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'Christina Ricci' (born February 12, 1980) is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-nominated American actress. Ricci made her acting debut at age 10, starring with Cher and Winona Ryder in the 1990 film ''Mermaids'', followed by a small role in 1992's ''The Hard Way''. Her breakout role was as the dark 12-year-old Wednesday Addams in the successful ''The Addams Family'' film (1991) and its sequel, ''Addams Family Values'' (1993), where she received commercial attention and critical praise.
As an adult, Ricci began appearing in more mature roles after 1997's ''The Ice Storm'', going on to successfully emerge out of her status as a child star, starring in a string of critically acclaimed independent films, such as ''The Opposite of Sex'' (1998), for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Comedy) and ''Pumpkin'' (2002). She also starred in major blockbusters such as ''Sleepy Hollow'' (1999) and ''Monster'' (2004).
Ricci has endured a status as a child star, teenage idol and today has emerged as a mature leading lady, dividing roles between independent films and mainstream blockbusters, and currently holds her own production company, Blaspheme Films, responsible for ''Pumpkin'' and ''Prozac Nation''. Ricci has recently appeared in ''Black Snake Moan'' (2007) and ''Penelope'' (2007), and has a confirmed female lead role in the upcoming The Wachowski Brothers' feature film adaptation of ''Speed Racer'', in 2008.

Contents

Early life and education

Early life

Early career and commercial success, 1990–1997

Later films and continued success, 1998–2005

Present, 2006–

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

Early life and education

Early life

Ricci was born in Santa Monica, California, the fourth child of Ralph Ricci, a lawyer and psychiatrist, and Sarah Murdoch, a former Ford model and real estate agent. Regarding her ancestry, Ricci has stated that "the Italian blood has been bred out of me. There's an Italian four or five generations back who married an Irish woman and they all had sons. So they married more Irish women, there were more sons, and more Irish women. Now I'm basically Scots-Irish."^[1]
Her family was reasonably financially comfortable from its inception; her father, before becoming a lawyer, was a psychiatrist who specialized in shrieking therapy. While a child, Christina could hear the therapies through the vents in her room, and would act them out in front of her mother.^[2] The family moved to Montclair, New Jersey, where she grew up attending Edgemont Elementary School, Glenfield Middle School, and Montclair High School as well as the Morristown-Beard School ^[3]. After one year she left the high school for a private school in New York City (the Professional Children's School), which was also attended by various other celebrities such as Sarah Michelle Gellar, Macaulay Culkin, and Jerry O'Connell.^[4]. Her siblings are Rafael (born 1971), Dante (born 1974), and Pia (born 1976). When her father and her mother eventually separated in 1993, Ricci stayed with her mother, who took custody of the children. Ricci has not spoken to her father since this took place in 1993. Of her siblings, she is closest to her brother Rafael. After her parents' divorce, Ricci experimented with self-injury, and began cutting herself as a child to prove she can take risks – Ricci stated that this problem affected her self esteem as a young teenager.^[5]

Early career and commercial success, 1990–1997

A critic for the Bergen Record discovered Ricci at age eight in a school play (''The Twelve Days of Christmas'') at Edgemont School in Montclair, New Jersey. The critic's son was originally cast in the role, but Ricci got him to hit her and told on him; he lost the role to her as part of his punishment. After this, she became involved in the movie business. She did several commercials starting at the age of six, until she finally got her big screen debut in Richard Benjamin's ''Mermaids'' in 1990 (alongside Cher, Bob Hoskins, and Winona Ryder) as Cher's younger daughter. Although much critical and commercial attention went to Ryder, who played Ricci's older sister, the young actress made enough of an impression to land more work: the following year, she starred as the morbidly precocious Wednesday Addams in the hit film adaptation of ''The Addams Family''. The role would help to establish Ricci as an actress known for playing dark, unconventional characters — she went on to play Wednesday again in the film's 1993 sequel, ''Addams Family Values'' — which became another box office draw, and more screen time was provided for Ricci's performance as Wednesday, due to her success.
After this, her popularity increased dramatically, and she became in high demand by the mid-1990s. Her next project ''Casper'', which received mixed critical reviews, but was a major success at the box office, being the year's seventh highest grossing film. After ''Casper'', she starred in ''Now and Then,'' a coming-of-age film about four 12-year-old girls and their friendship during the 1970s to the 1990s. ''Now and Then'' was another box office success, and received favourable comparisons to ''Stand by Me'', being called "the female version" of the film, and Christina was becoming a top box office draw. She also starred in a handful of other films with teenage roles such as '' and ''That Darn Cat''.

