When you finally accept that it`s OK not to have answers and it`s OK not to be perfect, you realize that feeling confused is a normal part of what it is to be a human being.

But I`ve always felt a need to have a life which is completely separate - at least as far as possible - from the kind of illusory lifestyle that comes with being a celebrity.

My dad took me to all the best rock and punk shows when I was growing up and music has always been a part of my life. So I`m very interested in the music scene and I suppose that`s why I`ve ended up going out with musicians. Dave Pirner is still one of my best friends.

I was very depressed after breaking off my engagement with Johnny ten years ago. I was embarrassingly dramatic at the time, but you have to remember I was only 19 years old.

That`s an aspect of this business which can be very frustrating and aggravating. Most of what is written about you is wrong and so much of what does get printed is often about personal things that you don`t want to have other people read about.

I was regarded as the school freak which further reinforced a lot of inhibitions and doubts I had about myself. I was a shy, frightened teenager for a long time.

It`s just people should realize that the celebrity aspect of being an actor is very rarely enjoyable for people like me who would always rather go unnoticed and disappear into the crowd.

Weird people follow you in the streets, you can`t sit alone in a restaurant or a cafe and read a book in peace, and I think everybody values those moments of being alone.

Money doesn`t matter on a deeply personal level. It doesn`t make you feel any happier. But of course I am very aware that I don`t have to worry about earning a living or about those very important practical things that most people have to worry about on a very real level.

People think that they just want movies like Pretty Woman, when really they - at least the ones that I know personally - have been waiting for something that doesn`t completely insult them.

I`m not into wrinkles.

It`s part of the celebrity process but my life has never been as interesting or as wild as what`s been printed about me.

I don`t hang out with agents and producers and I`m not into the business side at all.

I welcome turning 30 because I like approaching the beginning of something instead of the end. I`m at a really good place and feel grounded.

You try to get out there and live. I`ve always had good friends who`ve been very supportive and help make me feel good and grounded because I`ve never felt attached to the film industry.

I`ve learned that it`s OK to be flawed.

It`s also a question of finding good material and interesting roles. I`m not the only actress out there, and good parts just don`t fall into your lap that easily. But I like most of the films I`ve made recently and so I`m pretty positive about the future.

You go through spells where you feel that maybe you`re too sensitive for this world. I certainly felt that.

Remember, I`m the kind of kid who used to get stuffed into a locker by school bullies. I`ve never felt like I`m a big star at any level of my life.

I feel my best when I`m happy.

I think I`m learning to be bolder in my career choices and be more confident in my personal life. I haven`t always felt very secure as an individual, but now I feel I certain confidence and sense of self that gets me through the day a lot better than before.

It`s really good to be able to think about past loves without having a pit in my stomach, or cringing or feeling heart-broken, or like they hate you. Don`t you think?

I`m quite comfortable looking at myself in movies, probably because I`ve been doing it for so long, since I was a kid. So I sort of watched myself grow up and go through adolescence, like, basically on camera.

I`ve learned that it`s OK to be flawed, that life can be messy, that some days you glide and some days you fall, but most important, that there are no secret answers out there.

If I showed you scripts from my first few movies, the descriptions of my characters all said `the ugly girl`.

You can`t pay enough money to... cure that feeling of being broken and confused.

Break-ups are hard for anybody, but it`s particularly tough when it`s being documented and you see the person`s picture everywhere. Most people don`t have that added problem when they break up with someone.

I`m not into older guys. To tell you the truth, Richard Gere is not the sexiest man alive, in my book.

I love good family films. I think in the context of Sept. 11 it`s important that these kinds of movies are made and reach an audience.

You`ve got to grow up sometime.

It`s an indication of how cynical our society has become that any kind of love story with a sad theme is automatically ridiculed as sentimental junk.

I don`t believe I am influencing anybody but myself.

I have this sense that I didn`t really start growing up until my twenties.

There was a time when I was 19 when I really, really, really thought I was going crazy. I was exhausted and going through a terrible depression.

So remaking a movie like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is a really positive statement and I`m so happy I made it in light of what happened after we made it.

[Explaining why she never felt guilty about her shoplifting arrest]: I didn`t have this tremendous sense of guilt because I hadn`t hurt anyone. Had I physically harmed someone or caused harm to a human being, I think it would have been an entirely different experience.

My godfather Timothy Leary coined the phrase `question authority`, it is one of my favorites. To question our government is the most important thing people can do right now in the US.

Focus should be on the art of film, not on the business of film.

I love westerns. John Ford is one of the 10 best directors.

I live in San Francisco, I have an apartment in New York, but I`m here all the time. Nobody knows. .. . You can`t stay away. I`m a San Franciscan to the bone.

