Christina Ricci
ALL ABOUT CHRISTINA RICCI
Full Name: Christina Ricci
Date of Birth: 12 February 1980
Place of Birth: Santa Monica, California, USA
Nickname: Squant
Family: Mother - Sarah Ricci, Father - Ralph Ricci, Brother and Sister - Raphael, Dante and Pia
Salary: Miranda (2002) $5,000,000
Prozac Nation (2001) $1,000,000
Bio:
One of the most celebrated actresses of her generation, as well as one of the few child stars to make a successful transition to adult roles, Christina Ricci has been impressing audiences and critics with her unnervingly accurate performances since debuting in 1990’s Mermaids.
The daughter of a lawyer and a former Ford model and the youngest of four children, Ricci was born in Santa Monica, CA, on February 12, 1980. Following her family’s move to New York when she was eight, Ricci got her start acting in commercials. Her big screen debut came shortly after, when director Richard Benjamin cast her as Cher’s younger daughter in Mermaids. 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.
Following a series of films both good and bad, including Now and Then, in which she played the young Rosie O’Donnell, and the critically panned but commercially successful Casper, Ricci starred as the troubled, sexually precocious Wendy Hood in Ang Lee’s widely praised The Ice Storm. The actress handled the part with uncanny 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 Buffalo ‘66 (in which she played Vincent Gallo’s unwitting abductee-turned-girlfriend), John Waters’ Pecker, and Don Roos’ The Opposite of Sex, the last of which cast her as Dedee, a delightfully loathsome girl who wreaks tabloid-style havoc on everyone she encounters, whether they be dead or alive. For her performance as Dedee, Ricci was nominated for a Golden Globe and attained the unofficial title of the Sundance Film Festival’s 1998 “It” Girl.
Now riding high as an indie teen queen, Ricci went on in 1999 to headline the much-anticipated but ultimately disappointing 200 Cigarettes; the same year, she could be seen in Desert Blue, which featured 200 Cigarettes co-stars Casey Affleck and Kate Hudson, and Sleepy Hollow, in which she played Gothic princess Katrina Van Tassel opposite Johnny Depp’s Ichabod Crane in Tim Burton’s adaptation of Washington Irving’s ghostly tale.
In 2000, Ricci starred in Sally Potter’s The Man Who Cried, in which she played a young Jewish woman who flees from Germany to Paris during World War II, and Bless the Child, a supernatural thriller that also starred Kim Basinger and Rufus Sewell. Though rumors of a stateside release date for Ricci’s 2001 drama Prozac Nation continued to linger , the dark young starlet would move on to such unconventional efforts as The Laramie Project (2002) and the romantic comedy drama Pumpkin, which found her as a popular sorority girl who risks becoming a social outcast after falling for a mentally disabled young athlete whom she has volunteered to help train. Though subsequent efforts as Miranda and The Gathering (both 2002) ultimately fell beneath the radar at the box office, Ricci was a hit with Ally McBeal fans when she appeared in the how in a recurring role that same year, and audiences who caught Woody Allen’s 2003 comedy Anything Else found her as charming as ever (despite her sometimes shrill characterization in the film). Later that same year Ricci could be seen in a supporting role in the dark drama I Love Your Work before taking a turn as a serial killer’s best friend in director Patty Jenkins’ Aileen Wuornos biopic Monster.
Trivia:
She suffered from anorexia when she was a teenager.
She admires Amanda Plummer as an actress and her favorite actors are Viggo Mortensen and James Woods.
Her favorite movies are The Lords Of The Rings, Pulp Fiction and Gangs of New York.
She is one of the actresses who never formally studied acting.
Christina auditioned for the role Amy in the 1994 movie called Little Women and Claudia in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, but both roles went to Kirsten Dunst.
She is best friends with the actress Gaby Hoffmann.
Her father is a lawyer, and before that he worked as a psychiatrist specialized in shrieking therapy.
She is the youngest in her family. She has another three siblings.
Christina was chosen as one of People Magazine’s annual 100 Most Beautiful People in the World, Beauty at Every Age section, for age 27, in May 2007.
Christina attended Glenfield Middle School.
In 2007, Christina became the face of Samsonite Black Label’s ‘Fashionaire’ luggage collection.
Christina has a fear that a shark might swim through a hatch into the swimming pool. She’s also scared of ghosts, gerbils and house plants (botanophobia).
Christina’s biggest fan website has closed down. The site now says: “Offline due to fur usage”. Its owner writes: “I recently found out Christina doesn’t appear to have a problem wearing fur. Well, I do. I also have a problem with people who wear fur. Conclusion: I have a problem with Christina. And now that problem is solved, because I don’t have a website about her anymore, so I no longer have anything to do with her.” The site now links to the PETA website. Christina previously posed for a shoot for W wearing fur from a reindeer earlier this year. The fan site now contains a picture of that cover next to a seal cub being clubbed to death.
It is rumored that she hardly reads her fanmail and that her Mom takes care of it.
Says that the internet scares her.
Christina could read at the age of three.