Later films and continued success, 1998–2005

In 1997, Ricci began to appear in more adult roles, beginning with her role as the troubled, sexually curious Wendy Hood in Ang Lee's critically acclaimed ''The Ice Storm''. Ricci subsequently appeared in films like the independent hit ''Buffalo '66'' (in which she played Vincent Gallo's unwitting abductee-turned-girlfriend), John Waters' ''Pecker'', and Don Roos' ''The Opposite of Sex'' (as the acid-tongued, manipulative Deedee). For her performance as Deedee, Ricci was nominated for a Golden Globe and attained the unofficial title of the Sundance Film Festival's 1998 "It" Girl.[1]
Later films included ''Sleepy Hollow'' (alongside Johnny Depp), ''Monster'', and ''Prozac Nation'' (which featured her first on-screen nude scene). Ricci had to turn down the role of Ronna in ''Go'' because of scheduling conflicts; the role eventually went to Sarah Polley. Ricci was turned down four times for the role of Dolores Haze in ''Lolita'', and the role eventually went to Dominique Swain. Ricci was originally slated to play the lead in ''Ghost World'' (2001), but by the time it was filmed she was too old for the part and had moved on to other projects. Thora Birch (Ricci's co-star in ''Now And Then'') took over the role. Ricci also turned down a role in ''Loser''. Ricci made a cameo appearance on Beck's successful Guero, providing the cameo voice on Hell Yes.
In February 2006, Ricci made a guest appearance as a paramedic in the ABC drama ''Grey's Anatomy'', for which she was nominated for an Emmy award. She was a guest star for seven episodes in the last season of ''Ally McBeal'' in 2002 as Debbie 'Liza' Bump, a lawyer who worked at Cage & Fish and married Richard Fish in the last episode. It was initially hoped that Ricci and several other noted guest star appearances would boost ''Ally McBeal's'' then declining ratings.^[6]
On December 4, 1999, she appeared as the guest host on ''Saturday Night Live''. She performed parodies of Britney Spears and the Olsen Twins. During one of her skits, she accidentally punched actress Ana Gasteyer in the face. The skit was a parody of the ''Sally Jessy Raphael'' show, in which she played a 13-year-old run-a-way who sleeps with dogs, and required her to fake-punch Gasteyer, but accidentally ended up really hitting Gasteyer in the eye. Although Gasteyer initially reacted by putting her hands over her mouth in surprise, she quickly fell back into character.

Present, 2006–

In 2006, Ricci stated that she feels that at 5ft 1in she is "too short" to ever be an A-list actress, saying she tends "to look really small on camera".^[7] She has also said that she believes that she does not have much control over her career, specifying that she still has to audition for film parts.^[8] Her newest film, ''Black Snake Moan'', co-stars Samuel L. Jackson and Justin Timberlake and was released in the US on March 2, 2007, early reviews for the film have been mixed, with the review tallying website rottentomatoes.com reporting that 84 out of the 128 reviews they have tallied thus far have been positive, for an overall score of 66% (a film that scores 60% or higher is certified "fresh").^[9] On the television program ''Ebert & Roeper'', filmmaker Kevin Smith, filling in for Roger Ebert, described the film as the best of the year thus far. Smith praised Ricci and Jackson, saying this was Ricci's best performance and Jackson's best performance since ''Pulp Fiction'' (1994). Richard Roeper also gave the film his "thumb up." The film earned $4 million, putting it in eighth place for the highest earnings in its opening weekend.^[10]
. For her role in ''Black Snake Moan'', Ricci was required to lose several pounds and wore an actual forty-pound (18 kg) chain during filming,^[11]. Apart from having to lose weight, Ricci ate only food items without any nutritional value to achieve her unhealthy appearance.^[12] Ricci has upcoming roles in ''Penelope'', alongside Reese Witherspoon, a modern day fairytale, and in 2008, she will play the female lead in The Wachowski Brothers' feature film adaptation of ''Speed Racer''.
In February, along with Samuel L. Jackson, she presented a Grammy Award at the 2007 Grammy's.

