What made young Winona Ryder so beautiful?

Her nose job made her stand out

Very few women are as beautiful as she was in THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. She was breathtaking.

She was a goth chick.

That sort of thing was popular in the late 80's.

You don't even think Sherilyn Fenn was beautiful, OP? I don't even know what to say.

Heather Graham is basic looking and cute at best (I don't find even find her especially cute).

Winona I could see not being everyone's taste, but she just had the it factor. A little goth, a little grunge, cool but attainable (just look at the long list of all who attained her, if only for a short time).

She had huge eyes with very dark hair against very pale skin and a small (thanks to a nosejob), symmetrical nose and mouth. She was on the cover or Bazaar or Vogue in the mid-to late 1990s and she looked stunning. She was very much captured the look and feel of a particular time and place, i.e. the '90s.

Godfather 3 would have been a classic if she had played Michael's daughter as intended.

This was the cover I was thinking of, I forgot she shared it with DDL

Johnny Depp definitely added to her "star factor."

She would have been just another Indie Actress, but the fact that she and Johnny were a couple, made her a celebrity.

She had a quality during her peak fame that appealed to men and women weren't threated by her and found her appealing.

I found her very interesting the first time I saw her in Beetlejuice, and she wasn't made to look conventionally attractive in that movie at all. Not a raving beauty, but she got your attention.

Genetics.

R10 You stole my answer! Good Levite genes. She's a descended from the long Horowitz rabbinical dynasty. Many of them were very handsome men.

Best looking couple of the late 80's and early 90's.

She really wasnt that good of an actress. She lucked out because of her popularity leading to he being repeatedly cast in quality products. One only needs to look at her performance in Dracula. She also comes off as not too bright.

Another thing worth mentioning is that until more recently, Winona always had very good precision haircuts. I think that went a long way to complimented her natural good looks. She looked great with the short Pixie, and the Bob.

R4 No, I don't find Sherilynn Fenn beautiful. There's nothing wrong with her appearance, I just don't like that type of look.

R7 No, I still don't see the wow factor. There's something about her that's so bland and lifeless.

I can’t imagine finding mousy Heather Graham, pinched Alicia Witt, or nothing burger Leslie Mann more attractive than Sherilyn Fenn. That woman was perfection.

Her hair is a dye job. She's a natural dirty blonde. She used her natural hair color in Edward Scissorhands.

She is two types of emotions in her lines: whiny and dreary.

Sherilyn Fenn and Lara Flynn Boyle might not have had her pixie-ish look, but at least they could emote lines that seemed somewhat realistic.

R17 What about young Rachel Weisz?

^Girl, that's a wig. Seriously.

R18 How stupid are you? That is not her natural hair colour in Edward Scissorhands. It's a dye job. Yes, she's naturally blonde but in no way was her hair in that film her natural colour. It's ginger.

The Edward Scissorhands "hair" - it's a wig, Rose.

Actually, we had this debate a few years ago. I linked to an interview where she said [bold] as a child she was blonde [/bold] but now her real hair is a lighter brown color.

I'm not finding it again LOL

Based solely upon those you've mentioned you do find beautiful, it's obvious you simply prefer light hair and lighter eyes: All those ladies resemble one another in a certain way, or other.

Do you mind my asking if you're a lesbian OP?

R24 Not a lesbian.

R25 Quelle suprise! @ R15 acknowledging nothing was wrong with Fenn, but you add "I just don't like that type of look" led me to believe you probably were attracted to women. Cheers for your reply.

Op, the Twin Peaks chicks were all gorgeous: Sherilyn, Sheryl, Lara, Madchen, & Peggy.

If you were to swap out a Twin Peak actress with Winona, which character would it be?

Heather Graham was also on Twin Peaks. I may be in the minority on this, but I really liked her wounded bird character on that and thought that her being in peril in the final episodes gave them a lot of gravitas. Cooper basically sacrificed himself for her.

I never noticed this before tonight, but there was always something subtly frightened in her expression

I think the poster who said I don't like dark hair is correct. I don't even find Elizabeth Taylor, Natalie Wood or Vivien Leigh beautiful.

Big eyes, small nose and jet black hair contrasting her pale smooth porcelain skin. Petite figure but with big breasts. She looked like a live-action anime girl.

Didn't she try to make out Gwyneth got the Shakespeare In Love lead because they were friends and someone had sent the script to Winona? Five foot nothing with a large chest. Wouldn't have worked in that role. And GP blogging about feeling glad about someone who'd wronged her encountering misfortune: immediately after Winona's Saks disaster. And before that, Courtney Love calling her Wanna Rideher.

Years ago there was an article featuring many blind items said to be about Winona. All about someone who was a bitch to everyone, stole boyfriends, cheated on her partners.

Then there was all her Oscar-baiting with Girl Interrupted. Nauseating and she didn't even get an AA but Jolie did.

It was a relief when she was finally over.

she wasn't easily categorized... she wasn't excessively feminine nor butch, the fact that she wasn't a great beauty.. made her versatile, even if she was stuck with every Jan Brady role - she could never be Betty or Veronica even in a sea of Heathers.