She started smoking at the age of 15.
She had a lion tattooed on her right shoulder, because it reminded her of Aslan from the Narnia novels which she loved ever since she was little.
One of her favorite authors is Ayn Rand.
Christina hates yogurt.
Has been very fascinated by Punk culture.
Has her own production company called Blaspheme films.
She used to write a lot of stories and poems.
Has suffered from anorexia.
Says her anorexia probably started because she wanted to get rid of her breasts.
Christina is botanophobic a.k.a someone who has an abnormal fear of or aversion to plants.
Was at one point rumoured to be dating Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys.
Was, at another time, rumoured to be dating Devon Sawa.
Admitted to have self-injured.
Says she has a problematic relationship to her father.
Her father is a former psychiatrist, now a drug counselor.
Her mother is a former fashion model, now in the real estate business.
Her parents are divorced.
Christina is very close to her mother.
Wanted to join a writing program at Columbia University.
Quotes:
“I certainly hope I’m not still answering child star questions by the time I reach menopause.”
“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 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]
“I like the way my own feet smell. I love to smell my sneakers when I take them off.”
“When I was three or four, or something, I wanted to be the first female football player.”
“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 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 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.”
(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 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.”
“Basically, when you’re a kid on a movie, and you’re the only kid, everybody’s going, `Oh, you’re so cute, oh, you’re so good, oh that was wonderful!!’ like, every second. And if you believe it, and if you really allow yourself to just revel in it, and you try to go back to school, all of a sudden, people aren’t telling you you’re wonderful anymore. And you’ve still got this air like, `Wait! Aren’t I wonderful?!’ Then there’s a problem. And I kind of went back to school after my first movie and did that for about a month, and realized, `Hey! Everyone hates me! What’s up?’ So I had to fix that.”
“I’m very shy. I can’t even act that well when the camera’s not on. I get really embarassed.”
“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.”
“I don’t know who Peter Lorre is. Pathetic right? It shows you how completely gross and uncultured my generation is.”
“Now my body is really womanly - a little too much so. It’s someting I can fall back on. When I don’t know what else to do, I stick my chest out.”
“Nobody’s kissing my ass, unfortunately. I could use a little. But then again, my personality isn’t conducive to butt-kissing.”
“W called me ‘the young Delta Burke.’ It’s so sily. I weigh 105 pounds and wear a size two, but for some reason I’m a heavyweight.”
“If anyone ever saw me dance. They’d have trouble taking me seriously.”
“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’.”
“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.”
Filmography:
Christina Ricci Filmography as an Actress:
2008 Speed Racer
2008 Penelope
2007 Black Snake Moan
2006 Home of the Brave
2005 Cursed
2004 I Love Your Work
2003 Anything Else
2003 Monster
2002 Ally McBeal: Bygones
2002 Ally McBeal: What I’ll Never Do for Love Again
2002 Ally McBeal: Tom Dooly
2002 Ally McBeal: Love Is All Around, Part 1
2002 Miranda
2002 The Gathering
2002 Ally McBeal: All of Me
2002 Ally McBeal: Another One Bites the Dust
2002 Ally McBeal: Love Is All Around, Part 2
2002 Pumpkin
2001 The Laramie Project
2001 All Over The Guy
2001 Prozac Nation
2000 Bless the Child
2000 The Man Who Cried
1999 No Vacancy
1999 Sleepy Hollow
1999 Souvenir
1999 200 Cigarettes
1999 Saturday Night Live: Christina Ricci
1998 Bug City’s Incredible Insects
1998 I Woke Up Early The Day I Died
1998 Desert Blue
1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
1998 Buffalo ‘66
1998 Bug City’s Really Gross Bug Stuff
1998 Bug City’s Amazing Insect Warriors
1998 Pecker
1998 Small Soldiers
1998 The Opposite of Sex
1997 Little Red Riding Hood
1997 The Ice Storm
1996 That Darn Cat
1996 Bastard out of Carolina
1996 Summer Fling
1995 Now and Then
1995 Casper
1995 Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain
1993 The Cemetery Club
1993 Addams Family Values
1991 The Addams Family
1991 The Hard Way
1990 Mermaids
Bug City: Butterflies & Moths
Bug City: Bees
Bug City: Ants
Bug City: Spiders & Scorpions
Bug City: House & Backyard Insects
Bug City: Crickets, Grasshopers & Friends
Bug City: Beetles
Bug City: Aquatic Insects
Bug City: Ladybugs & Fireflies
Bug City: Flies & Mosquitoes
Christina Ricci Filmography as a Producer:
2002 Pumpkin
Christina Ricci Awards:
Emmy
2006 Best Guest Actress in a Drama Grey’s Anatomy: Season 02
Independent Spirit Award
1998 Best Actress Opposite of Sex
National Board of Review
1998 Best Supporting Actress Opposite of Sex
1998 Best Supporting Actress Pecker
1998 Best Supporting Actress Buffalo ‘66
Toronto Film Critics Association
1998 Best Actress - Runner-up Opposite of Sex
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