mr. Deeds.
All facts (82)
- #001
She was undoubtedly a late adopter of electronic devices. When she was approached to make the Netflix series Stranger Things (2016), she did not know what streaming was.
- #002
Her manager begged her not to make the comedy Heathers (1989), saying her career would be over.
- #003
She dedicated the film Little Women (1994) to Polly Klaas, a young girl who was abducted and brutally murdered in her hometown of Petaluma, California. She offered a $200,000 reward to anyone with information about the case and remains a strong supporter of the Polly Klaas Foundation.
- #004
She was cut from The Godfather Part III (1990). In an interview later that year, she said she had come to Rome to shoot the film and could not get out of bed. A doctor was called and ordered her to go home and sleep.
- #005
At the age of 20, she briefly checked herself into a hospital because she was suffering from depression, anxiety attacks and exhaustion caused by working on films constantly.
- #006
As a child, she wanted to become a competitive skateboarder.
- #007
According to director Francis Ford Coppola, most of the cast of Dracula (1992) was assembled as Winona's "dream cast".
- #008
During the filming of Mr. Deeds (2002), she broke her arm in the scene where she and Adam Sandler ride a bicycle down the stairs.
- #009
She has a fear of water due to the trauma of nearly drowning when she was 12 years old. This caused problems when she had to perform in some underwater scenes in Alien: Resurrection (1997). As a result, the scenes had to be reshot repeatedly.
- #010
During her first week of middle school, she was harassed by a group of bullies who mistook her for a feminine, skinny boy. Ryder said she came to school in Salvation Army clothes, and one of the bullies shouted, "Hey, faggot!" They accused her and beat her. She was injured so badly that she needed stitches. She was removed from the school for her own safety. She was later homeschooled.
- #011
Even though the commune they lived in had no electricity, when Winona was seven years old her mother started running an old movie theater in a nearby barn and showed films all day. She allowed Winona to skip school to watch films with her.
- #012
She was set to play Jupiter "Joon" Pearl in Benny & Joon (1993) and was dating Johnny Depp at the time. After breaking up with Depp, she left the project. The role eventually went to Mary Stuart Masterson.
- #013
Her natural hair color is blonde, but it had been dyed black when she made her first major film, Lucas (1986). She was told to keep it that color and has kept it that way ever since, except for Edward Scissorhands (1990).
- #014
When Joyce Maynard made J. D. Salinger's private letters public for an auction, Ryder bid on them in the hope of returning them to Salinger to respect his privacy, or burning them if Salinger did not want to keep them. Salinger is one of her favorite authors.
- #015
In 1991, while living with Johnny Depp, at one point while she was working on a film, Johnny Depp had 200 packets of East-flavored Ramen noodles, her favorite food, sent to her hotel room.
- #016
She is six years older than Star Trek (2009) lead actor Zachary Quinto, who plays her son in the film. She was cast as Spock's mother Amanda because the opening scene originally had her giving birth to Spock. However, the scene was deleted and replaced with a more action-packed one. Meanwhile, Captain James T. Kirk's mother in the film is named Winona.
- #017
She turned down the role of Katrina Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow (1999), which went to Christina Ricci.
- #018
She dated Johnny Depp for many years. His original tattoo read: "Winona Forever". After they broke up, he shortened it to "Wino Forever".
- #019
Universal Pictures was persuaded to turn the February 1994 Los Angeles premiere of Reality Bites (1994) into a benefit for the Polly Klaas Foundation. Winona Ryder also had enough influence to see Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" — Polly's favorite book — adapted into Little Women (1994), in which she starred and which was dedicated to Polly Hannah Klaas.
- #020
In 1995 she made another significant artistic foray by recording an audiobook reading of Anne Frank's famous diary, which earned her a Grammy nomination. Winona is one of the few non-musicians to have been nominated for both an Oscar and a Grammy for different projects.
- #021
She serves on the board of the American Indian College Fund.
- #022
She is good friends with Courtney Love and the late Brittany Murphy.
- #023
She attended Petaluma High School in Petaluma, California, and graduated with a 4.0 grade point average (1989).
- #024
On October 6, 2000, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Entertainment Weekly named her the Best Dressed Celebrity of the Week for the event. Her close friend Sir Anthony Hopkins also attended the ceremony.
- #025
She was announced as the new face of Marc Jacobs Beauty for the brand's spring/summer 2016 campaign. She and record label owner Marc Jacobs have been close friends for years.
