While Winona Ryder has garnered as much attention in the Hollywood press due to her unusual background and high profile romances as she has for her work, it is a testament to her acting chops that the characters she has created on the screen are as eclectic and multifaceted as the life that she has lived off it. Since getting her first break at 15 with a part in 1986's Lucas, the Gen-X standard bearer has accumulated an impressive amount of roles in off-beat hit movies.

Ryder's early years hardly seem to have marked her for a destiny of Tinseltown stardom. Born Winona Horowitz, the daughter of two hippies, and the goddaughter of Timothy Leary, she spent her early childhood on a commune in Northern California without electricity. At age 10 her parents moved the family to Petaluma where she got her introduction to acting in classes at the American Conservatory Theatre.

Ryder broke into the public consciousness with her portrayal of Lydia, a depressed goth living in haunted house with her parents in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988). Alienation would be a motif of her career, but she hinted at greater range as the radiant Kim in Edward Scissorhands (1990), another Burton project. The role paired her with Johnny Depp. The two became a couple and Depp expressed his dedication with a tattoo proclaiming "Winona Forever." When the relationship went south the tattoo became "Wino Forever" and Winona moved onto equally well publicized flings with Dave Pirner (of rock band Soul Asylum) and Matt Damon.

Great roles kept coming for Ryder as well. After dropping out of the third installment of Coppola's Godfather trilogy due to exhaustion Ryder played Mina in the director's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Martin Scorcese tapped her for his adaptation of Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence (1993). Ryder played a sickly character, but she still emoted the social power that comes with membership in the aristocracy. She would be nominated for an Oscar® for the role. She was Lelaina in the definitive movie of Seattle's grunge movement, Reality Bites (1994). Another Oscar® nomination came for her work in Little Women (1994) and she had more star parts in How to Make an American Quilt (1995), Celebrity (1998), and Girl Interrupted (1999).

With these successes have come some missteps and bad breaks. Alien Resurrection (1997), was skewered by critics and failed to build on the success of the franchise. Ryder has twice had to drop out of productions due to poor health, an ominous sign for an actress so young. Her labyrinthine love life has been a gold mine for the tabloid writers and the notoriety has sometimes obscured the quality of her work. Still, when the lights dim and the movie starts she remains a talent to watch.

Credit: amctv.com