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Christina Ricci - Biography |
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Christina Ricci (born February 12,
1980) is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as
Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and its sequel Addams Family
Values (1993).
Her movie roles have ranged from art house films such as The Ice Storm
(1997), dramas such as Monster (2004), independent comedies such as The
Opposite of Sex (1998), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination
for Best Actress, and blockbusters such as Sleepy Hollow (1999).
Ricci endured the transition from a child star to teenage idol and mature
actress and currently holds her own production company, Blaspheme Films,
responsible for Pumpkin and Prozac Nation. She has recently appeared in
Black Snake Moan (2007) and Penelope (2008), and stars as Trixie, the
female lead role in the The Wachowski Brothers' feature film adaptation of
Speed Racer, in 2008.
Ricci was born in Santa Monica, California, the fourth and youngest child
of Sarah (née Murdoch), a former Ford Model and real estate agent, and
Ralph Ricci, a lawyer and psychiatrist. 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."
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. After one year she left the
high school for the Professional Children's School in New York City. Her
siblings are Rafael (born 1971), Dante (born 1974), and Pia (born 1976).
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 Mermaids in 1990 as Cher's younger daughter. The young
actress made enough of an impression to land more work; later she appeared
in the video of the film's soundtrack "The Shoop Shoop Song". The
following year, she starred as the morbidly precocious Wednesday Addams in
the 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.
After this, her popularity increased dramatically, and she became in high
demand by the mid-1990s. Her next project, Casper, 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 Ricci 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.
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 Dede). For her
performance as Dede, Ricci won acclaim and was nominated for a Golden
Globe and attained the unofficial title of the Sundance Film Festival's
1998 "It" Girl. Although she missed out on an Academy Award nomination,
Entertainment Weekly honored her well-received performance as one of the
"Worst Oscar Snubs Ever".
Later films included Sleepy Hollow (alongside Johnny Depp), and Prozac
Nation (which featured her first on-screen nude scene). She starred
opposite Charlize Theron in the film Monster. During Theron's acceptance
speech at the Golden Globes, she acknowledged Ricci, calling her the
"unsung hero" of the film. 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 album Guero, providing vocals on "Hell Yes".
Ricci at the Gramercy Park Hotel, 2007In 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 works at Cage & Fish and marries 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.
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 ended up really hitting Gasteyer in
the eye. Although Ricci 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 5 ft 1 in (155 cm) she is
"too short" to ever be an A-list actress, saying she tends "to look really
small on camera". 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. Her 2007 film, Black Snake Moan received mixed
reviews, with rottentomatoes.com tallying an overall score of 66 percent.
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
and called it Ricci's best performance. Richard Roeper also gave the film
a "thumb up" rating. The film earned $4 million, putting it in eighth
place for the highest earnings in its opening weekend. For her role in
Black Snake Moan, Ricci was required to lose several pounds and wore a
forty-pound (18 kg) chain during filming. Apart from having to lose
weight, Ricci ate only food items without any nutritional value to achieve
her unhealthy appearance. Ricci has starred in Penelope, alongside Reese
Witherspoon, a modern day fairytale, and in 2008, she played the female
lead in The Wachowski Brothers' feature film adaptation of Speed Racer.
Ricci is currently filming the psychological thriller After.Life in New
York with Liam Neeson and Justin Long, and has signed on for three
episodes of TNT's crime drama Saving Grace, which recently began its
second season. Ricci will play a young detective who temporarily partners
with Grace, played by Holly Hunter.
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. She is on the national board of VOX-Voices for Planned
Parenthood. She will also be appearing in national ads for emergency
contraception. She supported John Kerry's presidential bid in 2004. Ricci
maintains a close friendship with former child star and actress Gaby
Hoffmann, with whom she starred in Now and Then and 200 Cigarettes. She is
also a friend of Black Snake Moan co-star Samuel L. Jackson.
After making the top of PETA's worst-dressed list and receiving a letter
from the animal rights group, Ricci decided to give up wearing fur. 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 Pixies.
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.
She was briefly engaged to fellow actor Owen Benjamin. |
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Christina Ricci - Personal Quotes |
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"I spend a lot of time with my
mother. When I'm doing movies, she's always with me. We spend days
being bored in an apartment together waiting for someone to call and
say I'm needed for a shot. Because we're together so much, we have
to get along. We have to find ways to get to know each other. We've
gone through a lot of stuff, you know, and I think we're pretty
close."
"I can be young and cute when I want to be, and I can be really
mature when I want to be. It's kind of weird, like I'm the
incredible changing girl, which is good because I can relate to
adults and to people my age." [1995]
"If I hadn't gone into acting, I would have been one of those weird
runaways on Hollywood Boulevard. No, it'd be uglier. I'd probably be
dead."