My father is an atheist. My mother is Buddhist. They encouraged my siblings and me to take the best part of other religions to make our own belief system.

I still practice Buddhism to a certain extent and I believe in karma.

I couldn`t hold my own against Sigourney Weaver and those special effects. I still don`t know what I was doing in that movie. I look at it now and realize I really didn`t belong. I`m just this little girl running around.

I don`t feel threatened like Julia Roberts. Pretty Woman (1990) turned her into an overnight celebrity rather than an actress. Now her whole career is about box- office - - if her movies don`t break $l00-million. It`s not a burden I`d ever want to carry.

On Heathers (1989): "It`s a brilliant piece of literature, and I call it literature because it really is. I held it up next to `Catcher in the Rye` and all the great books that I`ve read."

For a long time I was almost ashamed of being an actress. I felt like it was a shallow occupation. People would be watching my every move.

I read biographies of the greats, and they were so messed up that I thought I`d better mess myself up. But I couldn`t. I`m too small.

When asked why is she always playing teenagers, during a press junket for Mermaids (1990) in 1990: "Like, I`m nineteen. What am I supposed to do, play a judge?!"

Good friends with Courtney Love.

Was considered for the part of Velma Kelly in Chicago (2002), but Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast instead.

Her godfather is Timothy Leary.

Most of her early childhood was spent in Petaluma,Sonoma county. The family spent some time in Columbia with Chilean revolutionaries in the mid-70s. They moved to a 300 acre commune in Elk, Mendocino County with seven other families in the late 1970s.

Has done various commercials for cars (Subaru), coffee (Café Latté) and for Italian designer Giorgio Armani. Also participated in a clothing campaign (2003) for designer and friend Marc Jacobs (IV).

Olivia de Havilland`s blouse from Gone with the Wind (1939), and Sandra Dee`s bikini from the "Tammy movies".

She owns some of Hollywood`s stars` most priceless possessions (Louis Armstrong`s bongo drums among others). She also has a collection of vintage Hollywood costumes, including Russ Tamblyn`s jacket from West Side Story (1961), Leslie Caron`s dress from An American in Paris (1951), Claudette Colbert`s gown from It Happened One Night (1934), Olivia de Havilland`s blouse from Gone with the Wind (1939), and Sandra Dee`s bikini from the "Tammy movies".

She is also into music and plays the guitar. Her favorite band at one point was `The Replacements`, but she also loves Tom Waits, Cocteau Twins, Wilco and many others.

Avid reader of 1960s literature (Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac), but also F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, Aldous Huxley, Oscar Wilde, and many more. All-time favorite book is "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.

Her father`s family was originally named `Tomchin`, however she stated that they were wrongly assigned the name of the family that they were travelling with when they arrived at Ellis Island, in 1906.

She has a younger brother Uri Horowitz (named after Yuri Gagarin), an older half-brother Jubal Palmer and an older half-sister Sunyata Palmer.

In 1995, she made yet another significant artistic departure, recording a spoken word reading of the famous diary of Anne Frank, for which she received a Grammy nomination. Winona became one of the few non-musicians to have been nominated for both an Oscar and a Grammy for different projects.

She was given an honorary Master of Fine Arts degree from the American Conservatory Theater.

VH1`s "100 Greatest Teen Stars" (2006) (mini) ranked her seventh.

She was harassed her first week of junior high school when a group of bullies mistook her for an effeminate, scrawny boy.

Her participation in The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) was reported by Italian newspapers months before the official announcements were made; Ryder claims she met author J.T. LeRoy in 1993 at an opera.

Had several films that were announced but later canceled in the mid-2000s: Robert Altman`s "The Widow Claire," Norman Jewison`s "Embers," Jonas Ã…kerlund`s "Oskur Fishman," and Elie Chouraqui`s "Beyond Friendship.".

March 17, 2000, San Francisco International Film Festival awarded the prestigious Peter J. Owens Award to her for brilliance, independence and integrity.

She serves on the Board of American Indian College Funds.

Billy Wilder and William Holden are two artists for whom Ryder has great respect.

She is the 2,165th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her great friend, Anthony Hopkins attended the ceremony. November 2000.

Persuaded Universal Pictures to turn the February 1994 Los Angeles premiere of Reality Bites (1994) into a benefit for the Polly Klaas Foundation. She also had enough clout to see that Louisa May Alcott`s "Little Women" - Polly`s favorite book - was made into Little Women (1994), with Winona in the title role and the film dedicated to Polly Hannah Klaas.

Her friendship with best friend Gwyneth Paltrow ended in the late 1990s because their lives grew apart.

