Winona Ryder has always been an electric screen presence. The twice-Oscar-nominated actor made her name in the 1980s and ’90s playing effortlessly cool, supremely stylish outsiders, but she was never one to be pigeonholed—just look at her subtle, mesmerizing turn as a demure bride-to-be in The Age of Innocence. Now, three decades on, she’s cooler than ever as the tenacious and resourceful Joyce Byers in Stranger Things (the final season of which will soon be coming to Netflix), as well as the now-all-grown-up Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
To celebrate its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, we look back at her best roles to date.
Beetlejuice (1988)
At the age of 16, Ryder burst onto the scene as Lydia Deetz, a goth who befriends the ghosts (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) who haunt her new home, in Tim Burton’s deranged romp. To see her shimmying in the air to Harry Belafonte’s “Jump in the Line” is an utter joy.
Heathers (1988)
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection
