Gothic Princess Winona Ryder: Secret Marriage to Keanu Reeves, Prison and Stolen Oscar

Winona Ryder was the strongest actress of the "nineties" and "zero". What can I say, she was nominated for an Oscar for two years in a row - for her roles in the films "The Age of Innocence" and "Little Women". Film critics called Winona the greatest star, and on the "Walk of Fame" for more than 20 years, her name star flaunts.

What was the path of the actress? Once upon a time, Winona Horowitz could not have imagined that such a future awaited her. At first, their acting skills helped her avoid ridicule from classmates and then allowed her to earn $ 350 thousand per episode in Stranger Things.

12 PHOTOS

1. Winona was born into a family of writers and lived in a hippie commune.

Winona Laura Horowitz was born on October 29, 1971, in Winona, Minnesota. Her mother, Cynthia Palmer, was an editor, and her father, Michael D. Horowitz, was a famous poet. On the paternal side, the future movie star was Ukrainian, Jewish, and Romanian.

The name of the girl was given in honor of the city in which she was born, and Laura Huxley, the wife of the writer Aldous Huxley. The younger brother of Winona was named Uri - like the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.

2. She didn't have good relationships with her peers.

As a child, Winona often moved and changed schools. The girl was often bullied by her peers - for some reason they mistook her for a boy. 12-year-old Horowitz found solace in art - she entered the American Theater Conservatory in San Francisco.

Winona Ryder hoped that after her film debut, she would be left alone. However, after the release of the film "Beetlejuice," a new nickname was attached to her - "witch". Fortunately, there were only a few months left before graduation from school, so the aspiring artist simply stopped paying attention to the spiteful critics.

3. In reality, Winona is a blonde

As a teenager, the blonde Winona began to dye her hair in bright colors. The actress decided to become a brunette before auditioning for a role in the 1986 film “Lucas”. The producers liked the image of the girl so much that they asked to leave everything unchanged.

4. Success awaited the actress in the "nineties"

After “Lucas” and “Beetlejuice,” Winona got a few more controversial roles: the actress’s agents assured her that some of the tapes of that time “will definitely destroy her career,” but Ryder’s game received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers.

But already in the 1990s, Winona began with the main roles. The first went to her in the science fiction film "Edward Scissorhands". Tim Burton, already familiar to her, became the director of the film, and her then-boyfriend Johnny Depp became a partner on the set. The girl received the second significant role in the Mermaid film - participation in the filming led Winona to a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

5. Winona could have been in The Godfather

In 1990, another bright role could appear in Winona's filmography. The girl was offered to take on the image of Mary Corleone in the third film from the saga "The Godfather" by Francis Ford Coppola. However, shortly before filming began, Ryder was diagnosed with nervous exhaustion and had to turn down the role.

6. Ryder was not only an actress - she was also a producer, announcer, and film expert.

The convincing and extraordinary actress received hundreds of applications from directors. Winona has appeared in Deadly Attraction, Dracula, The Age of Innocence, Little Women, and a host of other films that are now considered classics of sorts.

In 1998, everyone knew the name, Winona Ryder. The girl was respected not only for her acting talent. She was on the jury at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, produced the film Interrupted Life, voiced the diaries of Anne Frank, and worked with the best contemporary actors.

7. Without Winona, there would be no "Girl, Interrupted"

The shooting of the film began at the insistence of Winona - she read the novel by Suzanne Kasen and invited James Mangold to adapt it. Despite the fact that it was Ryder who received the main role in the resulting tape, all the awards - and the Oscar too - went only to Jolie.

8. Winona was arrested for theft

Only in 2001, Ryder began a four-year break in his career. She agreed only to guest roles and talk shows due to health problems (Winona was diagnosed with severe indigestion) and the law - in December 2001, the actress was arrested for intentional shoplifting. She managed to get off with corrective labor and a fine, but the reputation of the star was “tarnished” for a while.

9. For an episode in "Stranger Things" she receives almost half a million dollars

In the middle of the 2000s, Winona Ryder was still in demand in Hollywood. It was then that the star discovered television: she was increasingly attracted to the serial format. Since 2016, Ryder has joined the cast of the sci-fi series Stranger Things, where she played the role of Joyce Byers, a single mother whose 12-year-old son mysteriously disappears. By the third season, Winona received not only several nominations for major awards but also a good fee: she was entitled to 350 thousand dollars for one episode.

10. Winona has an ongoing relationship

The personal life of the actress is also somewhat similar to the movie. In July 1990, she and Johnny Depp announced their engagement - the actors began dating when Ryder was still a minor. However, love was not eternal: three years later, the relationship between Winona and Johnny broke up. From 1998 to 2000, the actress was with Matt Damon, and since 2011 she has been living with fashion designer Scott McKinley Khan.

11. Winona is still married to Keanu Reeves

It may seem strange, but in fact, Winona has a husband - and this is Keanu Reeves. On the set of Dracula, the actors were really married to a real Romanian priest. The stars love to remember this fact and are even proud that they chose each other as their spouses.