Wiki and Biography : Winona Ryder – Family, Family Tree

Winona Ryder was born on October 29, 1971. She is an American actress and is one of the most iconic actresses of the 1990s. Her nickname is Noni. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Her stage name has been derived from Mitch Ryder who was a rock singer.

Family of Winona Ryder:

Winona Ryder’s mother is Cynthia Palmer who is a video-producer, an author and an editor. She is a Buddhist. Her father, Michael Horowitz was born on December 11, 1938. He is also an author, editor, antique-bookseller and a publisher. He works with West Vancouver, British Columbia. He is the owner of Flashback Books. She belongs to a Jewish family and they emigrated from Ukraine.
Ryder has one full sibling, a younger brother, Uri Horowitz and two half-siblings from her mother, Jubal Palmer, and an older half-sister, Sunyata Palmer.

Her godfather is Timothy Francis Leary. He was born on October 22, 1920. He was a famous American psychologist and a writer. He was best known for his exploration of therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs. He along with his wife created the world’s largest library of drug literature. He died in the year 1996.

Early life and Education:

Ryder was home schooled at times because of the frequency of movement of her family from one place to another. They even went to live in places with no electricity that raised her interest towards reading. It was because of her mother that she started developing an interest in acting. She used to make her watch a few movies every now and then.

In 1983 when she was 12 years old, she joined American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco where she took her acting lessons. She graduated from Petaluma High School in 1989. She frequently plays a character who writes. In majority of her films, she played the role of a journalist or a reporter.

Career:

She made her debut with the film, Lucas in 1986 and was highly appreciated. In 1987, she signed her next film Square dance where she played the role of a teenager. The Los Angeles Times called her performance ‘a remarkable debut’. Following that she appeared in the movie Beetlejuice in 1988 which was directed by Tim Burton where she played the role of a teenager in a haunted house. In 1988 she again appeared in the film heathers with which she was highly appreciated. The Washington Post wrote, ‘Hollywood’s most impressive …’ for Ryder.

She also starred in balls of fire where she played a challenging role of a 13 year old bride. In 1990, she was selected for four roles in the lead. Following that she did a music video with Mojo Nixon, Edward Scissor hands with Johnny Depp, Mermaids, etc. she also performed along with Cher and Christina Ricci in the video ‘The shoop shoop song’.
She again bagged lead roles in the movies Welcome home, Roxy Carmichael, co-starring Jeff Daniels. She also featured in The Autumn in New York, a melodrama along with Richard Gere in 2000s. In 2002, she appeared with Adam Sandler in Mr. Deeds. She supports Polly Klaas Foundation for prevention of child abduction. She is the face of Café Latte.

Achievements:

She won a Golden Globe award for best supporting actress.
In the year 2000, she received a star on the Hollywood walk of Fame.
She had been nominated for various awards 41 times like Academy Award, Guild awards, etc… She has also been nominated for two Oscars.
She was number 183 on VH1 in July 2003.
She was listed in People’s magazines under 200 Greatest pop culture Icons

Net Worth of Winona Ryder:

Winona Ryder’s net worth is $18 million.