Winona Ryder Wiki, Biography
Winona Ryder, an American Grammy-Award-Winning Actress, is a cast member for the Stranger Things 5 Series, which premiered on the 26th of November 2025 on Netflix. She is popularly known for making appearances in movies/series/shows such as Lucas and Mr. Deeds.
Winona Ryder Height|Weight
Ryder stands at an approximate height of 5 feet 4 inches and weighs around 60 Kg.
Winona Ryder Age|How old is Ryder?
Ryder was born on the 29th of October 1971 in Winona County, Minnesota, U.S. She celebrates her birthday on the 29th of October every year. She is years old today.
Winona Ryder Parents|Siblings|Relatives
Winona Laura Horowitz was born in Winona County, Minnesota, to Cynthia Palmer (née Istas) and Michael D. Horowitz. Her mother worked as an author, video producer, and editor, while her father was an author, editor, publisher, and antiquarian bookseller. He also served as an archivist for psychologist Timothy Leary, who later became Ryder’s godfather. Ryder’s father’s family is of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage with roots in Ukraine, Romania, and Russia. Throughout her childhood, she regularly visited her paternal grandparents in Brooklyn to celebrate Passover. Her mother, meanwhile, has Irish ancestry.
Named after her birthplace of Winona, Minnesota, Ryder received the middle name Laura in honor of her parents’ friend Laura Huxley, the wife of writer Aldous Huxley. Her stage surname, Ryder, was inspired by soul and rock singer Mitch Ryder, a favorite of her father’s. Ryder grew up in a spiritually mixed household, with her father identifying as an atheist and her mother as a Buddhist. She has a younger brother, Urie—named after Yuri Gagarin—and two older half-siblings from her mother’s previous marriage, Jubal Palmer and Sunyata Palmer. Her family’s circle of friends included notable figures such as Timothy Leary, poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and science fiction writer Philip K. Dick.
In 1978, when Ryder was seven, her family moved to Rainbow, a commune near Elk in Mendocino County, California. They lived with seven other families on a 300-acre property without electricity or television. This environment led Ryder to spend much of her time reading, and she became an enthusiastic admirer of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.
At age ten, Ryder moved with her family to Petaluma, California. Her first week at Kenilworth Junior High was difficult—she was bullied by classmates who thought she was an effeminate boy. In 1983, at 12 years old, she began taking acting classes at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. That same year, she nearly drowned, an event that resulted in aquaphobia. This phobia later created challenges during the underwater filming of Alien Resurrection (1997), requiring several scenes to be reshot. Despite finding early success in films like Beetlejuice, Ryder continued to face bullying in high school; she later recalled expecting success to improve her school life, only to be labeled a witch by classmates.
Ryder has mentioned that although her natural hair color is brown, she was “really blonde” as a child. Around age 11 or 12, she began dyeing her blonde hair blue and purple. By the time she auditioned for Lucas (1986), her hair had been dyed black, and the filmmakers asked her to keep it that way.
Winona Ryder Net Worth|What is Winona’s Net Worth?
In the course of her career as an Actress, Winona has been able to accumulate a net worth of between $500,000 and $4 million.
Winona Ryder Partner|Husband|Is Ryder Married?|Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp
Ryder first met Johnny Depp at the Great Balls of Fire! premiere in June 1989. They began dating in February 1990, when Ryder was 18 and Depp was 26, after being reintroduced by a mutual friend. The pair became engaged in July of that same year, but ended their relationship in June 1993.
She later dated Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum from 1993 to 1996, and Helmet’s frontman Page Hamilton from 2003 to 2005. Ryder was also in a relationship with actor Matt Damon between 1998 and 2000. Since 2011, she has been romantically involved with fashion designer Scott Mackinlay Hahn.
Winona Ryder Job|Career|Biography
Winona Laura Horowitz, better known as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. After gaining attention in the late 1980s for her offbeat roles, she became widely recognized in the 1990s for her dramatic performances. Throughout her career, Ryder has earned numerous honors, including a Golden Globe, along with nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, and a Grammy.
Ryder made her film debut in Lucas (1986) and rose to fame with her role in Beetlejuice (1988). She went on to appear in notable films such as Heathers (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Mermaids (1990), and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). She received back-to-back Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress for The Age of Innocence (1993) and Little Women (1994). Other significant roles include Reality Bites (1994), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), The Crucible (1996), Alien Resurrection (1997), Celebrity (1998), Girl, Interrupted (1999), and Mr. Deeds (2002).
After stepping back from acting in the early 2000s due to intense media scrutiny following her 2001 shoplifting arrest, Ryder returned to screens in smaller roles in films like Star Trek (2009), Black Swan (2010), and The Dilemma (2011). She also portrayed Lois Wilson in the Hallmark film When Love Is Not Enough (2010). Since 2016, she has starred as Joyce Byers in the Netflix hit Stranger Things, earning her a third Golden Globe nomination. More recently, she appeared in HBO’s The Plot Against America (2020) and the 2024 sequel to Beetlejuice.
Ryder owns residences in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Williamsburg in New York City. She is Jewish and has spoken about encountering antisemitism. Winona also experiences insomnia and has been the target of stalking. She has often expressed that she owes much of her career success to director Tim Burton. Since her twenties, Ryder has been active in philanthropy, particularly supporting the American Indian College Fund, which provides university opportunities for low-income Native American students.
Polly Klaas
In 1993, Ryder put forward a $200,000 reward in an effort to help locate kidnapped child Polly Klaas. Klaas was from Petaluma, the town where Ryder grew up. After Klaas was found dead, Ryder dedicated her portrayal of Jo in the 1994 film Little Women—one of Klaas’s favorite books—to her memory.
During the sentencing hearing for Ryder’s 2001 shoplifting case, her attorney Mark Geragos highlighted her involvement with the Polly Klaas Foundation and other charitable activities. Deputy District Attorney Ann Rundle objected, saying, “What’s offensive to me is to trot out the body of a dead child.” Polly’s father, Marc Klaas, publicly defended Ryder and condemned the prosecutor’s remarks.
Winona Ryder Legal Issues
On December 12, 2001, Ryder was arrested in Beverly Hills for shoplifting, accused of taking $5,500 worth of designer items from a Saks Fifth Avenue store. Los Angeles District Attorney Stephen Cooley put together a team of eight prosecutors who filed four felony charges against her. Ryder hired well-known defense attorney Mark Geragos. Attempts to reach a plea deal failed by late summer 2002 because the prosecution insisted on pursuing felony charges instead of a misdemeanor. Joel Mowbray of National Review noted that prosecutors ignored the store’s request to drop the charges.
Ryder was also accused of using medications such as oxycodone, diazepam, and Vicodin without valid prescriptions, although a drug possession charge was dismissed once it was shown that a doctor had prescribed them for medical reasons. She was ultimately found guilty of grand theft and shoplifting but was acquitted of burglary. In December 2002, she received a sentence of three years’ probation, 480 hours of community service, fines totaling $3,700, restitution of $6,355 to Saks Fifth Avenue, and mandatory psychological and drug counseling. On June 18, 2004, Judge Elden Fox reviewed her progress, confirmed she had completed her community service, and reduced the felonies to misdemeanors. Her probation concluded in December 2005.
Ryder later said the incident happened during a troubled period when she was clinically depressed. She also explained that powerful pain medication prescribed by what she described as a “quack” doctor had severely impaired her judgment. The physician who prescribed the drugs, Jules Mark Lusman, later had his medical license revoked by the Medical Board of California for unethical prescribing practices.
Winona Ryder Awards and Recognitions
Ryder has earned recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for two major performances. At the 66th Academy Awards in 1994, she received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Age of Innocence. The following year, at the 67th Academy Awards in 1995, she was nominated for Best Actress for her performance in Little Women.
Beyond the Oscars, Ryder has received numerous other honors. She has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, winning one, and has also earned a nomination for a British Academy Film Award. In addition, she has been recognized by the Screen Actors Guild with seven nominations, including one win, and has received a Grammy Award nomination.
Winona Ryder Stranger Things 5
In the series, Stranger Things Season 5, Ryder plays the role of Joyce Byers. A year after the events of Season 4, in the fall of 1987, the group sets out to track down and destroy Vecna following the opening of the Rifts in Hawkins. Their mission grows more difficult when the military moves into town and starts pursuing Eleven. As the anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance nears, the group faces one final battle against a deadly enemy. The fifth and final season of the American sci-fi horror drama series Stranger Things, known as Stranger Things 5, is set to premiere on Netflix.
Winona Ryder Twitter(X), Facebook, and Instagram
Ryder happens to be active on her social media accounts. On her Instagram Account, she has about 607 K Followers, and 3.8 M followers on her Facebook Page. Below are links to visit her social media accounts.