Winona Ryder is one of the biggest breakout actresses of the 1980s. Born in Minnesota in 1971, Ryder made her feature film debut as a featured player in a teenage drama called Lucas, where she was seen by an up-and-coming director named Tim Burton. At the age of 17, she played a role in a little film called Beetlejuice, and the rest is history. After an initial downturn in the mid-2000s amidst some personal controversies, her career hit new heights again thanks to her role as Joyce Byers on the hit Netflix show Stranger Things.
Over the course of her career, she’s been cast primarily in extremely dramatic roles, like Abigail Williams or Mina Harker, as eccentric, quirky characters, like Lydia Deetz or Veronica Sawyer, or sometimes, like in the case of Joyce Byers, both. Since then, she has continued to stick out as an iconic actress for millions of people around the world, with several of her films being essential viewing for many die-hard film nerds.
11
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ (2024)
Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) has changed a lot over the last 35 years, and they haven’t been completely kind to her. She’s found some success with a ghostly talk show, but the Maitlands have passed on to the great beyond. Her husband’s death caused an estrangement with her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), her dad has just died, her manager/boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux) has begun to pressure her into marriage, and Beetlejuice (Micheal Keaton) has continued to haunt her from afar. And when Astrid accidentally makes her way to the Netherworld, the ghost with the most may be her only hope of saving her.
Much like the cartoon and Broadway musical, Lydia is promoted to the lead character, and Ryder makes her a sympathetic focus in the absence of the Maitlands. While her characterization may be different from what most would expect a grown-up Lydia Deetz to look like, given the amount of trauma she’s had to go through up to this point, her more subdued, cautious demeanor does make a lot of sense.
10
‘The Crucible’ (1996)
Based on the classic Broadway play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible is a historical courtroom drama focusing on a fictionalised version of the Salem Witch Trials. It begins when a group of teenage girls is caught doing a supposed act of Satanism in the woods. Desperate to save face, the girls, led by one Abigail Williams (Winona Ryder), start accusing several people in town of being in league with the devil. In Abigail’s case, she’s got it out for town lawyer John Proctor (Daniel Day-Lewis), with whom she had an affair while he was married.
Abigail Williams is one of theatre’s most iconic antagonists, and Ryder brings her to the screen with a quiet yet ever-present cold rage. With a first appearance onscreen that involves sacrificing a chicken and drinking its blood, she immediately leaves a startling impression on the audience. Whether you believe she’s a diabolical villain or a misunderstood product of her environment, Ryder’s take on Abigail Williams is nothing short of perfection.
9
‘Mermaids’ (1990)
While many of Ryder’s characters are often outcasts due to their strange interests, hobbies, or personalities, Mermaids shows her as a girl who is the white sheep of her family. Set in 1963, Rachel Flax (Cher) is a flighty, freewheeling woman who acts more like a friend than a mother to her daughters – embarrassed, prudish Charlotte (Winona Ryder), and mischievous little Kate (Christina Ricci). Upon their move to Massachusetts, Charlotte is thrilled by the prospect of ditching her family to join a convent, if her attraction to the new handyman doesn’t lead to any issues at first.
Mermaids is a great blend of both Ryder’s dramatic side and her quirkiness — in this case, having the exact opposite interests of what a Winona Ryder character usually wants. Charlotte Flax wants to be responsible and have a typical, stable middle-class life, even if it stems from her own kind of rebellious edge. Ryder’s performance ties Mermaids together, earning her first much-deserved Golden Globe nomination.
8
‘Little Women’ (1994)
Before Greta Gerwig made headlines for her take on the classic story, the 1994 adaptation of Little Women, starring Ryder as Jo March, was considered the best adaptation. Jo and the rest of her sisters, Beth (Claire Danes), Meg (Trini Alvarado), and Amy (Samantha Mathis/Kirsten Dunst), grow up together in the midst of the Civil War, facing hardships, love, and the trials of growing up.
Ryder took on the role not only because she loved the book as a child, but also because she wanted to pay tribute to a girl from her hometown who was tragically killed not long before she was handed the script. Despite not matching the book’s physical description of Jo, and acting in a break from her more moody, dour characters, Ryder exhumes her passion, spunky nature, and ambition to a tee. Playing Jo would lead to her second Oscar nomination for Best Actress, making it an important milestone in her career.
7
‘Black Swan’ (2010)
Ryder’s role in Black Swan may be small compared to her other best movies, but she leaves an essential impact on the film’s story. A rather grizzly story showing the tumultuous rehearsal process of a production of Swan Lake, Ryder plays Beth, a retired dancer with a clear chip on her shoulder. Forced out of the prized roles of the White and Black Swans, Beth has developed a drinking problem and openly accuses the new lead, Nina (Natalie Portman), of sleeping with the director to get the job.
