Christina Ricci

Christina Ricci (born February 12, 1980) is an American actress. She first gained fame for her role as Wednesday Addams in the Addams Family films.

Biography

Early life

Ricci was born in Santa Monica, California, the fourth child of Ralph Ricci and Sarah Murdoch. Her father, before becoming a lawyer, was a psychiatrist who specialized in shrieking therapy. While growing up, Christina could hear the therapies through the vents in her room, and would act them out in front her mother. The family moved to Montclair, New Jersey, where she grew up attending Edgemont Elementary School, Mount Hebron Middle School and Montclair High School. Her siblings are Dante, Pia and Rafael. She is of mostly Scottish-Irish ancestry, although her great-grandfather was Italian; Ricci has said 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."^*

Her parents divorced after she filmed Addams Family Values (1993). Tiny at just over five feet, Ricci stopped growing when she was ten years old.

Career

Ricci made her cinematic debut at the age of 9 alongside Cher, Bob Hoskins, and Winona Ryder in Mermaids. She auditioned for the roles that were eventually played by Kirsten Dunst in the films Little Women and Interview with the Vampire. She also appeared in the video for Moby's song "Natural Blues," and in ads for The Gap.

Ricci is perhaps best known for her roles in The Addams Family films, Sleepy Hollow, Monster and independent films including Buffalo 66, Prozac Nation, and The Opposite of Sex. Ricci had to turn down the role of Ronna in Go (1999) because of scheduling conflicts. She was turned down four times for the role of Lolita Haze in Lolita (1997), which 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 took over the role.

Ricci has also begun producing films. The dramatically contoured Ricci has stated that she would only appear nude on film for legitimate artistic reasons. She appeared naked for the first time in the film Prozac Nation; despite the film never being released theatrically, clips and stills from the film featuring a topless Christina became an instant hit all over the internet. Candid photos of Ricci braless or wearing see-through clothing at film premieres and similar events are also a popular feature on celebrity websites.

Minnesota-based hip hop artist Slug of Atmosphere and west coast based Murs, of the Living Legends crew made an album dedicated to Ricci, titled Felt - A Tribute to Christina Ricci. The first part of Goddess of Doom, a song by Finnish doom metal-band Reverend Bizarre, is also a tribute to her.

Personal life

Ricci has several tattoos, including a bouquet of sweet peas on her lower back, a bat on her bikini line, a lion on her shoulder blade and others. Ricci also owns her own production company, responsible for films she has starred in, Prozac Nation and Pumpkin.

Ricci is on the national board of VOX-Voices for Planned Parenthood, which works to promote the mission of Planned Parenthood to young adults. She will also be appearing in national ads for Emergency Contraception.

On December 4, 1999, she appeared on Saturday Night Live (1975) as the guest host, in which she parodied 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" (1985) show, in which she played a 13-year-old runaway who sleeps with dogs, and required her to fake-punch Sally (Gasteyer), but accidentally hit her for real. While she initially reacted by putting her hands over her mouth in surprise, she maintained her professionalism and quickly fell back into character.

She is also a Christian and credits God for helping her overcome her eating disorder.

She has admited to self injuring herself in the past.^*

Filmography

Mermaids (1990)
The Hard Way (1991)
The Addams Family (1991)
The Cemetery Club (1993)
Addams Family Values (1993)
Casper (1995)
Now and Then (1995)
Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995)
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)
The Last of the High Kings (1996)
Little Red Riding Hood (1997) (short subject)
That Darn Cat (1997)
The Ice Storm (1997)
Souvenir (1998) (voice only)
Buffalo ’66 (1998)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
The Opposite of Sex (1998)
Small Soldiers (1998) (voice)
Pecker (1998)
Desert Blue (1998)
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998)
200 Cigarettes (1999)
No Vacancy (1999)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Bless the Child (2000)
The Man Who Cried (2000)
All Over the Guy (2001)
Prozac Nation (2001)
The Gathering (2002)
The Laramie Project (2002)
Pumpkin (2002)
Miranda (2002 film)
Ally McBeal (2002)
Anything Else (2003)
I Love Your Work (2003)
Monster (2003)
Cursed (2005)
Fearless Freaks (2005) (documentary)

Upcoming:

Penelope (2006)
Black Snake Moan (2006)
Home of the Brave (2007)
The White Rose (2007)

External links