"I'm very shy. I can't even act that well when the camera's not on.
I get really embarrassed."
"I don't have any training, and I don't believe in training. Of
course, people who don't have any training always say that."
[About Marilyn Manson's band] "I hate the things they preach. They
found a gimmick that sells. The fact that they're making money off
all these teenage kids who actually believe in their message is
disgusting."
"For years, I hated myself. I covered the mirrors in my house. I
literally couldn't have a mirror in my room. I still can't sit in a
restaurant or someplace where I can catch my reflection. I get so
paranoid."
"I certainly hope I'm not still answering child-star questions by
the time I reach menopause."
"I'm not perfect-looking and I don't say the right things, I'm a
little different, nothing really special, but I guess I come across
as a little more real to people and that comes through on the
screen. I know I look young, but with the right make-up I can look
older. I definitely feel older."
"My dream role would probably be a psycho killer, because the whole
thing I love about movies is that you get to do things you could
never do in real life, and that would be my way of vicariously
experiencing being a psycho killer. Also, it's incredibly romantic."
"I like playing people who are so afraid and ashamed of who they are
and so disgusted by everyone around them that they decide to become
the ultimate extreme of what they're afraid they are."
"I don't think I'll be reformed until I'm well into my fifties."
"You have to excuse me because I AM a teenager, so I'm allowed to
sound illiterate and make stupid comments like 'I'm not into
hard-core feminism'."
"I think the main reason a lot of child stars don't make it is that
it's hard to see someone as cute and then all of a sudden see them
as having more depth. I guess I was just lucky that, when I was
little, nobody thought I was that cute."
(On smooching Johnny Depp) "We actually had some sex scenes, which
was very strange. In front of 20 people on the set, with someone who
was 27, who you met for the first time when you were nine. It was a
little weird."
"I know he's got a girlfriend, but I could so corrupt him. He would
be a hot date, and that is what I need right now. I have met him, so
I know what I am talking about here. He's a nice, home-loving boy
with a great body and great eyes. And when he reads this, he's
probably going to run a mile." [about her crush on Josh Hartnett]
"There are two sides of me. One is the professional side. When I'm
working, I'm not a kid - and can't be. Otherwise no one would take
me seriously. When I'm not working, I think I'm a normal
15-year-old." [1995]
"Remember who you are. It's really okay to be who you are."
"My first kiss was with the most chivalrous little boy I ever met in
my life. It was in kindergarten. There was this kid who was really a
jerk, and he wouldn't let me get on the school bus. He was about to
hit me when this little boy named Nicky shoved me down, stood up and
took the blow. So Nicky instantly became the kindergarten stud. The
day he got hit for me, I lined up all the little girls, and everyone
kissed him. That was my way of thanking him."
"I'm not mainstream-looking. I'm not very skinny. I'm not
...like....beautiful. The point of mainstream movies is to cast
someone that everyones' going to love. Because of my persona, I'm
controversial. I don't do anything in my real life to deserve that.
I don't drink, I don't do drugs. But studio people don't want to put
me in their movies. They think I might offend. "
"I never did drugs - they made me feel awful physically. Of course,
I experimented, but soon I thought, 'This is not worth the shame
spiral the next day'. I'm the kind of person who, if I went to a
slumber party and smoked a cigarette, I assumed my parents were
going to die as punishment. So I'd have to call my mom, tell her I'd
smoked and feel really bad."
"Things were all about appearances. We were supposed to be
socialites when we grew up. She's not like that now, but my mother
used to say things like, 'When you're older, you can go on a
scotch-and-steak- diet'. My dad was also very image-conscious." [On
being brought up by her parents]
"Everybody asked, 'How do you feel about playing a bitch?' And I'd
say, 'If you knew anything about human nature, you'd realize that
for this girl, being like that is a total front for being unhappy'."
"All my other relationships have been three months. I used to always
cheat on my boyfriends. For no reason...Just to create a little
drama. And now I don't need that. I don't need that. I don't need
any more drama."
"I remember when I was little, all the mothers saying once you're 13
you have to stop working because there are no roles for teenagers.
But I think I was lucky because just when I got to be a teenager,
there started to be a lot more roles for kids my age. For a while it
did look like I would have to keep doing kids' movies to stay in the
business, but then when I was 15, The Ice Storm (1997) came along."
I got ugly. Throughout my childhood, my favorite rejection was 'She
looks too healthy.' They wanted that really gaunt, runaway girl kind
of look. I was like, 'Mom, I thought you could never be too
healthy.' She said, 'Ignore them'. |
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Christina Ricci - Filmography |
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The Hero of Color City (2010)
(voice) .... Yellow
Alpha and Omega (2010) .... Lilly
Born to Be a Star (2010) .... Kathy
After.Life (2009) .... Anna Taylor
... aka After Life (USA: alternative title)
... aka Afterlife (USA: alternative title)
All's Faire in Love (2009) .... Kate
"Saving Grace" .... Offcr. Abby Charles (3 episodes, 2009)
- Take Me Somewhere, Earl (2009) TV episode .... Offcr. Abby Charles
- Do You Believe in Second Chances? (2009) TV episode .... Offcr.
