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Christina Ricci ( REE-chee; born February 12, 1980) is an American actress. Known for playing unusual characters with a dark edge, Ricci works mostly in independent productions, but has also appeared in numerous box-office hits. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Ricci made her film debut at the age of nine in Mermaids (1990), which was followed by a breakout role as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and its sequel, Addams Family Values (1993). Subsequent roles in Casper and Now and Then (both 1995) established her as a teen idol. At 17, she moved into adult-oriented projects with The Ice Storm (1997), which led to parts in independent features such as Buffalo '66, The Opposite of Sex, Pecker (all 1998), Prozac Nation (2001), Pumpkin (2002), and Monster (2003). Other credits include 200 Cigarettes, Sleepy Hollow (both 1999), Anything Else (2003), Cursed (2005), Penelope, Black Snake Moan (both 2006), Speed Racer (2008), Bel Ami (2012), and The Matrix Resurrections (2021). On television, Ricci played Liza Bump on the final season of Ally McBeal (2002), and had a guest role on Grey's Anatomy in 2006, for which she received an Emmy Award nomination. She also starred on ABC's Pan Am (2011–2012), produced and starred in the series The Lizzie Borden Chronicles (2015) and Z: The Beginning of Everything (2017), and appeared as Marilyn Thornhill on the first season of Netflix's Wednesday in 2022. Ricci has played Misty Quigley on Showtime's Yellowjackets since 2021, receiving nominations for the 2022 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress and the 2024 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2010, Ricci made her Broadway debut in Time Stands Still. She is the national spokesperson for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). Early life Christina Ricci was born in Santa Monica, California, the youngest of four children of Sarah (née Murdoch) and Ralph Ricci. Her mother worked as a Ford Agency model during the 1960s and later became a real estate agent. Her father had a varied career, including jobs as a gym teacher, lawyer, drug counselor, and primal scream therapist. Regarding her surname, Ricci has stated that she has Italian, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Ricci's family moved to Montclair, New Jersey, where she grew up attending Edgemont Elementary School, Glenfield Middle School, Montclair High School, and Morristown–Beard School. She later attended Professional Children's School in New York City. Her three older siblings are Rafael, Dante, and Pia. Ricci's parents separated when she was a preteen. She has been vocal about her childhood in interviews, particularly her parents' divorce and turbulent relationship with her father. Career 1990–1996: Discovery and child stardom At the age of eight, Ricci was discovered by a local theater critic when she starred in a school production of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Another child was originally cast in the part, but Ricci devised a plan to secure the role for herself: she taunted her rival so much that he punched her. When she told on him, he lost the part. She later recalled, "I've always been a really ambitious person. I guess that's the first time it really reared its ugly head". Soon thereafter, she featured in a pair of spoof commercials on Saturday Night Live. The first of these featured Ricci at a birthday party in which biomedical waste fell out of a burst piñata, parodying the real-life dumping of waste in the rivers of the East Coast. This gained Ricci her SAG-AFTRA card. Ricci's film debut was in Mermaids (1990), where she played Kate Flax. She also appeared in the music video for "The Shoop Shoop Song", which featured on the film's soundtrack. She portrayed the morbidly precocious Wednesday Addams in the following year's The Addams Family, Barry Sonnenfeld's big-budget adaptation of the cartoon of the same name, and reprised the role for its 1993 follow-up, Addams Family Values. Both films were financially profitable, grossing over US$300 million between them. Critics singled out Ricci's performance as a particular highlight of Values, with Variety believing she brought "a depth to her character well beyond her years". Ricci took on her first leading role when she headlined Casper, a supernatural comedy based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character. The film received a mixed critical reception, but was the eighth highest-grossing release of 1995. That same year, she starred in the children's adventure movie Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain and played tomboy Roberta in the coming-of-age drama Now and Then. The latter is often cited as the "female alternative" to Stand by Me and has gained a sizeable cult following since its release. Ricci then played a supporting role in Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), the directorial debut of Anjelica Huston, whom she previously worked with on the Addams Family movies. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Dorothy Allison, the film received acclaim for its sensitive handling of disturbing themes. 1997–2004: Transition to adult roles In 1997, Ricci starred in the Disney remake of That Darn Cat, which was a moderate success at the box office. Later that year, she made a shift into "legitimate adult roles" with her portrayal of the troubled, sexually curious Wendy Hood in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm, a drama about dysfunctional family relationships. The part was originally given to Natalie Portman, who pulled out when her parents decided that the material was too provocative. In his review for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers wrote, "The sight of the [film's] young stars ... fiddling with each other may shock '90s prudes, but Lee handles these moments with dry wit and compassion ... The adolescent members of the cast do their characters proud, with Ricci a particular standout. Her wonderfully funny and touching performance, capturing the defiance and confusion that come with puberty, is the film's crowning glory". Ricci made a brief appearance in Terry Gilliam's offbeat road movie, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). That same year, she had starring roles in three features: firstly, Buffalo '66, with Roger Ebert describing her portrayal of abductee Layla as "astonishing". Next up was John Waters' satirical comedy Pecker, where she played a hard-nosed laundromat worker, followed by Don Roos' dark comedy-drama The Opposite of Sex, where she headlined as the acid-tongued, manipulative Dede. For the latter, Ricci garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for the 1999 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. In his review of Sex for Variety, Todd McCarthy described Ricci's portrayal of Dede as "deadly funny" and felt that she delivered her dialogue with "the skill of a prospective Bette Davis". Several years later, Entertainment Weekly singled out her performance as one of the biggest "Oscar snubs" of all time. In 1999, Ricci headlined the Tim Burton gothic horro.... Discover the Christina Winds popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Christina Winds books.