`Girl, Interrupted' star isn't as frail as she looks

LOS ANGELES - You only think you know how good an actress Winona Ryder is. Trust me on this; she is an even better actress off-screen than she is on-screen.

She proved that recently during a weekend of interviews to promote her new movie, "Girl, Interrupted."

What no one knew during the press junket was that she smiled her way through dozens of interviews without letting on that she had just gotten over a nasty bout of bronchitis and was still suffering from the lingering effects of the illness.

Just two hours before an interview in her Four Seasons hotel suite in Los Angeles, she showed no evidence of being sick as she moved from room to room, speaking with groups of journalists. All the while, she "acted" healthy.

But later, in the comfort of her own suite, she could no longer keep up the act. The morning sessions had taken their toll, and she was feeling sick enough to start coughing violently.

"Please excuse my phlegm," the actress said as she grabbed for another tissue. "I'm not contagious; I promise."

Her phlegm was excused, but watching her sit on the edge of a sofa, hunched over trying to clear the congestion in her chest, she suddenly looked very frail. This would not be the first time someone thought that about Ryder. With her thin frame and porcelain skin, she is often described as looking frail.

"This whole idea of me being really frail is kind of funny to me," she said.

"People don't know this about me, but I used to be a pretty good skateboarder. I'm talking real good, like I almost turned professional. I was a member of a skateboarding team in the Bay Area, and we traveled around the state for competitions.

"I had to give it up when I was around 16 because studios began forcing me to sign waivers, promising I wouldn't do anything dangerous. It was a hard choice, but I gave up skateboarding to be an actress. I'm fine with that now, but the idea that I'm frail or fragile is silly."

Which brings us, of course, to her role in "Girl, Interrupted."

Based on the memoirs of Susanna Kaysen, who at 17 was institutionalized for two years in a New England hospital with "borderline personality disorder," the film treads on familiar territory for Ryder.

In need of help

The experience of playing Kaysen in the film triggered unpleasant memories for Ryder, who said she committed herself to a California hospital for five days when she was 19.

Although already a rising star at that point (she made "Heathers" when she was 16), Ryder said she was suffering from exhaustion and anxiety attacks.

"It was mainly exhaustion, but the anxiety attacks were getting worse, and I didn't know what to do about them. I needed help, but I certainly didn't find it in the place I went to.

"But at that age, you think that grownups have all the answers, so you feel that if you go to someplace like that, and pay enough money, they'll give you a pill or the answers to why you're so confused.

"The answer was simply that I was working way too much, and not sleeping enough. I remember thinking at the time that I wish I was a normal college girl, who only had to worry about her grades. Then I realized that normal college girls were thinking that their problems would be solved if only they were big movie stars.

"The bottom line is that all girls have pressures. Once I understood that I was just a human being, having the same problems as other human beings, I was OK. But I didn't learn that in the hospital."

Ryder, 28, starting talking about this hospitalization only recently, while publicizing the new movie. She said she was afraid to open a "big can of worms" by revealing her past but decided that it might help girls in similar situations.

In fact, she said that was one of the main reasons she wanted to do the movie. The book upon which the film is based helped her get over her problems, making her feel that "I wasn't the only girl having these thoughts," and she hopes that the film will do the same for a new generation.

Ryder said she was so enamored of the book that she tried to secure the movie rights, but producer Douglas Wick already owned them. Wick said his life "got a lot easier" when Ryder expressed interest in starring in the film.

The actress became one of the executive producers on the film, and handpicked director James Mangold ("Heavy," "Cop Land"). Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave co-star in the film.

In the early years

Although born in Minnesota (she is named for her hometown of Winona, Minn.), Ryder lived most of her early life in San Francisco, except for four years when the family lived in Petaluma, Calif.

She began taking acting lessons at 12 and was discovered at 13 in a theater production, which led to her first film role in the 1986 coming-of-age movie "Lucas."

Ryder, whose boyfriend is actor Matt Damon, has made 23 films and was nominated for a best actress Oscar for "Little Women," and a best supporting Oscar for "The Age of Innocence."