- #026
She was Martin Scorsese's first and only choice for the role of May Welland in The Age of Innocence (1993). For years she kept the voicemail message he left her informing her that she had won the role.
- #027
She sang her own song in the animated horror comedy Frankenweenie (2012). When director Tim Burton said it needed to sound imperfect, she agreed to do so.
- #028
Her father's family name was originally "Tomchin," but he has stated that the name was mistakenly given to them by the family they traveled with when they arrived at Ellis Island in 1906.
- #029
Winona's father comes from a Jewish family (from Russia and Romania). Her mother has Belgian, English, German and Irish ancestry. Winona's mother's maiden name, Istas, is Belgian.
- #030
She plays a ballerina in the horror film Black Swan (2010). In real life she took only a few ballet lessons as a child but gave them up because her teacher intimidated her.
- #031
She auditioned for the role of Marla Singer in David Fincher's Fight Club (1999), which ultimately went to Helena Bonham Carter.
- #032
Before becoming a well-known actress, Winona worked as a babysitter for Tom Waits, one of her favorite artists.
- #033
In high school she was constantly bullied for wearing childish clothes and living an unusual lifestyle. The actress also believes her eccentric interests played a part in her status as an outsider.
- #034
Winona Ryder is also interested in music and plays guitar. Her favorite band was once The Replacements, but she also likes Tom Waits, Cocteau Twins, Wilco and many others.
- #035
Sean Astin played the overprotective best friend of the person he loved in Stay Cool (2009). Eight years later, he would play her boyfriend Bob Newby in Stranger Things (2016).
- #036
On December 22, 1999, her guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) was her second time on a talk show. She did it to promote Girl, Interrupted (1999), the first film on which she served as lead producer. She was clearly nervous but settled in comfortably. Her first appearance was on The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986) alongside Cher, the lead actress of Mermaids (1990).
- #037
In 1998, she served as a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival.
- #038
Over these twenty years she had made a huge impact, but at school she was far from "icon status." After she appeared in Beetlejuice (1988), the bullying and torment increased further when the school bullies called her a witch.
- #039
Her godfather is Timothy Leary.
- #040
She has a three-bedroom house on Union Street in San Francisco, which she bought for $1,300,000 in 1995, as well as her long-time four-bedroom mini-mansion on North Doheny Drive in Los Angeles, which she bought for $2,600,000 in 1998.
- #041
For her role as a woman on the city council in Show Me a Hero (2015), she cut her eyelashes after writer David Simon said he had made her look too cute with a sweet demeanor.
- #042
She joined Amnesty International at the age of 12.
- #043
Much of her childhood was spent in Petaluma in Sonoma County, California. In the mid-1970s, the family spent some time in Columbia with Chilean revolutionaries. In the late 1970s, they moved with seven other families to a 300-acre commune in Elk, Mendocino County, where they lived for four years.
- #044
She had a date with Rhett Miller, the lead singer of Old 97's, who wrote the song "Rollerskate Skinny" about her.
- #045
She was unhappy that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused to preview Autumn in New York (2000), saying she was proud of the film and that the studio had given it a bad name before it was even released.
- #046
She later turned down two roles that went to Julia Roberts: Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie in Steel Magnolias (1989) and Alice Sutton in Conspiracy Theory (1997). She also turned down the role of Nina Borowski in The Object of My Affection (1998), which went to Jennifer Aniston, due to scheduling conflicts.
- #047
Beat poet Allen Ginsberg was a close friend of her family.
- #048
One of her favorite actresses is Barbara Stanwyck.
- #049
Because the team of The Dilemma (2011) wanted to see which actress could create the right chemistry with Vince Vaughn, she had to audition for a role for the first time in 17 years. She initially auditioned for Beth, and they found her perfect for Geneva. She won the lead role over Kate Beckinsale, Carla Gugino and Uma Thurman.
- #050
In 2015, she served as a jury member at the Sundance Film Festival.
- #051
In early 2011, for the first time in her career, she placed two of her films among the top five highest-grossing films of the weekend in domestic ticket revenue, setting a personal box office record — Black Swan (2010) and The Dilemma (2011). Previously, when her two films Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Mermaids (1990) were shown in theaters during the 1990 holiday season, both had placed in the top 10 in ticket revenue.
- #052
In late 1999, she founded her own music company, Roustabout Studios.
- #053
Her idol is the actress Sigourney Weaver. She was a big fan of Alien (1979) and therefore took the chance to appear alongside her idol. Ryder starred with Weaver in Alien: Resurrection (1997).
