(huge welcoming applause)
Winona Ryder: My god...

Conan: You never get sick of that, do you?

W: No. This is my third appearance on a talk show, so this is all kind of new to me. It's amazing. Thank you very much.

C: You know you should relax though because technically we're not a TV show. We're sort of a radio show. We don't know what we are exactly.
You know I went backstage and tried to surprise you -- didn't work. But I wanted to tell you that I really like your name. I've always liked your name. When you first became a star I always loved the name Winona.

W: Oh, thank you.

C: It's very pretty. I have a freakish name, and I was the only one in my family to have - you know everyone else has names like Bob, Jeff, Jim, and then "Conan" Do your siblings have normal names pretty much?

W: Well, I have 2 brothers and a sister. My brother's names are Yuri, which he was named after the first Russian astronaut, and Jubal...

C: Is he a hillbilly?

W: It's actually an old Western name. It's kind of cool. We hated them when we were kids but now they are cooler. My sister's name is Saniyata which is a Buddhist for sacred silence.

C: Right. Jubal... I think I haven't heard a name like Jubal in a while. I think there was Jubal the civil war, Jubal Early but that's a very cool name.

W: There are a lot of variations: Jubes...

C: Jubes - that's nice. Hey Jubes! I don't like that one. Did your friends give your family a hard time, or did they have unusual names too?

W: Well, growing up most of my friends had pretty weird names too. Let's see, the crowd we ran with when I was a little kid was like Tutankha, Gulliver, and Woobydooby.

C: Were these friends real?

W: And then when I started skateboarding there were some wild names.

C: What's the wildest one?

W: It's... It's kind of sad actually that his parents named this: I had a friend who was on my skateboarding team named AssXXle (censored).

Andy: Parents named that?

C: It's so funny.

W: It's terrible!

C: That's so funny 'cause in the first 10 years of my life I though that was my name.

W: It was on his birth certificate.

C: What were they doing? What were they thinking?

W: I don't know. It's the saddest thing ever. But he kind of embraced it 'cause he was like a punk rock kid. He had an A shaved in the side of his haed.

C: He had to kind of become a punk rock kid. Had no choice. "What do you do?" "I'm an accountant. Name? I'm AsshXXe. I'll try to help you out."

W: I felt little bad in the beginning but then I realized that he really liked it. I mean, he embraced it. He had to -- he had no choice.

C: I was reading about you today and I heard something interesting that you have a bit of an obsession with Kate Winslet. Is that true?

W: (bashfully) Yeah...

C: We're here to help you.

W: I know I'm so scared that she's gonna think I'm a stalker because I'm just captivated by her. I think she is the most beautiful, talented, extraordinary actress ever to grace the screen. I watch her movies over and over. It's kind of one of those kids how they were with Elvis - I mean I just worship her and...

C: You know I've never heard of one celebrity stalking another. "You're not returning my calls!"

W: I met her once and I was tongue-tied and my palms were sweating.

C: Do you have a picture of her anywhere?

W: I do have a framed picture of her in my apartment. It's totally insane and I feel terrible...

C: Don't feel terrible you are like we are.

W: I just -there's something about her that I'm sort of in love with. I just think she is amazing.

C: We're all obsessed with someone. I was obsessed with Raj from "What's Happening!"

W: I have never seen that show. We didn't have TV growing up so...

C: You were lucky that you didn't have TV.

W: Yeah, but I don't wanna freak her out.

C: One of the things in the movie "Girl, Interrupted" you sing in the movie.

W: Yes.

C: You pick up a guitar and you sing "Downtown" which if you know a song on the guitar that'll be a cool one to know.

W: Yeah, but it's very hard because it has jazz chords in it, which is hard especially when your hands are very small. But I practiced a lot. In fact everyday my friend Alex Rubin who was a second unit director, I mean literally everyday we would practice.

C: So you really learned the song?

W: Yeah, I got really good at it, almost perfect. Then when the time came for me to play it I'm not supposed to be very good, and so I had to like not be very good.

C: Then the director busted your hand.

W: And then what was so sad was that he never panned down to my hands, and so I don't know if people know that I was really playing but I am playing badly so I guess it doesn't matter.

C: Do you like to sing? Do you enjoy singing?

W: I would never inflict that on anyone. That's the big tragedy of my life is that I'm such a fan of music and it's like the greatest passion of my life besides acting is music but can't play very well or carry a tune, but I just...

C: I am the same way. I would give up everything if I could sing. People that can sing, I envy them - and I really can. I can't but I just always think that's the greatest, in a way, the coolest gift.

W: It is. I mean, you know Jeff Tweedy, I think he has one of the best voices I have ever heard.

C: Well, you bring it up, Wilco is on the show. And you are huge fan of Wilco?

W: I'm the most enormous fan of Wilco ever.

C: So you're gonna do us a favor: you will introduce them later on. Will you do that?

W: Yeah, I'm trying to think of a good... I'm nervous..

C: I told you it's not really a TV show. We're like guys that got into parents' cloths. "Ah, next guest." "Boy, stop that!"
"Girl, Interrupted" is in theaters now. Congratulations on that. People really like this movie and very cool to have you on the show. Thanks so much for coming here.

W: Oh, thank you.

C: Winona Ryder everybody. We'll be right back.