Winona Ryder on why her parents refused to move her to LA as a child

Winona Ryder looks back on her parents' attempts to protect her from Hollywood as a child actress.

The actress, who made her feature film debut in 1986, Lucas at just 15 years old, he recently shared in an interview with Another magazine that instead of moving to Los Angeles, her parents chose the seven-hour drive from San Francisco to LA for every audition.

She added that school was also a priority in her family, which meant she “had to have good grades” to be allowed to go to auditions.

“I couldn't work if it coincided with school,” Ryder explained. “My parents – who are just my best friends – were very suspicious of Hollywood. They associated it with the Judy Garland tragedy, and we never moved there. That turned out to be a great gift, because I knew a lot of kids who had gone through that. They moved and supported their whole family, and it didn't turn out so well. I knew a lot of kids who had burnout.”

The Beetlejuice Beetlejuice The actress said she later heard that she had “a reputation for being very picky” about projects, “when in reality we just couldn't afford to go.”

But one audition she did not want to miss was for Tim Burton’s 1988 Beetlejuice The film finally became her breakthrough with the role of Lydia Deetz.

“Beetlejuice was so unusual – I was focused on Lydia,” Ryder said of her audition. “I remember leaving my mom waiting in the car because I wanted to do it alone.”

The actress even recalled her first encounter with the legendary filmmaker that day, which didn't necessarily go as expected. “I was waiting in a side office of this studio in Culver City when a young man came in – I thought he was from the art department,” she recounted. “We started talking about old movies and Edward Gorey's art and realized we had a shared affinity with the actor Peter Lorre. And then I said, 'Do you know when Tim Burton is going to show up?' He said, 'Oh, that's me.' I had no idea directors could be such cool young people. I said, 'God, I'm sorry, do you want me to read?' He said, 'No, I want you to do it.'”

And the rest is history, as Ryder made a name for himself in Hollywood and worked with Burton on other films, including Edward Scissorhands, Frankenweenie and the upcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.