And then the next day, her legs get mangled when she gets hit by a car, ending both her career and her part in the movie as quickly as it began. But Beth’s brief storyline hangs over the rest of the narrative, heavily implied to be the end result of being pushed into perfection like the other dancers are. Her time is limited, but Winona Ryder makes her time in Black Swan shine every moment she’s on the screen.
6
‘Girl, Interrupted’ (1999)
While she was overshadowed in reviews and awards by Angelina Jolie’s star-making performance, that does not mean that Ryder’s leading performance in Girl, Interrupted wasn’t something special, either. Following an attempt to take her own life, Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) is forcibly admitted into a mental health facility. During her 18-month stay, she begins to grow close with several of her fellow patients, among which include sociopathic Lisa Rowe (Angelina Jolie).
Based on the autobiography of the same name, Girl, Interrupted shows Ryder as a young girl dealing with intense issues, finding herself amongst a group of even more disturbed individuals. Initially, she thinks of herself as more sane than any of her fellow patients, but pretty soon, she realizes she is not nearly as different as she believes. While the book’s real-life subject may have disapproved of the film’s more dramatic embellishments, Girl, Interrupted is still a great film with a great leading performance from Ryder.
5
‘Edward Scissorhands’ (1991)
The second film Ryder made with Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands depicts Kim Boggs is different in every way from Lydia Deetz. When she first appears, Kim is a typical sarcastic teenager, interested in dating bad boy Jim (Anthony Michael Hall) and is freaked out by Edward (Johnny Depp). But Edward quickly reveals himself to be harmless and sensitive, and she soon becomes the only one willing to listen to reason when the neighborhood begins to turn against him. And when he goes back up to the castle where he lives, she’s the only one still willing to remember his story.
The narrative of Edward Scissorhands is more centered on Edward’s own doomed attempts to understand and blend in with his new surroundings, but Kim still goes through a coming-of-age journey of her own. At first, looking only after her own self-interests with the popular kids, by the end, she’s the one in control of the narrative, lying to everyone to keep Edward safe and telling her granddaughter the whole story, warts and all.
4
‘The Age of Innocence’ (1993)
The film that earned Ryder her first ever Oscar nomination, The Age of Innocence is a period romance drama that marks an interesting break from form for director Martin Scorsese. Set in the gilded age of New York City, attorney Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is set to propose to the well-bred and sensible May Welland (Winona Ryder). But he finds himself drawn to May’s scandalous cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer).
In spite of her somewhat vapid demeanor and superficial views, May is a far more intelligent and scheming character than she first appears. When Archer attempts to break off their relationship or do something beyond just following the antiquated standards of the era, she always finds a way to keep him in line and manipulates his own courteousness to her advantage. Scorsese still regards The Age of Innocence as his most violent movie due to the brutality under the surface of language used in that era, and Ryder’s performance as May is an essential cog in that world.
3
‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’ (1992)
More than any other adaptation of the Dracula story, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the film that emphasized both the blood and added a tinge of romance. In this version, Mina (Winona Ryder) is the reincarnation of Dracula’s (Gary Oldman) dead wife, Elisabeta. The usual story beats proceed, where the king of the vampires moves to London to spread his unholy plague, but this time, his relationship with Mina seems much more genuine, being the only person he seems to show any kind of affection for.
Despite losing some of Mina’s agency from the book, Ryder’s take on Mina is a more prominent and fascinating character in this version. In spite of her love for her husband Jonathan (Keanu Reeves), Dracula’s arrival fills her with an ecstasy that she can’t fully explain, and despite his evil actions, she can’t help but find some love for him as well. She even gets the honor of killing him in a moment played more as an act of romantic redemption rather than simply vanquishing an ancient evil.
2
‘Heathers’ (1989)
Next to her star-making role in Beetlejuice and her comeback hit in Stranger Things, it was Heathers that truly defined Ryder’s image. Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is a sarcastic teenager who’s found herself the errand girl of the small but powerful clique of the Heathers. She finds an outlet in bad boy J.D. (Christian Slater), and the two set out to make their mark on Westerburg High School – even if a few bodies have to drop.
In contrast to her depiction in the beloved off-Broadway musical version, Ryder’s Veronica Sawyer is not simply a good person trying to fit in with the popular crowd as much as she is a passive enabler of said popular crowd. She’s attracted to J.D.’s rebellious antics, only to realize more as the film goes on that she’s become an accomplice to murder. Outspoken, sardonic, and deeply imperfect, Veronica Sawyer is a danger to popular girls everywhere.
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