Two-time Academy Award nominee Winona Ryder recently celebrated her 50th birthday and there were fans of plenty of different movie properties that wanted to share their love of the actress with on social media. Since making her debut in the movie Lucas in 1986, Ryder has starred in some of the best loved movies of late 80s and early 90s, includingBeetlejuice,Mermaids,HeathersandEdward Scissorhands, and despite some personal setbacks, she has rarely been away from screens for long and most recently has become known for her role in Netflix hitStranger Things, which has seen her nominated for Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Winona Ryderwas born in Winona, Minnesota on October 29th, 1971, and her early life was littered with challenges. As a ten-year-old, she was bullied for looking like an effeminate boy by other children, and she continued to experience bullying through into high school. When she was chosen by Tim Burton to appear as Lydia Deetz inBeetlejuice, she believed it would change the way her classmates treated her, but years later she recounted, “I didBeetlejuice, and it was a big movie, but it didn’t help my high-school experience. In fact it made it worse. I was a freak and a witch.”
While it didn’t help her school life become any easier, the role did lead to her appearing in another Tim Burton movie,Edward Scissorhands, alongside her then-boyfriend Johnny Depp. Ryderreprised her rolefor a Super Bowl commercial earlier this year. After that movie, she would go on to star inMermaidswith Cher, Bob Hoskins and a very young Christina Ricci, Francis Ford Coppola’s version ofBram Stoker’s DraculaandThe Age of Innocence, all of which gained her critical acclaim.
Ryder worked frequently throughout the 90s, but the new millennium didn’t begin the way she planned when she was arrested for shoplifting in December 2001, which affected a number of planned movie appearances. She did appear in a small number of movies across the following four years, but was mostly on hiatus until 2006. Over the following decade, Ryder came out fighting, appearing a number many movies in quick succession, such as J.J. Abrams’Star Trek,The Informers, the critically acclaimedBlack Swan,The Ice Manand provided a voice in Tim Burton’sFrankenweenie. In 2016 she took on the role of Joyce Byers inNetflix' runaway hit Stranger Things, playing the mother of a 12-year-old who goes missing from home in unexplained circumstances, and she delivered a neurotic and anxious performance that reminded many of just how good an actress she could be.
Across the years, many of Ryder’s movies have picked up a big following, so there was a lot of love being shown for the star as she hit her milestone birthday. Whether it was her older fans who have followed her career ups and downs since her early roles inBeetlejuiceandEdward Scissorhands, or those who have only known her as the mother of Will Byers inStranger Things, there were plenty of best wishes being sent her way as fans celebrated her 50th birthday on social media. Of course, Ryderwill be back in the fourth seasonofStranger Thingsnext year, but in the meantime we wish her a happy birthday weekend and here are some of the messages from well-wishers shared on social media:
