Winona Ryder honors Tim Burton with a moving speech at Walk of Fame ceremony

Winona Ryder owes her career to Tim Burton and praised him in a powerful speech, recalling how he believed in her from the beginning

Tim Burton got his star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, but the real star was Winona Ryder and her speech in his honor. The actress hailing words his way thanked Burton for their decade-long friendship and how he was able to influence her personal and professional life. She said:

“Tim, your friendship has been such a huge gift. When I met you, I was a weird girl.”

Ryder, 52, now underscored how Burton was important in amplifying her self-confidence. She remembered that through the all-embracing imagination of the director, she was allowed to be different, rejecting uniformity pressures.

“You confirmed my voice. You strengthened my confidence in being myself, going against the tides of conformity. Your creative inclusivity showed me what true artistic collaboration looks like, and in other words, you made being a strange girl not just okay, but something to celebrate and even a little cool.”

 

Burton has given a voice to all the outsiders throughout his career

Speaking in a warm manner, jocularly, Burton said Ryder has graduated from being a “strange girl” to a “strange adult“. The collaboration between the two goes way back into the decades with iconic films such as “Beetlejuice” of 1988 and “Edward Scissorhands” of 1990, which marked the beginning of a weird creative partnership.

She concluded by pointing out that Burton, with this work, has always given a voice to the voiceless, celebrating that which she termed “strange” and different, which society has the tendency to judge ill. She praised the ability of the director to give weight, humor, and humanity even to the most peculiar characters, underlining dignity in even the most eccentric ones.