Abby Charles
- The Heart of a Cop (2009) TV episode .... Offcr. Abby Charles
New York, I Love You (2009) .... Camille (segment "Shunji Iwai")
... aka New York, je t'aime (France: literal title)
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon (2008) (VG) (voice) ....
Cynder
Speed Racer (2008) (VG) (voice) .... Trixie
... aka Speed Racer: The Video Game (Australia)
Speed Racer (2008) .... Trixie
... aka Speed Racer (Germany)
... aka Speed Racer: The IMAX Experience (USA: IMAX version)
Home of the Brave (2006) .... Sarah Schivino
Black Snake Moan (2006) .... Rae
Penelope (2006) .... Penelope Wilhern
"Grey's Anatomy" .... Hannah Davies (2 episodes, 2006)
- As We Know It (2006) TV episode .... Hannah Davies
- It's the End of the World (2006) TV episode .... Hannah Davies
"Joey" .... Mary Teresa (1 episode, 2005)
- Joey and the Fancy Sister (2005) TV episode .... Mary Teresa
Cursed (2005) .... Ellie
... aka Verflucht (Germany)
... aka Wes Craven's Cursed (USA: complete title)
Monster (2003) .... Selby
I Love Your Work (2003) .... Shana
Anything Else (2003) .... Amanda Chase
... aka Anything else, la vie et tout le reste (France)
... aka La vie et tout le reste (France)
"Ally McBeal" .... Liza Bump (7 episodes, 2002)
- Bygones (2002) TV episode .... Liza Bump
- All of Me (2002) TV episode .... Liza Bump
- What I'll Never Do for Love Again (2002) TV episode .... Liza Bump
- Another One Bites the Dust (2002) TV episode .... Liza Bump
- Tom Dooley (2002) TV episode .... Liza Bump
(2 more)
"Malcolm in the Middle" .... Kelly (1 episode, 2002)
- Company Picnic: Part 1 (2002) TV episode .... Kelly
Miranda (2002) .... Miranda
Pumpkin (2002) .... Carolyn McDuffy
The Laramie Project (2002) .... Romaine Patterson
The Gathering (2002) .... Cassie Grant
Prozac Nation (2001) .... Elizabeth
All Over the Guy (2001) .... Rayna Wyckoff
The Man Who Cried (2000) .... Suzie
... aka The man who cried - Les larmes d'un homme (France)
Bless the Child (2000) .... Cheri Post
... aka Die Prophezeiung (Germany)
Sleepy Hollow (1999) .... Katrina Van Tassel
... aka Sleepy Hollow (Germany)
... aka Sleepy Hollow - Köpfe werden rollen (Germany: TV title)
No Vacancy (1999) .... Lillian
200 Cigarettes (1999) .... Val
Desert Blue (1998) .... Ely Jackson
Pecker (1998) .... Shelley
Small Soldiers (1998) (voice) .... Gwendy Doll
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) .... Lucy
Buffalo '66 (1998) .... Layla
The Opposite of Sex (1998) .... Dede Truitt
I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998) .... Teenage Hooker
... aka Ed Wood's I Woke Up Early the Day I Died
... aka I Awoke Early the Day I Died (USA)
The Ice Storm (1997) .... Wendy Hood
That Darn Cat (1997) .... Patti
Little Red Riding Hood (1997) .... Little Red Riding Hood
The Last of the High Kings (1996) .... Erin
... aka Summer Fling (USA: video title)
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996) .... Dee Dee
"The Simpsons" .... Erin (1 episode, 1996)
- Summer of 4 Ft. 2 (1996) TV episode (voice) .... Erin
Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995) .... Beth Easton
... aka Le secret de Bear Mountain (Canada: French title)
Now and Then (1995) .... Young Roberta Martin
Casper (1995) .... Kathleen 'Kat' Harvey
Addams Family Values (1993) .... Wednesday Addams
The Cemetery Club (1993) .... Jessica
... aka Looking for a Live One
The Addams Family (1991) .... Wednesday Addams
The Hard Way (1991) .... Bonnie
Mermaids (1990) .... Kate Flax
"H.E.L.P." .... Olivia (1 episode, 1990)
- Are You There, Alpha Centauri? (1990) TV episode .... Olivia |
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Christina Ricci - Related Links |
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Wikipedia: Christina Ricci
YouTube: Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
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