Member of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998

Suffers from aquaphobia due to a trauma she received when she nearly drowned at the age of 12. This caused problems when she had to act in some of the under-water scenes in Alien: Resurrection (1997). The scenes had to be retaken endless times because of this.

Suffers from insomnia. She allegedly has had a habit of talking on the phone with actor Al Pacino, who also suffers from insomnia.

A fan of the film Grey Gardens (1975).

Turned down the role of Katrina in Sleepy Hollow (1999), which went to Christina Ricci.

Dropped out of Eulogy (2004).

Was the host during Will Ferrell`s final episode as a regular cast member of "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

Measurements: 34C-22-34 (1992- on set of "Bram Stoker`s Dracula (1992)"), 35C-23 1/2- 34 (1996 designer notes), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

6 December 2002 - Sentenced to 480 hours of community service, three years` probation, $3700 in fines, and $6355 in restitution for her arrest on shoplifting charges.

November 6, 2002. She was found guilty of vandalism and grand theft in connection with the shoplifting charges dating from back on December 12, 2001. Sentencing is scheduled for December 6, 2002. She was acquitted of a third charge, burglary.

Broke her arm during the filming of Mr. Deeds (2002), in the scene where she and Adam Sandler are riding bikes down a flight of stairs.

Appeared on the cover of the June 2002 cover of W magazine wearing a "Free Winona" T-shirt. "Free Winona" T-shirts became popular over the Internet following her December 22, 2001 arrest, with many fans sporting them and purses in support.

Was arrested in Beverly Hills for allegedly stealing clothing items and carrying illegal pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription. Her lawyer denied the accusations, and Winona was released later that evening on $20,000 bail. Despite her alleged crime, Beverly Hills police described her as "very friendly, polite, and cooperative" and "a nice lady." [December 12, 2001]

Suffered severe stomach pains and doubled over in pain. She was sent to her hotel room in London, England, UK, and later was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with a severe gastroenterological disorder. She left the UK on August 24th. The sickness caused her to drop out of the (unreleased) film Lily and the Secret Planting (2002) and her part eventually went to Kate Winslet instead. Winona was said to have been very passionate about her role in the film and was heartbroken to leave. The incident brought to mind the similar 1990 stomach flu that caused her to drop out of The Godfather: Part III (1990) two days before filming began, causing a lot of controversy. [16 August 2001]

Was considered for the part of Janet in a big-screen remake of "Three`s Company" (1977) opposite Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz, but the project was eventually cancelled.

Dated Johnny Depp for many years. He had a tattoo of her name and after they broke up, he had it reduced to "Wino forever."

Dropped out of The Godfather: Part III (1990). She said in an interview later that year that she arrived in Rome to film and simply could not get out of bed. A doctor was called and ordered her to return home and sleep.

First auditioned for the role of Blanca in The House of the Spirits (1993) when she was sixteen, but the part went to Pernilla August. The film took years to get made, and when it finally did, August had to drop out at the last minute due to pregnancy, and Winona replaced her.

Says Sarah Miles`s performance in Ryan`s Daughter (1970) inspired her to become a professional actress.

The first house she bought was in the Hollywood Hills. She soon moved, saying she never fitted in.

Enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco at the age of 12.

Her agent begged her not to do Heathers (1989), saying her career would be over.

Turned down the lead role in Sabrina (1995) because she felt she could not fill Audrey Hepburn`s shoes and that the role was marked by sexism. [1994]

Had one date with Old 97`s frontman Rhett Miller, who wrote the song "Rollerskate Skinny" about her.

The film Lost Souls (2000), though it was released in late 2000, was actually shot in 1998, and New Line Cinema kept in on the shelf for two years.

Had to turn down the role of Alice Sutton in Conspiracy Theory (1997), which went to Julia Roberts, because of scheduling conflicts.

Appeared on the season finale of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) as herself. [19 May 2001]

Presented Best Picture contender The Cider House Rules (1999) at the 72nd Academy Awards. [March 2000]

In late 1999, she started her own music company, Roustabout Studios.

Her favorite book is J.D. Salinger`s "The Catcher in the Rye." She says she owns every paperback edition and translations.

Signed on to "The Girl You Want." After a few weeks of preproduction, she received a new version of the script, which she hated, and tried to get out of her contract. Touchstone Pictures threatened to sue her if she did, and so she completed the film. The film`s title was changed to Boys (1996) and sat on the shelf for more than a year. After it finally got its release, it was released in less than 100 theaters in North America and grossed less than five hundred thousand dollars. [1995]

Refused to do promotion for Lost Souls (2000). [2000]

Upset with MGM for refusing to pre-screen Autumn in New York (2000), saying she was very proud of the film and that the studio was giving it a bad name before it was even released. [2000]

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg was a close friend of her parents.

Auditioned for the Marla Singer role in Fight Club (1999), which eventually went to Helena Bonham Carter.

She dedicated the film Little Women (1994) to Polly Klaas, a young girl from her hometown of Petaluma, California, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered. She offered a $200,000 reward for anyone with information on the subject, and remains a strong supporter of the Polly Klaas Foundation.

Independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch wrote a part specifically for her in Night on Earth (1991), as a tattooed, chain-smoking cabbie who dreams of becoming a mechanic.

Although there was no electricity on the commune where they lived, when Winona was seven, her

Although there was no electricity on the commune where they lived, when Winona was seven, her mother began to run an old movie theater in a nearby barn and would screen movies all day. She allowed Winona to miss school to watch movies with her.

The role of Nola in Celebrity (1998) was actually written for Drew Barrymore. [1997]

Began work on Girl, Interrupted (1999), which took four more years to make it to the screen. [1996]

Chosen as one of the Top Players Under 35 list by People magazine. [1996]

Had to turn down the role of Nina in The Object of My Affection (1998) due to scheduling conflicts. [1997]

Helped Italian designer Giorgio Armani promote his Manhattan chain of stores. [1996]

Received a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California, in October 2000, and was voted Best-Dressed Celebrity of the Week by Entertainment Weekly for the event.

Graduated from Petaluma High School with a 4.0 GPA.

She briefly checked herself into a hospital when she was 20, because she was suffering from depression, anxiety attacks, and exhaustion, resulting from constantly working on films.

Born at 11:00am, CDT.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. [1997]

Ranked #42 in Empire (UK) magazine`s the Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. [October 1997]

Injured knee while filming Girl, Interrupted (1999). [22 March 1999]

She clearly had jitters but settled in comfortably. She made her first appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (1986) with Mermaids (1990) co-star Cher

the first film on which she served as executive producer.

Her December 22, 1999, guest spot on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992) was her second-ever appearance on a talk show. She did it to promote Girl, Interrupted (1999),

Was engaged to Matt Damon. [2000]

Her real hair color is blonde but when she made her first major film, Lucas (1986), her hair color was dyed black. She was told to keep it that color and with the exception of Edward Scissorhands (1990)it has stayed that color since.

that color since.

)it has stayed

of Edward Scissorhands (1990)

the exception of

color and with

to keep it that

She was told

her hair color was dyed black.

hair color was

Lucas (1986), her

her first major film,

but when she made

color is blonde

Her real hair

a journalist, reporter, a writer, or just a teenager who writes in a journal or diary.

Frequently plays a character who writes. In most of her films, she`s played

Frequently plays a character who writes. In most of her films, she`s played a journalist, reporter, a writer, or just a teenager who writes in a journal or diary.

a journal or diary.

who writes in

or just a teenager

a writer

reporter,

a journalist,

she`s played

her films,

In most of

writes.

a character who

Frequently plays

iterature - this

(1994). She

director in the world".

he believes to be "the best

(1986). When telephoned

best director

believes to be

who she be

later made The Age of Innocence (1993)

which was directed by Martin Scorsese

later made

in the world".

to be "the best director

who she believes

by Martin Scorsese,

which was directed

The Age of Innocence (1993)

She later made

performance.

a substandard

down by doing

let everyone

didn`t want to let everyone

She said she

back to back.

and Mermaids (1990)

Carmichael (1990)

Welcome Home, Roxy

of doing the films

from the strain

the flu

after catching

drop out of the role

but had to

in The Godfather: Part III (1990),

Mary Corleone

Ryder was

the background.

album was playing

as her father`s Mitch Ryder

she suggested Ryder

the credits,

her name appear on

how she`d like to have

When telephoned to ask

and cast her in Lucas (1986).

however, spotted her

Director David Seltzer,

but didn`t get the part.

to the film Desert Bloom (1986),

At 13 she had a video audition

At 13 she had

at the American Conservatory Theater.

in acting classes

when she was ten and enrolled

(near San Francisco)

to Petaluma

She moved with her parents

Little Women (1994).

Jo in this author`s

was later to star as

Louisa May Alcott. Winona Ryder

this included one piece by

on the drug experience in literature

an anthology of writings

called "Shaman Woman Mainline Lady"

and once edited a book

of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg

and her parents were friends

She is the Goddaughter of Timothy Leary

where there was no electricity.

commune in Northern California

She grew up in a ranch

Winona Laura Horowitz

Winona Minnesota

she was born,

and named after her the town in which

Winona Ryder was born Winona Horowitz