Winona Ryder Quotes & Sayings

I feel my best when I'm happy. — Winona Ryder

My problems seemed so glamorous to other people, and everyone just thought I was so lucky. But then, I was lucky because my family was really there for me. I think I just felt like I really wanted to hold on to who I was as a person, and try to have as much of a normal life as I could. — Winona Ryder

There's a scene [in the 1990 film Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael] in my bedroom where I start eating Almond Roca. I was so young. It was before I knew the tricks of moviemaking, and I didn't know you shoot a lot of different angles. I gobbled them and didn't realize I had to keep doing it. So I had to eat 64 Almond Roca that day. I got so sick. In the beginning you're like, 'Ooh, that looks good.' But hours later, no. — Winona Ryder

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

I remember when I was doing Mermaids [1990], I was 16 and they gave me a B12 shot once. My parents weren't there, and when they did come, they freaked out. They were terrified, because of the Judy Garland stories. I know it's just vitamin B, but it did give you a boost. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

Even though 'Heathers' didn't make a lot of money, I really was able to transition into a situation where people thought I could play an attractive role because of it. — Winona Ryder

Life's short, so if you're going to spend months doing something, it's gotta be pretty special ... But I'm very happy to enter my Baby Jane years, and hopefully segue into the Ruth Gordon years. — Winona Ryder

Dear Diary: My teen angst bullshit now has a body count. — Winona Ryder

I think that as actresses - and I've definitely gone through this in a really bizarre way, because I worked so much and was really lucky with the roles that I got when I was younger - I remember hearing the older actors saying, "It gets tough," and thinking, "Really? I can't imagine." — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

You look at people like Gena Rowlands, but she had [John] Cassavetes to write these amazing roles for her. — Winona Ryder

My parents are awesome, but they're pretty left-wing. — Winona Ryder

Googling yourself is maybe one of the worst things you can do. I did it once, and someone had to talk me off a ledge. — Winona Ryder

I'm not interested in playing the girl that's just there to make the guy, you know, give him a talking to. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

I was so lucky that I got to meet certain people. It came through Roddy McDowall, who had become a photographer and would do these portraits of celebrities. Then he would get another well-known person to write a thing. He photographed me when I was 15 or 16, and he got Jason Robards to write the thing because he was sort of my mentor. And Roddy would invite me to these dinner parties that were insane. Like, Elizabeth Taylor and Maureen O'Hara and people that were just crazy. I still can't really believe that I met them. — Winona Ryder

Reverend Hale is so interesting because at first he's like, "Oh, she's got the mark." Then by the end he's like, "You're all crazy." — Winona Ryder

I was very lucky because Tim Burton really gave me a career. I don't think Hollywood would've known what to do with me. If I hadn't done 'Beetlejuice,' I think I would've just gone back to my school. — Winona Ryder

I remember the whole thing with the word ambition. I was messed up for a while because I associated it with certain people who just want to be famous. I think, for a while, it was kind of a dirty word for women. — Winona Ryder

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

As a character, it's very interesting to play someone who wants to change their life and have him change it. — Winona Ryder

I remember being 18, and my first boyfriend said to me, "Unless you're in the room, you don't know if it's true." We were talking about gossip. — Winona Ryder

I am not a person who can really sit around and think about regrets because with every bad experience that you have, there is weirdly something good that comes from it. — Winona Ryder

I love photography and first editions. I have that in my genes. My father was an archivist. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

If a film is well made, then great, whatever it's about. — Winona Ryder

You can't pay enough money to ... cure that feeling of being broken and confused. — Winona Ryder

If you're a musician, you can practice your guitar every day and write songs, but when you're an actor, you can't just like burst into a monologue. Your only exercise is when you're in prep or you're working. — Winona Ryder

There are actors I know personally, or I've heard them say, "The less known about me, the better, because I just want people to think of me as the character." I think Matt Damon said that recently. He has a point and I think I get that. — Winona Ryder

You've got to grow up sometime. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

I approached work very seriously. I never went out. I couldn't fathom people who could go out to clubs ... But I definitely went through a time where I was just terrified and exhausted and I didn't really understand. Hollywood ... It just got to be too much for me. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

A lot of filmmakers and actors say, "It's so important to bring an authenticity to the role," blah, blah, blah. But then it's interesting because you're also trying to be somebody else, and viewers are going to associate you with that, so I don't think it really has an answer. — Winona Ryder

I don't believe I am influencing anybody but myself. — Winona Ryder

I remember when I did Little Women, I didn't watch the Katharine Hepburn one over and over, which I thought I would do. Heathers, I was completely obsessed with. — Winona Ryder

I remember when I first started being in magazines, I had pretty thin skin. I was this nerd that read books and stayed home and didn't go out. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

What's awful about being famous and being an actress is when people come up to you and touch you. That's scary, and they just seem to think it's okay to do it, like you're public property. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

Well, yeah! Now they're considered golden oldies, which is awesome. I was watching Little Women recently, and I didn't want to get up for fear of missing something. And Heathers is like my own Rocky Horror Picture Show; I recite the lines when it's on. It may seem odd, but I think it's because they're really good movies. — Winona Ryder

I would love to someday do a play. I did one when I was very young in San Francisco, where I grew up. A girl can dream. — Winona Ryder

I feel like I had to learn how to take care of myself and find out what made me happy aside from just making films. — Winona Ryder

I've recommended girls for jobs that I had a different part in, and agents have been like, "No, don't ... "It's so surprising to me. — Winona Ryder

I don't use the Internet, but apparently you can find out everything on it. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

I write pretty much every day, but I don't have any desire to publish anything. — Winona Ryder

