*editors note* There are some awesome pictures of Winona out there. So if you are a fan, do a "google search" for images.
sourceWinona Ryder (born Winona Laura Horowitz on October 29, 1971 in Olmsted County, Minnesota) is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award winning Americanactress. She is widely known for her work in the cult classic Heathers, and many other films such as Girl, Interrupted, Little Women, Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands.She's 35!
Ryder was born in Olmsted County, Minnesota and was named after the nearby city of Winona, and was given her middle-name, Laura, because of her parent's friendship with Aldous Huxley's wife, Laura Huxley. Her mother is author Cindy Horowitz (ne Istas) and her father is author and editor Michael Horowitz. Her paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and her maternal grandparents from Romania. Records show her father's family were originally named Tomschin when they arrived on the Kroonland at Ellis Island in 1906 but went under the name Horowitz when they resided in Manhattan. She has a younger brother Yuri (named after Yuri Gagarin), an older half-brother Jubal and an older half-sister Sunyata. Notable family friends include her godfather Timothy Leary and beat poet Allen Ginsberg. When Ryder was seven years old, she and her family relocated to Rainbow, a commune near Elk, California, where they lived with seven other families on a 300-acre (1.2 km) plot of land. As the remote property had no electricity or television sets, Ryder took to reading. Her mother did, however, show her some films on a screen in the barn and consequently, she developed an interest in acting. At the age of ten, Ryder and her family moved on again to Petaluma, California. During her first week at the local junior high school she was bullied by a group of thugs who mistook her for an effeminate, scrawny boy. As a result, she ended up being homeschooled that year. Nevertheless, around this time, she started attending the American Conservatory Theater in nearby San Francisco, where she started taking her first acting lessons.
Ryder will be busy in 2007 with three films due to come out. First up, she will star in the comedy The Darwin Awards, with Joseph Fiennes about a forensic detective (Fiennes) and an insurance claims investigator (Ryder) trekking to investigate a potential Darwin Award winner. From www.darwinawards.com: "The Darwin Awards salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who accidentally kill themselves in really stupid ways." The film is due out sometime in February 2007. Second, Ryder is reuniting with Daniel Waters, who wrote Heathers, for the surreal dark comedy Sex and Death 101 (2007). The quirky comedy follows the sexual odysseys of successful businessman Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) who receives a mysterious e-mail on the eve of his wedding, listing all of his past and future sex partners. Convinced that his marriage would deter a mind-blowing future path of bachelorhood, Roderick sets out to find all the listed women and fulfill his destiny of one-night stands. Things take a fatal turn courtesy of (Winona Ryder), who plays intended paramour/femme fatale Death Nell, a woman who enjoys near-fatal trysts with her love partners along with the intent on punishing all men she finds guilty of sex crimes against women. Filming wrapped July 6, 2006, and is set for release in early mid-Spring 2007. In July 2006, Entertainment Weekly reported that Winona Ryder and writer/director Daniel Waters are also working on ideas for a Heathers sequel. "We will be doing a sequel to 'Heathers' next," Ryder said. "There's Heathers in the real world! We have to keep going!" In a recent interview for Entertainment Weekly Ryder was quoted as saying, "I don't know how much of the movie is official; it's a ways away. But it takes place in Washington and Christian Slater agreed to come back and make an Obi-Wan-type appearance. It's very funny." Daniel Waters is writing the sequel, and may also direct. Ryder will soon appear in David Wain's new comedy The Ten, along with Jessica Alba, Amanda Peet, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Famke Janssen, Oliver Platt, and Adam Brody. The film centers around 10 stories, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments. Filming wrapped September 7. The film is scheduled for theater release some time in 2007.Ryder is famous for her long relationships. She was engaged to actor Johnny Depp for three years (During their relationship, Depp got a tattoo on his arm reading "Winona Forever," which he had altered to "Wino Forever" after their breakup), and dated Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner and actor Matt Damon for three years each.Other October 29th Birthdays:Richard Dreyfuss-Actor (59)Kate Jackson-Actress/Charlies Angels (58)Ben Foster-Actor/Disney's Flash Forward (26)
