Portrait · Karon Liu / CC BY 2.0

Winona Ryder

Actor and producer

Born 1971

Winona Ryder is an American actor, born in Winona, Minnesota, on October 29, 1971. Her birth name is Winona Laura Horowitz. She grew up in northern California, including Mendocino and Petaluma, with parents whose writing, political interests and love of cinema shaped a household outside the usual Hollywood setting. Her mother showed films with a projector, making older performances part of her early education. Ryder recalls a close connection between that film watching and her decision to act. School was more difficult. After being bullied in Petaluma, she continued her education at home and found an outlet at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater. Her parents supported the acting classes while protecting her schooling and home life. The long drives to work and auditions were a family undertaking; she did not simply move into a Hollywood childhood. Books, journals and the adults around her remained important alongside early professional opportunities. Lucas introduced her film performance as Rina in 1986. Beetlejuice cast her as Lydia Deetz in 1988. Meeting Tim Burton established a creative relationship grounded in shared tastes and an interest in outsiders. Ryder remembers recognizing a similar sensibility in the director before fully understanding how the film would look. The collaboration became a recurring part of her career, with Lydia’s unusual perspective remaining central when she returned to the character as an adult. Heathers followed with Veronica Sawyer in 1989. Mermaids cast her as Charlotte Flax in 1990. She played Kim in Edward Scissorhands that year. In the interview originally published in December 1990, she described the Replacements as her favorite band and linked their song Sixteen Blue with preparing for Mermaids. Music and the memories surrounding it were part of her way into a performance. The conversation also captures a young actor thinking about school, work and the distance between public attention and everyday life. The Age of Innocence cast her as May Welland in 1993. That performance won a Golden Globe for supporting actress. Little Women followed in 1994, with Ryder playing Jo March. The two films brought consecutive Academy Award nominations: supporting actress for The Age of Innocence in 1994 and leading actress for Little Women in 1995. Reality Bites added Lelaina Pierce in 1994. The Crucible cast her as Abigail Williams in 1996. Alien Resurrection gave her the role of Call in 1997. She also took on production work, becoming executive producer of Girl, Interrupted, and later producing the documentary The Day My God Died and its Independent Lens presentation. Her credited directing work includes co-directing Victoria Williams’s Nature’s Way music video. These records broaden the career beyond her acting roles. Girl, Interrupted cast her as Susanna in 1999. A Scanner Darkly cast her as Donna Hawthorne in 2006. Star Trek brought Amanda Grayson in 2009. Black Swan cast her as Beth Macintyre in 2010. Voice work reunited her with Burton for Frankenweenie in 2012. In the original interview, she connects her enthusiasm for cinema with the films her mother projected during childhood and describes why working with Burton felt familiar. The Elsa Van Helsing role extends a collaboration that had already moved between supernatural comedy and a fairy-tale romance. She voices Elsa Van Helsing in Frankenweenie. Show Me a Hero cast her as Vinni Restiano in 2015. Stranger Things introduced her as Joyce Byers in 2016. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice returned her to Lydia Deetz in 2024. The 2024 BAZAAR conversation describes the return to Lydia and a life that remains deliberately private. Ryder’s account of earlier career choices and the long preparation for the sequel connects the adult character with the actor who first played her decades before. In November 2025, her conversation with Tavi Gevinson returns to the craft of acting. She discusses directors, the films she revisits and the journals she has kept while working. The exchange presents a continuing interest in the experience of a scene and the people making it. She also speaks plainly about being glad she does not have social media, rather than offering an account for fans to follow. Looking back after the series finale in January 2026, Ryder describes the emotional experience of watching the young cast grow up and the connections built over the years. Her memories of working with Noah Schnapp and David Harbour place Joyce within an ensemble relationship that lasted beyond a single season. Ending the series was both a completion and a goodbye to a familiar working environment. Netflix announced her addition to Wednesday’s third season in February 2026, when production began near Dublin. A release date remains unconfirmed in that announcement.

Verified identityCore facts checked against named sources.

Keep exploring

Connected people

ConnectionTim BurtonRecurring director, including the Lydia films.

ConnectionNoah SchnappStranger Things colleague remembered in her finale interview.

ConnectionDavid HarbourStranger Things colleague discussed in her finale reflection.

Selected career chronology

Credits Index

Major screen, stage, music, sport or broadcast work. This is a selected public-career index, not a complete employment history.

Year	Title	Medium	Role	IMDb
1986	Lucas	Film	Rina	IMDb
1987	Square Dance	Film	Gemma	IMDb
1988	Beetlejuice	Film	Lydia Deetz	IMDb
1988	1969	Film	Beth	IMDb
1989	Heathers	Film	Veronica Sawyer	IMDb
1989	Great Balls of Fire!	Film	Myra Gale Brown	IMDb
1990	Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael	Film	Dinky Bossetti	IMDb
1990	Mermaids	Film	Charlotte Flax	IMDb
1990	Edward Scissorhands	Film	Kim	IMDb
1990	Cher: The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)	Music video	Self / Charlotte Flax	IMDb
1991	Night on Earth	Film	Corky — Los Angeles	IMDb
1992	Bram Stoker’s Dracula	Film	Mina Murray	IMDb
1993	The Age of Innocence	Film	May Welland	IMDb
1993	The House of the Spirits	Film	Blanca	IMDb
1994	Reality Bites	Film	Lelaina Pierce	IMDb
1994	Little Women	Film	Jo March	IMDb
1994	The Simpsons: Lisa’s Rival	Television episode	Allison Taylor — voice	IMDb
1995	Victoria Williams: Nature’s Way	Music video	Co-director	IMDb
1995	How to Make an American Quilt	Film	Finn	IMDb
1996	The Crucible	Film	Abigail Williams	IMDb
1997	Alien Resurrection	Film	Call	IMDb
1998	Celebrity	Film	Nola	IMDb
1998	Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Talk About Blues	Music video	Jon Spencer	IMDb
1999	Girl, Interrupted	Film	Susanna	IMDb
1999	Girl, Interrupted	Film	Executive producer	IMDb
2000	Lost Souls	Film	Maya Larkin	IMDb
2000	Autumn in New York	Film	Charlotte Fielding	IMDb
2001	Zoolander	Film	Self — uncredited	IMDb
2002	Mr. Deeds	Film	Babe Bennett	IMDb
2003	The Day My God Died	Documentary	Narrator — voice	IMDb
2003	The Day My God Died	Documentary	Producer	IMDb
2004	Independent Lens: The Day My God Died	Television episode	Producer	IMDb
2006	A Scanner Darkly	Film	Donna Hawthorne	IMDb
2007	The Ten	Film	Kelly LaFonda	IMDb
2007	Sex and Death 101	Film	Death Nell	IMDb
2008	The Informers	Film	Cheryl Moore	IMDb
2009	Star Trek	Film	Amanda Grayson	IMDb
2009	The Private Lives of Pippa Lee	Film	Sandra Dulles	IMDb
2010	When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story	Television film	Lois Wilson	IMDb
2010	Black Swan	Film	Beth Macintyre	IMDb
2011	The Dilemma	Film	Geneva	IMDb
2012	Frankenweenie	Film	Elsa Van Helsing — voice	IMDb
2012	The Iceman	Film	Deborah Pellicotti	IMDb
2012	The Killers: Here with Me	Music video	Wax Girl	IMDb
2013	Homefront	Film	Sheryl Marie Mott	IMDb
2013	Drunk History	Television series	Mary Dyer / Peggy Shippen — 2013–2014	IMDb
2014	Turks & Caicos	Television film	Melanie Fall	IMDb
2015	Experimenter	Film	Alexandra “Sasha” Milgram	IMDb
2015	Show Me a Hero	Television miniseries	Vinni Restiano	IMDb
2016	Stranger Things	Television series	Joyce Byers	IMDb
2018	Destination Wedding	Film	Lindsay	IMDb
2020	The Plot Against America	Television miniseries	Evelyn Finkel	IMDb
2020	Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine	Television special	Lacey Groin	IMDb
2022	Gone in the Night	Film	Kath	IMDb
2023	Haunted Mansion	Film	Pat — uncredited	IMDb
2024	Beetlejuice Beetlejuice	Film	Lydia Deetz	IMDb
2026	A$AP Rocky: Punk Rocky	Music video	Performer	IMDb
—	Wednesday	Television series	Tabitha — season 3 announced	IMDb