Winona-Ryder

Winona Laura Horowitz who is professionally known as Winona Ryder is a native of Winona Minnesota. She was named by parents for the town where they were born. Their father Michel Horowitz and her mother Cynthia Palmer were authors and editors. Ryder's father was born into an ethnically Jewish family. Ryder considers her self Jewish. Ryder has two half-siblings younger than her, Jubal and Sunyata. Ryder's parents moved out of Mendocino County to California when she was seven years older. The town didn't even have electricity. Ryder became an avid reading book because there was no television. In 1983 when she was 12 Ryder took up a place at the American Conservatory Theatre to take classes in acting. When she was in 1986, she had her first big-screen role in the film Lucas at just 15 years old. Ryder was a victim of bullying in high school. Ryder hoped the acting profession would end her life. It didn't happen. She continued to pursue her goals. Her breakthrough came with Tim Burton's Beetlejuice in 1988. Ryder kept playing successful roles in a variety of films. In 1993 she was nominated two times at the Academy Awards. One of them for her role as a character in The Age of Innocence.