Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder Biography

Winona Ryder – Full Information

• Name: Winona Ryder
• Birth Name: Winona Laura Horowitz
• Profession: Actress, Producer
• Nationality: American
• Date of Birth: October 29, 1971
• Age: 54 years (as of 2026)
• Birthplace: Winona County, Minnesota, USA
• Zodiac Sign: Scorpio
• Years Active: 1986 – Present
• Ancestry: Irish through her mother; Ashkenazi Jewish, with roots in Romania, Russia and Ukraine, through her father

Name and Background

• She was named after Winona, Minnesota, the nearest city to the rural farmhouse where she was born.
• Her middle name, Laura, honours Laura Huxley, the wife of writer Aldous Huxley and a friend of her parents.
• Her stage surname comes from the singer Mitch Ryder, of whom her father was a fan.
• Psychologist Timothy Leary, for whom her father worked as an archivist, was her godfather.

Education

• Grew up on a commune near Elk, California, before the family moved to Petaluma, California, when she was 10
• Attended Kenilworth Junior High School in Petaluma
• Enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco in 1983, aged 12, for her first acting lessons

Family

• Father: Michael D. Horowitz, author, editor, publisher and antiquarian bookseller
• Mother: Cynthia Palmer (née Istas), author, video producer and editor
• Siblings: Younger brother Urie; half-brother Jubal and half-sister Sunyata, from her mother’s earlier marriage
• Partners: Johnny Depp (1989–1993); Scott Mackinlay Hahn (2011–present). She has never married.

Career Highlight

Awards List