About
Golden Globe Award-winning American actress celebrated as one of the defining screen stars of the 1980s and 1990s. She rose to fame in Tim Burton classics Beetlejuice (1988) and Edward Scissorhands (1990), received back-to-back Academy Award nominations for The Age of Innocence (1993) and Little Women (1994), and found widespread acclaim portraying Joyce Byers in the global Netflix hit series Stranger Things.
Before Fame
Named Winona Laura Horowitz after the nearby town of Winona, Minnesota, she began studying acting at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco at age twelve before making her film debut in Lucas (1986).
Trivia
Took her stage name Ryder from Mitch Ryder, a soul and rock singer whom her father was listening to when her agent asked what professional surname she wanted.
Family Life
Daughter of authors, editors, and antiquarian booksellers Michael Horowitz and Cynthia Palmer. She has been in a long-term relationship with fashion entrepreneur Scott Mackinlay Hahn since 2011.
Associated With
Starred alongside Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands, Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour in Stranger Things, and Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice and its 2024 sequel.