Sometimes I'll watch a movie, and it's got some big star in it playing a working-class person, and the character is in a grocery store, and you can kind of tell, from just watching the scene, that this actor doesn't do their own shopping. So you have to have some sense of reality. — Winona Ryder

I think I really scored with my parents. All of my friends pretty much came from broken homes, and my parents are still together, but not only that, they're still in love and still write together. — Winona Ryder

You have good days and bad days, and depression's something that, you know, is always with you. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

I think too much. I think ahead. I think behind. I think sideways. I think it all. If it exists, I've fucking thought of it. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

It's weird because I think of movies like Reality Bites or something, where, even though my life was nothing like that, I hadn't done something contemporary for a while, and it's easier. You do try to make something your own. — Winona Ryder

I binge-watched this show Damages. Glenn Close and Rose Byrne are so good. Lily Tomlin is in it. You see all these great actors and the writing is terrific. There are a lot of shows like that. And there are all these conversations right now about roles for women and being paid equally and all of that, but I think what it really is, is opportunity. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

Scapegoating will go on forever. We need someone to blame - illegal immigrants, single moms, people in prison. We need someone to victimize. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

I've loved making movies. I feel like I've been so lucky because I've gotten to be in movies that are some of my favorites, regardless of my being in them - like 'Heathers.' — Winona Ryder

I remember realizing, when I did Little Women [1994], that that was the only time girls that age were being written about. It was always boys - from David Copperfield to Lord of the Flies to Holden Caulfield. There were never young women going through adolescence or teen years; there were only little girls. — Winona Ryder

I was never strategic really, but back when I was starting out no one cared. In the acting community, box office didn't matter. I really think it was a mistake when they started paying people like $20 million to do a movie because now it's all people think about. Is she worth it? Is he worth it? — Winona Ryder

I love books and going to bookstores. My favorite sound is the sound of the needle hitting the record. — Winona Ryder

You go through spells where you feel that maybe you're too sensitive for this world. I certainly felt that. — Winona Ryder

Most of my wardrobe is vintage, and I've worn dresses to the Oscars that I got for $10, — Winona Ryder

That first movie I did, Lucas [1986], was probably the closest to me. And Beetlejuice a little bit, in the sense that I did look like that. All they did was like put a little white powder here. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

Bette Davis, she was so brilliant and one of my heroes, but she worked a ton, and then she didn't get All About Eve [1950] until the last minute. Claudette Colbert was supposed to be Margo Channing, but then she broke her back and couldn't do it. That allowed Davis to play her age. — Winona Ryder

There's like this great thing that Bette Davis said when someone asked her, "How do you get into Hollywood?" "Take Fountain!" — Winona Ryder

I, myself, am strange and unusual — Winona Ryder

I'd always find the positive in someone. — Winona Ryder

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

It's equally as important to me to be a good friend and a good sister and a good daughter. I'm very close with my family and friends. — Winona Ryder

I loved movies, but I can't remember ever really wanting to be an actress, and I certainly didn't imagine ever being in a movie. I think I wanted to be a writer. — Winona Ryder

It's interesting because First Wives Club was the first movie that made a shitload of money that starred all women over a certain age. That was a milestone that made you think, "Oh, things are going to change." — Winona Ryder

Most actors don't know what they're going to do next, so you get into this thing where you have to force yourself to have another life outside of acting. And then, as soon as you start something in this sort of normal life that you're trying to live, you get a job. So you have this constant struggle because you want to be able to commit to things and to finish things in your life, but then you also want to be able to act. — Winona Ryder

In retrospect, I think maybe Audrey Hepburn was going to talk to me about doing something for UNICEF. I was so overwhelmed to just even be in her presence and I was very young, but it was really special and unforgettable. — Winona Ryder

I was inspired by lots of people, certainly in acting and in writing and stuff, but I never wanted to be somebody else. — Winona Ryder

I was so spoiled in a way. I worked very hard, but there was just a wealth of great roles. — Winona Ryder

I'm not into wrinkles. — Winona Ryder

My parents really instilled this idea in me of being your own person, almost to the extent that I couldn't do wrong. I'd get a bad grade and they'd be like, "No! What you did was great!" — Winona Ryder

I was not the first choice for Veronica in Heathers. I auditioned and they were like, "Oh, thanks." And I went to the Beverly Center to Macy's and had them do a makeover on me. I went back because I kind of knew that they thought I wasn't pretty enough. They were trying to get Jennifer Connelly. — Winona Ryder

I watched this documentary on Madonna. I remember I grew up hearing she wanted to rule the world. Actually, she worked really hard - really, really hard. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

In high school, I dressed up as every James Bond girl. I was a teenage Pussy Galore. — Winona Ryder

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

Somehow I was invited to visit with Audrey Hepburn. I had this afternoon with her, and she gave me a couple things. She was so gracious and everything you would think that she would be. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

I was very obsessed with Ruth Gordon. I really didn't foresee me having any type of career as a leading lady at all because it was just blonds. I just wasn't the type - I was told that by casting directors. I auditioned for Running on Empty [1988] and The Mosquito Coast [1986], and Martha Plimpton was just killing me. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

The older you get, the more yourself you can be and the less worried you are about what other people think. — Winona Ryder

I don't hang out with agents and producers and I'm not into the business side at all. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder

Even though I never really had to pound the pavement as an actor, I always worked really hard. But, at the same time, I always felt like people thought that I didn't have to struggle even though I was struggling. — Winona Ryder

I'm the type who'd rather not work than work on something I'm not into. I've done that a couple of times, and I feel like I can totally see it in my performance. — Winona Ryder

I have this sense that I didn't really start growing up until my twenties. — Winona Ryder

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. — Winona Ryder