^ compare her to Ally Sheedy

Good grief. Plastic surgery.

Twin Peaks had Lara Flynn Boyle . She was very pretty. Sherilyn Fenn was too

R14, in addition to the flattering pixie haircuts, she had excellent makeup as well, with the late makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin heavily responsible for her signature 90s look. In the interview at the link he describes her as someone who will look 14 when she’s 60 … not sure if that prediction has held up, or if it’s a good thing.

She was radiant, like she literally looked like she was lit from within.

—Good lighting?!

The OP sounds moronic.

Winona just had It. Sure there were more beautiful actresses, but not ones who played in the pivotal roles that really defined a generation. Lucas, Beelejuice, Heathers and Edward Scissorhands were game changers. And she did those nearly back to back to back to back. Not to mention Mermaids, Age of Innocence and Reality Bites.

It was the combo of her ethereal looks and great roles that set her apart.

R8, I'd contend Winona was the much bigger star when they dated. He was a TV star first. She was a movie star. Back then that mattered. And when he broke into film with Edward Scissorhands, she had already been in huge movies.

Pretty but in age of innocence a thin, reedy voice. Great in Beetlejuice.

Your cataracts OP

She still looks gorgeous

Winona is beautiful. Her and Julia were original choices for Viola in Shakespeare In Love. Goop discovered the script at her house.

She's still got the crazy eyes.

She was quite winning and lovely as Jo in Little Women. The most effective Jo in my opinion.

As old as she is she still doesn't seem quite mature. I think that's what made her movie career fade. Her forte was playing twitchy, neurotic teenagers and she can't do that anymore, even though she still had that twitchy, neurotic quality.

DDL was a little horn dog. He had just dickmatized Julia Roberts before he started fucking Winona.

She had big cow eyes on the cover of Empire magazine when she was working her arse off try to get an Oscar for GI. Maybe that put everyone off.

Her best role was in Age of Innocence. She was brilliant in that.

as many posters already said, a good nose job

Good call R4, Fenn was absolutely stunning.

Big eyes, wide apart. Little rosebud mouth. Weak little voice. Waif.

I agree with R4. Another annoying OP who opens with provocative, mostly negative statements, and obviously is visually retarded. You DONT have to start conversations this way. It's a style invented on social media and its cynical yet soulless and idiotic.

She wasn't really a waif in Heathers.

Y'all are talking about how hard she tried to get an Oscar for Girl Interrupted. What kind of stuff did she do that came across as try-hard?

She looks great but she has crazy eyes.

[quote] What kind of stuff did she do that came across as try-hard?

Well, she bought the property and it took years but it finally got made. No doubt she thought it would be a great vehicle for her and would maybe get her an Oscar nom.

"Girl, Interrupted" was a melodramatic mess. I read Susanna Kaysen's memoir and the movie is mostly fiction. A lot of made up scenes.

Wasn’t Alicia Silverstone campaigning to play Suzanna around that time too. I seem to remember her talking about the book in interviews. She also had a picture deal with Columbia I seem to recall.

The article at R38 features a photo of Christian Bale's wife as Winona's assistant.

[quote] Pretty but in age of innocence a thin, reedy voice. Great in Beetlejuice.

I’ll be the judge of that.

R56 She was well cast in Heathers as the insecure, naive middle-class everygirl who wanted to desperately fit in with others but learns to become an individual and stand up for herself. Winona shines in those ingenue and coming of age roles. That was her appeal to teen girls and young women.

She was very pretty but she wasn’t some Great Beauty, my god.

Sherilyn Fenn was stunning. OP must be a moron.

Sherilyn Fenn, Lara Flynn Boyle and Madchen Admick should have been a bigger stars. Heather Graham, of all people, ended up with the biggest career of them all.

Winona was pretty but it’s the youth aspect. Winona still look like she was an adult teen throughout most of her career. It was like she was ageless throughout the 90s. And like people pointed out her arrival in late 80s was the anti homecoming queen, goth look yet very sharp features and beautiful eyes. That made her unique.

R49 I kinda get what you are saying. Maybe that’s why she’s perfect in Stranger Things. Though she doesn’t come across as immature or teenage nothing. Parents were younger back then. She captures the role perfectly to me.

R8 are you saying that mutual attachment of them being with each other because Winona was the def bigger star when they were an item.

R9 my thoughts exactly. My little kid self found her interesting and pretty. In respect I realize she reminded me of my mom. The white version.

r69 younger? Nah, she nailed the specific brand of 70s to 80s single mother neurosis... a little on the trashy side, overly conscious about she was perceived, overprotective of her kids and too frustrated, exhausted, cynical to be a rah-rah feminist nor portrayed as the co-dependent, man hungry, extreme in the opposite as happens far too often in modern takes on the past... that rarely can capture what it was like for many that grew up in the only single (divorced) parent household in a town.

In retrospect*. The new iPhone does not know how to autocorrect typos.

the kind of stigma against divorced parents and kids of divorce wasn't set to any specific age, it was across the board... widows got pity, divorce was treated like the collapse of society, a taboo and a social contagion. . . so, given her past roles, even with the fantastical elements, it wasn't a huge stretch for her.