With her porcelain skin, inky black hair and weird movie roles, Winona Ryder never made any effort to be universally appealing, which is exactly what made her the poster girl of 90s grunge. In 1988, when she was 17 years old, she played the “strange and unusual” gothic outsider Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice. In 1990, she played the blonde bouffant-haired popular girl who fell in love with the gentle, scissor-handed man, played by her then fiancé, Johnny Depp, in Edward Scissorhands. And in 1999, she played the troubled and obnoxious Susanna in Girl, Interrupted — someone with whom any teenage girl (borderline personality disorder or not) can probably identify. She was EVERYTHING then, and now she’s back: as the face of Marc Jacobs beauty and as the rumored star of a potential Beetlejuice sequel. To celebrate her first-ever beauty campaign, here are our all-time favorite Winona on-screen moments.
1. Beetlejuice (1988)
Nothing warms the heart more than seeing the sad, suicidal gothic outsider Lydia Deetz finally happy — living in harmony with her mom, dad and ghostly friends — and floating above the staircase dancing along to Harry Belafonte’s “Jump in the Line.”
2. Heathers (1988)
Christian Slater: Pretend I did blow up the school. Now that you’re dead, what are you going to do with your life?
Winona Ryder: [Takes cigarette out of pocket and puts in mouth.]
[Bomb explodes.]
The coolest way to light a cigarette. EVER.
3. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
I mean, Winona and Johnny. That’s all.
4. Mermaids (1990)
Cher, Winona and Christina Ricci make the most perfect dysfunctional family of metaphorical mermaids ever, each with their own little quirks. Mrs Flax (Cher) is the inappropriate mother, Charlotte Flax (Winona) wants to live a celibate life until she falls in love with a church boy, and Kate Flax (Christina Ricci at an adorable 10 years old) just wants to beat the world record for holding your breath under water.
5. Terry Wogan interviewing Winona Ryder (1991)
She’s 19 years old, quite shy, engaged to Johnny Depp and promoting Mermaids. Here she talks about her “hippy” parents, being in a stable relationship, not taking drugs and a marriage that would never be. 🙁
6. Reality Bites (1994)
Whether it’s “Jump in the Line” in Beetlejuice, “If You Wanna Be Happy” in Mermaids, or “My Sharona” in Reality Bites, Winona Ryder jumping around and dancing on screen is always just the best thing ever.
7. Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Winona and Angelina Jolie’s roles in this film are cited by almost all young actresses as their dream parts. And Winona’s bath-time tirade against Whoopi Goldberg as Nurse Valerie is one of her absolute finest moments.
8. Friends (2001)
The one where Winona Ryder hears coconuts knocking together. In season seven, Winona scored one of the greatest-ever Friends cameos. Who wouldn’t want to see Rachel kissing one of her old sorority sisters, who had secretly been in love with her since they first drunkenly kissed back in college? No one.
9. “Here With Me,” The Killers (2012)
Winona reunited with Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands director Tim Burton to shoot the music video for The Killers’ “Here With Me.” Is she real? Is she a doll? Is she a waitress? Is she famous? Or is she just a candle… no one knows what’s really going on but, well, Winona.
10. Black Swan (2010)
Winona’s awful character in Black Swan echoed the pressures she herself had experienced in the entertainment industry, but she totally nailed it. “Doing the character was really cool in a way because I’m a bit older and the whole idea [is] there’s these young new actresses coming up. I’m sort of ‘old school’!” Winona told Total Film magazine. “I like the idea of being replaced and being older, especially now I’ve just turned 39. When I started acting, I wanted to be like [Rosemary’s Baby star] Ruth Gordon, because I was always the kid and always wanted to be older. So it’s interesting for me to be older than people now.”
Credits
Text Felicity Kinsella
Still from Girl Interrupted via YouTube