Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder, born Winona Laura Horowitz, is a descendant of the prestigious Russian and Romanian Jewish families. As the daughter of Cynthia Istas, an author and video producer, and Michael Horowitz, a publisher and bookseller, she was born into a life of privilege and opportunity. She was even named after a nearby town in Minnesota and is the goddaughter of the legendary Timothy Leary. Her parents, friends of the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, once edited a book called "Shaman Woman Mainline Lady" which further cemented their prominent position in the literary and artistic world. Ryder was then given the chance to pursue her own artistic dreams, moving with her parents to Petaluma, California when she was ten and enrolling in acting classes at the American Conservatoire Theater. Little did she know that this would lead to her playing the lead role of Josephine March in the adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women (1994).