Christina Ricci
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| Christina Ricci | |
| Born | February 12, 1980 (age 27) Santa Monica, California, USA  |
| Notable roles | Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) Kathleen 'Kat' Harvey in Casper (1995) Dede Truitt in The Opposite of Sex (1998) Katrina VanTassel in Sleepy Hollow (1999) Selby in Monster (2003) |
Christina Ricci (born February 12, 1980) is a Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-nominated American actress. Ricci made her movie debut at age 10, starring with Cher and Winona Ryder in the 1990 film Mermaids. Her breakout role was as the dark 12-year-old Wednesday Addams in the successful The Addams Family film and its sequel, Addams Family Values. 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 low-budget (but critically acclaimed) independent films, such as The Opposite of Sex and Pumpkin. She also starred in major blockbusters such as Sleepy Hollow and Monster.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] 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, Christina Ricci has noted that "the Italian blood has been bred out of [her]. 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]. 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], after one year. 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.[5]
[edit] 1990-1997: Early work
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 attention went to Winona 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.
After this, her popularity increased dramatically, and she became in high demand by the mid-1990s. Her next project was the box office hit Casper, which received mixed critical reviews. 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 Christina was becoming a top box office draw. She also starred in a handful of other films with teenage roles such as Golddiggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain and That Darn Cat.
[edit] 1998-2007: Later films
In 1997, Ricci began to appear in more "mature" adult roles, beginning with her role as the troubled, sexually curious Wendy Hood in Ang Lee's critically acclaimed The Ice Storm. The actress handled the part with maturity, leading many observers to conclude that she was truly beginning to come into her own. This assessment was solidified with Ricci's subsequent roles 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 Dede—a delightfully loathsome girl who wreaks tabloid-style havoc on everyone she encounters). For her performance as Dede, Ricci was nominated for a Golden Globe and attained the unofficial title of the Sundance Film Festival's 1998 "It" Girl.
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 took over the role. Ricci also turned down a role in Loser due to some ethically questionable dialogue. Ricci has also begun producing films. In February of 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.
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 runaway who sleeps with dogs, and required her to fake-punch Gasteyer, but accidentally hit her for real. Although Gasteyer initially reacted by putting her hands over her mouth in surprise, she quickly fell back into character.
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".[6] 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.[7] Her newest film, Black Snake Moan, co-stars Samuel L. Jackson and Justin Timberlake and was released in the US on March 2, 2007.
[edit] Personal life
Ricci owns her own production company, Blaspheme Films, responsible for Prozac Nation and Pumpkin. Ricci is a Christian.[8] She is on the national board of VOX-Voices for Planned Parenthood, which works to promote the mission of Planned Parenthood to young adults.[citation needed] She will also be appearing in national ads for emergency contraception.[citation needed] She supported John Kerry's presidential bid in 2004.[9]
After making the top of PETA's worst-dressed list[10] and receiving a letter from PETA, Christina decided to give up wearing fur.[11] Ricci also owns two dogs. She has cited Pulp Fiction, Lord of the Rings, Gangs of New York, and My Own Private Idaho as her favorite films.[citation needed]
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Quote from interview previously available at http://www.christinaricci.info/cgi-dodger/showpage.pl?sel=interviews&url=iview7.ssf
- ^ http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=120385&ran=162785
- ^ http://imdb.com/name/nm0000207/bio,
- ^ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_1_34/ai_112482975
- ^ Biography of Christina Ricci from the Internet Movie Database, accessed December 13, 2006
- ^ MSNBC. Notes from all over.... Retrieved on August 23, 2006.
- ^ StarPulse.com. Weight Hampered Christina Ricci's Career. Retrieved on August 23, 2006.
- ^ http://www.askmen.com/gossip/christina-ricci/christina-ricci-desperate-to-marry.html
- ^ Newsmeat. Christina Ricci. Retrieved on August 23, 2006.
- ^ http://blog.peta.org/archives/2006/11/petas_2006_wors.php 2006
- ^ http://www.furisdead.com/feat-worstdressed2006.asp
[edit] External links
- Christina Ricci at the Internet Movie Database
- Christina Ricci at the Notable Names Database
- Christina Ricci Interview by Al Weisel, US Magazine, June 1998
- Queen of the Rebels : Christina Ricci Fan Site
