Winona Laura Horowitz (born October 29, 1971), better known under her professional name Winona Ryder, is an American actress who has appeared in film genres ranging from drama and comedy to science fiction. Her first significant role was as a goth teen in the 1988 Tim Burton film Beetlejuice, which won her critical and commercial recognition. After making various appearances in film and television, Ryder continued her career with the cult film Heathers (1989), a satire of teenage life. 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 2000, Ryder received a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. A 2001 shoplifting incident led to a hiatus from acting. In 2006, she returned to the screen in what several media outlets called "a remarkable comeback".

Born Winona Laura Horowitz in Olmsted County, Minnesota, she was named after the nearby city of Winona. She was given her middle name, Laura, because of her parents' friendship with Aldous Huxley's wife, Laura Huxley. Her mother, Cynthia Palmer (née Istas), is an author, as well as a video producer and editor. Her father, Michael Horowitz, is an author, editor, publisher and antiquarian bookseller. Ryder's mother is a Buddhist and her father is an atheist. Regarding her religious heritage, Ryder has described herself as "Jewish"; her paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. Ryder has one full sibling, a younger brother, Uri (named in honour of the first, Soviet cosmonaut - Yuri Gagarin), an older half-brother, Jubal, and an older half-sister, Sunyata. Ryder's family friends included her godfather, LSD guru Timothy Leary, beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick.