Winona Ryder

(Winona Laura Horowitz) ~Horowitz isn't her real surname, it comes from her grandmother~

Winona Ryder

Starting out as the star of several cult hits, Winona Ryder quickly forged a place in the heart of the liberal intelligentsia, as well as somehow retaining her status as teen heroine. Deliberately steering herself away from no-brain blockbusters and for the most part sticking to prestigious literary adaptations, she constantly sought to challenge herself as a professional and thus, like her more provocative peer Jennifer Jason Leigh, remained consistently worth watching. Her greatest challenge, though, would come in

her thirties when, her reputation dented by a long string of failed and very public affairs and a tabloid-delighting spell in court over charges of shoplifting and illegal drug possession, she would have to reinvent herself as a serious adult actress.

She was born Winona Laura Horowitz on October 29th, 1971, Winona being the name of her hometown in Minnesota. Her father, Michael, was an atheist, writer and editor, who worked as