- #054
Winona Ryder's first house was in the Hollywood Hills. She said she never settled in, and moved out shortly afterward.
- #055
At the age of 12, Winona Ryder enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
- #056
Winona Ryder received an honorary master's degree in Fine Arts from the American Conservatory Theater.
- #057
Winona Ryder was the poster indie girl of the '80s and '90s. At the time she was starring in the most eccentric film roles and proving to the world that being different is completely normal — in fact, it's more interesting that way. Tim Burton's star was appearing in Hollywood's biggest films before she was even old enough to get a driver's license.
- #058
Winona Ryder helped Italian designer Giorgio Armani promote his Manhattan store chain.
- #059
Winona Ryder counts Americans (2013) as one of her favorite television series.
- #060
Winona Ryder is a big fan of the documentary Grey Gardens (1975).
- #061
Winona Ryder says Sarah Miles's performance in Ryan's Daughter (1970) inspired her to become a professional actor.
- #062
Winona Ryder was discovered by a casting director at Salmagundi.
- #063
On March 17, 2000, the San Francisco International Film Festival gave Winona Ryder the prestigious Peter J. Owens Award for her intelligence, independence and honesty.
- #064
Over the course of her career, Winona Ryder has played three characters named Charlotte: Charlotte Flax in Mermaids (1990), Charlotte Fielding in Autumn in New York (2000) and Charlotte Morris in The Last Word (2008). She also came close to playing three characters named Beth: Beth Karr in 1969 (1988) and Beth MacIntyre in Black Swan (2010), and she nearly landed the role of Beth in The Dilemma (2011), though she ultimately took the part of Geneva Brannen.
- #065
According to Winona Ryder in a Harper's Bazaar YouTube interview, Michael McDowell, who wrote the screenplay for Beetlejuice, passed Heather's screenplay on to her. The script was circulating secretly, and she had overlooked it early in the process. When she read for the role, they didn't think she was pretty enough, because she was known as the weird girl from Beetlejuice and her other earlier films. She thought this was fair, so she went across the street to the Beverly Center and to Macy's, had them do her makeup, then came back and told them they didn't even need to pay her, she just wanted to say those lines. This nearly happened, because she doesn't think any actor was paid more than scale.
- #066
Winona Ryder was Janet Tamaro's first choice for the role of Dr. Maura Isles in Rizzoli & Isles (2010). The role ultimately went to Sasha Alexander.
- #067
Winona Ryder turned down the lead role of Maggie Hayward in John Badham's Point of No Return (1993), which went to Bridget Fonda.
- #068
Woody Allen initially wanted Winona Ryder for the lead in Melinda and Melinda (2004), but he couldn't guarantee her the film's low budget. The role ultimately went to Radha Mitchell.
- #069
Lost Souls (2000) was actually shot in 1998, although it premiered in late 2000, and New Line Cinema kept the film on the shelf for two years. Winona Ryder refused to promote the horror film.
- #070
Winona Ryder bought her current Spanish-style house in Beverly Hills from Toni Lynn Russo, the sister of Rene Russo, who is also the ex-wife of Sir Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin.
- #071
Winona Ryder was engaged to Blake Sennett and had been in a relationship with him since October 2007.
- #072
Winona Ryder sold her Manhattan cooperative apartment at 1 Lexington Avenue, in the relatively quiet Gramercy Park neighborhood, for $2,200,000.
- #073
Winona Ryder was the host of Will Ferrell's final episode as a regular cast member of Saturday Night Live (1975).
- #074
Winona Ryder was born two days before Halloween at 11:00 a.m. CDT on a farmhouse in Olmsted County, Minnesota.
- #075
The role of Nola in Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998) was originally written for Drew Barrymore.
- #076
Although Ryder played her granddaughter in The Age of Innocence (1993), she is only 30 years younger than Miriam Margolyes.
- #077
On March 22, 1999, she injured her knee while filming Girl, Interrupted (1999).
- #078
Her involvement in The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) was reported in Italian newspapers months before any official announcements; Ryder claims she met author Laura Albert at an opera in 1993.
- #079
She received the "Prix Marie Claire Icono Fashion" award during the Marie Claire Awards Party held in Madrid, Spain.
- #080
She, Gretchen Mol and Famke Janssen appeared in Woody Allen's comedy-drama Celebrity (1998). Nine years later the trio would appear together in The Ten (2007).
- #081
Billy Wilder and William Holden are two artists Ryder greatly respects.
- #082
She was to attend the second Beckett Festival in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, but had to withdraw from the festival due to a sudden death.
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