Winona Ryder was born Winona Horowitz and named after the town in which she was born, Winona, Minnesota. She grew up in a ranch commune in Northern California which had no electricity. She is the goddaughter of Timothy Leary.Her parents were friends of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and once edited a book called "Shaman Woman Mainline Lady," an anthology of writings on the drug experience in literature, which included one piece by Louisa May Alcott. Winona Ryder was later to star as Jo in this author's Little Wom - www.imdb.com

Name at birth: Winona Laura HorowitzWinona Ryder was one of the best-known young movie stars of the 1990s. After a memorable early role as the ghoulish daughter in Beetlejuice (1988, with Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), she grabbed meaty parts in off-kilter films like Heathers (1989, with Christian Slater) and Edward Scissorhands (1990, opposite then-boyfriend Johnny Depp). She also starred in mainstream dramas like Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula (1992) and Alien: Resurrection (1997, with Sigourney Weaver). - www.answers.com

--> WHAT SHE'S UP TO The skittish actress, who has been a stranger to the spotlight for some time, is giving us an earful as she promotes her latest flick Black Swan as well as her upcoming film The Dilemma. Winona told Elle magazine that she's never used the internet (this is probably a good thing--her Wikipedia page would probably send her into quite a tizzy) and divulged to GQ what it feels like being over-the-hill in Hollywood standards.  Read Her Bio Li - www.popeater.com