Today, Winona Ryder turns the grand old age of, um, 42. Yep, the actress who sadly dropped off the face of the planet a few years ago, is a year older. And so we decided to revisit her, this hero of nostalgia who’s in more seminal teen movies than you can shake a pop-punk soundtrack at.
1. Be really witty and dry
Winona perfected the role of the anti-heroine early on. Wise-cracking, surly and moody in so many of her early films – Beetlejuice, Reality Bites and Little Women – she asserted herself as a new sort of leading lady, one who wasn’t necessarily defined by the relationships she had. She snarled, she snarked, and most of all, made us laugh.
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2. Get off with Angelina Jolie and Jared Leto in the same bloody film
If Girl, Interrupted came out today, despite being based on an IRL memoir about Susanna Kaysen’s time in a mental health facility in the 1960’s, people would be up in arms. It’s sexy people! Being mad! Glamourising madness, depression and drug-taking! Well, luckily, it’s multilayered nostalgia, as it came out in 1999 and is set in (duh) the 60’s and Winona is so good in it she gets two sexy snogs from two beautiful people.
3. Life really does imitates art
After a bit of a hiatus from acting (at least in serious roles), Winona played a chewed-up-and-spat-out ballerina, who goes, pretty rightfully, really unhinged. She’s basically playing a high-camp-tragedy version of herself, as an ageing female performer, prematurely put out to pasture because some young starlet’s about to take her place. And it’s incredible.
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4. 'If you were happy every day of your life you wouldn't be a human being. You'd be a game-show host.'
Ok, so Winona didn't actually say it - the credit goes to whoever wrote her character of Veronica Sawyer character in proto-Mean Girls, Heathers. But we kind of like how she's into the darker side of life:
5. Don’t commit any sort of crime as a woman and expect to get the same treatment as a man in a similar stituation
Celebrities getting arrested then returning to the public eye happens all the time these days, but when Winona Ryder went thieving, it totally ruined her career. Her court dress was on-point, but ever since, she’s found it hard to get a great role. Either it’s because people don’t take kindly to thieves (Anthony Worral-Thompson, we’re looking at you) or because she’s a woman or maybe women just aren’t allowed to commit crimes in the same way men are (Charlie Sheen once shot a woman, he went on to become the highest-grossing TV actor, earning $40m in 2010).
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6. Don’t let the bastards grind you down
Maybe it’s because her face was created by the gods, maybe it’s because she’s spent enough time not invited to A-List parties to maintain a perfect visage, Regardless, she looks fantastic, and is still working as an actress. We just need to get round to watching some of the more…recent films.
Like this? You might also be interested in:
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A Few Absolutely Useless Life Lessons Learned From Our Favourite Teen Horror Films
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.