The performance that made Winona Ryder fall in love with acting: “She bowled me over”
There is always going to be a pivotal formative moment in an actor’s life that shapes their desire to take the plunge and pursue such a bold and unreliable career. Hollywood is a fickle and unpredictable industry that only allows so many people to succeed, but for Winona Ryder, her teenage ambitions, inspired by classic actors she had grown up watching, paired with an innate talent for performance, managed to carry her into the spotlight.
The actor made her film debut in 1986’s Lucas before following it with another coming-of-age drama, Square Dance, proving her ability to play complex teenage characters. However, it was her performance in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice as daughter Lydia Deetz, with her iconic black, spiky hairstyle, which allowed Ryder to become more widely known in Hollywood, kick starting her career as an ‘80s teen icon.
In comparison to the teen icons associated with John Hughes movies, for example, Ryder often opted for darker roles, giving her a certain edge that allowed her to stand out among her contemporaries. With Heathers, she starred as a high-schooler who gets wrapped up in murderous fantasies with her new boyfriend, the bad boy misfit JD, played by Christian Slater, resulting in the deaths of several of the school’s most popular students.
Meanwhile, roles in Edward Scissorhands, playing the love interest of the titular outcast, and Mermaids, starring as Cher’s religion-obsessed daughter who tries to avoid her growing sexual appetite, further proved her versatility and interest in unique characters. Able to balance humour within these challenging parts, Ryder became one of the most recognisable actors of her generation, eventually going on to appear in everything from Little Women and Girl, Interrupted to Black Swan and Stranger Things.
Considering the fact that Ryder was just 15 when she made her acting debut, the star has had a long and impressive career that proves that sometimes your childhood dreams can become a reality. For Ryder, watching lots of old movies proved to be the catalyst for her desire to be an actor, citing many classic actors, like Anne Bancroft and Bette Davis, as her inspirations. Yet, there is one star whose performance in a certain film was the main reason for her pursuing acting, with Ryder revealing one of her acting heroes in a 1995 interview with Joan Goodman.
She revealed that British actor Sarah Miles inspired her career, explaining: “It was when I saw her in Ryan’s Daughter that I really wanted to be an actress. She bowled me over in that and everything I’ve seen her in. I think she’s one of the most beautiful women in the world, too.”
Miles, who also appeared in movies like Blow-Up, Lady Caroline Lamb, and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, earned an Academy Award nomination for Ryan’s Daughter, released in 1970. The film starred Robert Mitchum as a soldier, while Miles played an Irish woman with whom he had an affair, resulting in a dramatic tale of romance. While it received mixed reviews from critics, it still earned four Academy Award nominations, with Miles’ performance receiving undeniable praise and evidently inspiring Ryder to greatness.
