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- Winona Ryder Says Laura Dern's Quiet Mentorship 'Got Me Through' Early Career After Meeting on "Lucas" Set</p>
<p>Angela AndaloroJuly 29, 2025 at 10:33 PM</p>
<p>Karwai Tang/WireImage; Amy Sussman/Getty</p>
<p>Winona Ryder (left), Laura Dern</p>
<p>Winona Ryder is celebrating the special bond she shares with actress Laura Dern</p>
<p>Dern and Ryder were each vying for roles in Lucas when they first met</p>
<p>The mentorship meant a great deal to Ryder, who has now tried to pay it forward to other young actors she shares sets with</p>
<p>Winona Ryder holds a special place in her heart for the women who took her under their wing while she was coming up as a young actress.</p>
<p>The actress, 53, recently opened up about her career in an interview with Elle UK, where she sang the praises of Laura Dern as a mentor, telling the outlet, "I don't think I'd be here without her."</p>
<p>"I met her on my first screen test for Lucas – I didn't know what a screen test was," she recalls.</p>
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<p>Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty</p>
<p>Winona Ryder in 1986</p>
<p>"I remember walking in, and River Phoenix held the door open for me. I was like, 'Oh, that's so nice.' I recognised him from Stand By Me, and he had broken his leg. Laura was there to read for the older girl, and she talked me through it, 'cause I didn't know what the f--- was going on," she continues.</p>
<p>"She befriended me. I was literally 12 and — nobody knows this — she took me under her wing into my twenties. That relationship got me through. I was probably living at her house when I was talking to you [in the '90s]," she told the outlet.</p>
<p>Kevin Mazur/Getty for Turner</p>
<p>Laura Linney, Laura Dern, Winona Ryder and Molly Shannon in January 2018</p>
<p>Today, Ryder enjoys mentorship from the other side, proud to take the young stars from recent projects like Stranger Things under her wing.</p>
<p>"I was the oldest person on the set. I started [my career] as the youngest, and I always wanted to be older," she says.</p>
<p>She wanted to help the young stars to "keep it all in perspective" as the show became a smash hit, she explains.</p>
<p>JC Olivera/Getty Noah Schnapp, Priah Ferguson, Millie Bobby Brown, Carmen Cuba, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Caleb McLaughlin, Joe Keery, and Dacre Montgomery</p>
<p>"I was like, 'This doesn't happen. This is weird — the phenomenon. The work is the gift. That is why you're doing it.' Which was what was instilled in me. And I think I was successful with some of them," she shares.</p>
<p>Ryder also shared her hope for the cast that they'd each "remember their own value."</p>
<p>"I've been trying to sort of change this narrative with the kids, because they have it drilled into them that they're so lucky and, you know, that this show 'made' them. I'm like, 'No. Netflix is so lucky. You guys are the special ones. Like, you guys are magic.' "</p>
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