Celebrities: Jewish or Not?
Celebrities you might not have known are Jewish….or maybe you did…
Winona Ryder-Jewish
Winona Ryder is an actress best known for a string of high-profile roles in the 80s, 90s and 2000s, in films including Beetlejuice (1988), Heathers (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), The Age Of Innocence (1993) and Girl, Interrupted (1999). After a break from acting in the 2000s she returned to prominence with roles in Stranger Things (2016-2025), The Plot Against America (2020) and the Beetlejuice sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).
Born Winona Horowitz to Cynthia Palmer and Michael D. Horowitz, Ryder is Jewish. She has spoken about her experiences of antisemitism in Hollywood—including alleging that Mel Gibson referred to her as “an oven dodger,” and claims that, early in her career, she was denied a role for looking “too Jewish.”
