Winona Ryder (born Winona Laura Horowitz; October 29, 1971) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. As Lydia Deetz, a goth teenager in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988), she won critical and popular recognition. After various appearances in film and on television, Ryder continued her acting career with the cult film Heathers (1988), a controversial satire of teenage suicide and high school life that has since become a landmark teen film. She later appeared in the coming of age drama Mermaids (1990), earning a Golden Globe nomination, in Burton's dark fairy-tale Edward Scissorhands (1990), and in Francis Ford Coppola's gothic romance Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

Having played diverse roles in many well-received films in the late 80s and early 90s, Ryder won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Academy Award nomination in the same category for her role in The Age of Innocence in 1993 as well as another Academy Award nomination, as Best Actress, for the literary adaptation Little Women the following year. She later appeared in the Generation X hit Reality Bites (1994), Alien: Resurrection (1997), the Woody Allen comedy Celebrity (1998), and Girl, Interrupted (1999), which she also executive-produced. In 2000, Ryder received a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California honouring her legacy in the film industry.