Personal life

Ricci owns her own production company, Blaspheme Films, responsible for ''Prozac Nation'' and ''Pumpkin''. Ricci told a magazine in a 2005 interview that she is a Christian.^[13] She is on the national board of VOX-Voices for Planned Parenthood. She will also be appearing in national ads for emergency contraception.^[14] She supported John Kerry's presidential bid in 2004.^[15] Ricci maintains a close friendship with former child star and actress Gaby Hoffmann, with whom she starred in ''Now and Then''. She is also a friend of ''Black Snake Moan'' costar Samuel L. Jackson.^[14][17]
After making the top of PETA's worst-dressed list^[18] and receiving a letter from the animal rights group, Ricci decided to give up wearing fur.^[19] Ricci also owns two dogs (The Sheriff Steve Goldburg and Buzz Goldicci).
In 2004, Ricci appeared as the first model in the Spring/ Summer 2005 Louis Vuitton show, and also appeared in advertisements for the popular French fashion house that year.
In April 2007, Ricci became the national spokesperson for RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network for the United States, which assists victims of these crimes and promotes programs that help prevent them from occurring. She cited some of her research in ''Black Snake Moan'' role as educational on the importance of the issues that RAINN deals with.
She has cited ''Pulp Fiction'', ''Lord of the Rings'', ''Gangs of New York'', and ''My Own Private Idaho'' as her favorite films. She drives a Porsche Boxster. Her favorite musicians are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, The Ramones, R.E.M., The White Stripes, Weezer, and the Pixies.^[14]
Ricci also has many tattoos: a lion on her right shoulder blade (a reference to ''The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'', a favorite novel of hers as a child), a fairy on the inside of her right wrist, praying hands on her left hip (this tattoo was originally a bat), a bouquet of sweetpeas on her lower back, the words "Move or Bleed" on the left side of her ribcage, the name "Jack" on her right thigh for a dead pet, a sparrow on her right breast, and a mermaid on her left ankle.^[21]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1990	''Mermaids''	Kate Flax
1991	''The Hard Way''	Bonnie
1991	''The Addams Family''	Wednesday Addams
1993	''The Cemetery Club''	Jessica
1993	''Addams Family Values''	Wednesday Addams
1995	''Casper''	Kathleen 'Kat' Harvey
1995	''Now and Then''	Young Roberta Martin
1995	''	Beth Easton
1996	''Bastard Out of Carolina''	Dee Dee
1996	''The Last of the High Kings''	Erin
1997	''Little Red Riding Hood''	Little Red Riding Hood
1997	''That Darn Cat''	Patti Randall
1997	''The Ice Storm''	Wendy Hood
1998	''Souvenir''	Young Orlando (voice)
1998	''Buffalo '66''	Layla
1998	''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas''	Lucy
1998	''The Opposite of Sex''	Dede Truitt
1998	''Small Soldiers''	Gwendy Doll (voice)
1998	''Pecker''	Shelley
1998	''Desert Blue''	Ely Jackson
1998	''I Woke Up Early the Day I Died''	Teenage Hooker
1999	''200 Cigarettes''	Val
1999	''No Vacancy''	Lillian
1999	''Sleepy Hollow''	Katrina VanTassel
2000	''Bless the Child''	Cheri Post
2000	''The Man Who Cried''	Suzie
2001	''All Over the Guy''	Rayna Wyckoff
2001	''Prozac Nation''	Elizabeth Wurtzel
2002	''The Gathering''	Cassie Grant
2002	''The Laramie Project''	Romaine Patterson
2002	''Pumpkin''	Carolyn McDuffy
2002	''Miranda''	Miranda (Alice)
2003	''Monster''	Selby
2003	''Anything Else''	Amanda
2005	''Cursed''	Ellie
2006	''Home of the Brave''	Sarah Schivino
2006	''The White Rose''	Sophie Scholl
2007	''Black Snake Moan''	Rae
2007	''Penelope''	Penelope
2008	''Speed Racer''	Trixie

References

1. Quote from interview previously available at http://www.christinaricci.info/cgi-dodger/showpage.pl?sel=interviews&url=iview7.ssf
2. http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=120385&ran=162785
3. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000207/bio,
4. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_1_34/ai_112482975
5. Biography of Christina Ricci from the Internet Movie Database, accessed December 13, 2006
6. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118254/trivia
7. MSNBC
8. StarPulse.com
9. rottentomatoes.com
10. boxofficemojo.com
11. The Two-One-Three
12. Yahoo Entertainment News
13. http://www.askmen.com/gossip/christina-ricci/christina-ricci-desperate-to-marry.html
14. Christina Ricci trivia at IMDB; last accessed June 1, 2007.
15. Newsmeat
16. Christina Ricci trivia at IMDB; last accessed June 1, 2007.
17. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000207/bio
18. Ricci make's PETA's worst dressed at 2006 PETA 2006 worst dressed; last accessed June 1, 2007.
19. http://www.furisdead.com/feat-worstdressed2006.asp
20. Christina Ricci trivia at IMDB; last accessed June 1, 2007.
21. http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/tattoo/celeb-ricci4.htm

External links

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★ Christina Ricci Interview by Al Weisel, US Magazine, June 1998

★ Queen of the Rebels : Christina Ricci Fan Site