Biography And Filmography:

Gifted, outspoken teen starlet of the 1990's, Christina Ricci is one of the few child actors to make the transition to mature roles and adult movie making. She was born on Feb. 12, 1980, in Santa Monica, California, but was raised primarily in the town of Montclair, New Jersey. Her mother was a prior Ford model who became a real estate agent, and her father was a psychiatric doctor. 

Ricci was approached by a local theater writer after a performance in a school play and suggested the eight-year-old seek a career in professional acting. She began auditioning, and landed several television commercials, before quickly being cast in a supporting role in the romantic comedy “Mermaids” (1990),  playing the accommodating daughter of the town drunk played by Cher, and the younger sister of the enthusiastically religious young teen played by Winona Ryder. She won a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, and the film was nominated for a Golden Globe.

The following year, she was cast in the role of Wednesday Addams in the smash hit movie version of “The Addams Family” (1991), where con artists plan to rob the unconventional family using an accomplice who claims to be their long lost Uncle Fester. Christina reprised her role in the 1993 sequel  “Addams Family Values” (1993). Another comedy followed in the role of Jessica in "The Cemetery Club" (1993), about the widows Doris, Ester and Lucille, who's husbands died one after another in just a few years. The three friends in their 50's, react quite differently, and they make it a habit to meet every year at the graves of their husbands and talk about the issues in their lives.

Christina was a rising Hollywood star, and audiences adored her. Especially in her role as Kathleen 'Kat' Harvey in the family comedy "Casper" (1995), where a paranormal expert and his daughter stay in an abandoned house populated by three mischievous ghosts and one friendly one. Another comedy, and starring role, followed with "Now And Then" (2005), with Rosie O'Donnell, Thora Birch, Melanie Griffith and Demi Moore, about a summer when four friends make a promise to return anytime they needed each other, and twenty years later, that time has come. Again, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award. 

She was then hired and cast in a supporting role in Showtime’s Emmy Award winning film “Bastard Out of Carolina,” as well as appearing in more comedic family movies like “Golddiggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain” (1995), and a starring role in “That Darn Cat” (1997), about a maid who is kidnapped and scratches a message onto a cat's collar, and when his owner discovers it plays amateur detective with the help of the cat. 

In 1997, however, Christina began to shy away from the more kind-hearted movies, and struck out to make a name for herself in more mature and challenging roles. First, as Wendy Hood in the dramatic “The Ice Storm” (1997), directed by Ang Lee, set in 1973 suburban Connecticut, where middle class families experiment with casual sex, drugs, alcohol, and find their lives out of control. Next was a starring role in the black comedy short-film of the classic tale "Little Red Riding Hood" (1997), before ending her year as Erin in the dramatic comedy "The Last Of The High Kings" (1996).

The actress then gained attention with the romantic comedy “The Opposite of Sex” (1997), where a 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus causing mayhem in all of their lives. She was nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Young Star Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy Film. She then appeared in the Terry Gilliam directed comedy "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas" (1998), with Johnny Depp, Tobey Maguire, Michael Jeter and Cameron Diaz, about an oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer, who travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychedelic adventures.

The following year she truly became a star with several impressive films. She was intricate, exposed, and flashy in Vincent Gallo’s action adventure comedy “Buffalo 66,” playing a kidnapped victim forced to masquerade as her abductor’s young wife in order to make an impact on his parents. She then took a role in the bizarre John Waters film "Pecker" (1998), starring alongside Edward Furlong, about a young sandwich shop employee (Furlong), who becomes an overnight sensation when photographs he's taken of his weird family become the latest rage in the art world. The boy is called "Pecker" because he pecks at his food like a bird. In 1999, Ricci appeared opposite Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's horror mystery of "Sleepy Hollow."

After admitting she had struggled with anorexia, in addition to earlier battles with self-injury and depression, her troubled background undoubtedly made her a good contender for the movie version of Elizabeth Wurtzel’s “Prozac Nation”, where a young woman struggles with depression during her first year at Harvard. In 2002, She both produced and starred in the film "Pumpkin," a controversial dark comedy about a sorority girl who falls for an older disabled man, and then then took a highly publicized role on the final season of TV's "Ally McBeal" (2002) as the confrontational young attorney Liza Bump. She returned to movies as a neurotic actress in Woody Allen's "Anything Else" (2003), a contemporary romantic comedy set in New York city about the relationship between an older guy and his younger protégé, where the older guy guides the younger through a messy and hilarious love story. 

After a small role in "I Love Your Work" (2003), the directorial debut of her real life boyfriend Adam Goldberg, she took a role  in the crime drama "Monster" (2003),based on the real-life story of drifter and female serial killer Aileen Wournos (Charlize Theron) - the film was a hit with audiences. The actress then worked with director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson for the thriller, "Cursed" (2005), with Portia de Rossi, about a werewolf loose in Los Angeles that changes the lives of three young adults, who, after being mauled by the beast, learn they must kill their attacker if they hope to change their fate to avoid becoming werewolves too. 

She also appeared in guest spots on several television shows including "Malcolm In The Middle", the short lived "Joey", and two episodes of "Grey's Anatomy".

She gave an outstanding performance in the dramatic music themed “Black Snake Moan” (2007), a controversial film about an immoral young woman trying to be rehabilitated by a God-fearing blues singer played by Samuel L. Jackson. Her first movie in 2008 was the Reese Witherspoon produced “Penelope” with James McAvoy, a modern day romantic tale about a young upper-class heiress born under a curse that can only be broken when she finds true love with "one who will love her faithfully." The actress then appeared in the war drama "Home Of The Brave" (2006), about three soldiers who struggle to readjust to life at home after returning home from a lengthy tour in Iraq.

A big break came for Christina in 2008 when she took the role of Trixie in the summer block-buster "Speed Racer" (2008), with Emile Hirsch, in the story of Speed Racer, who is a young man with natural racing instincts whose goal is to win "The Crucible", a cross-country car racing rally that took the life of his older brother, Rex Racer. Next was the anthology film "New York, I Love You" (2008), working with an A-list group of stars that included Kevin Bacon, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom, Hayden Christensen, Shia LaBeouf and Natalie Portman and Elijah Wood. "New York, I Love You" is an anthology film joining several love stories together and set in one of the most loved cities of the world, New York. Twelve filmmakers each direct a short film five minute segment illustrating the universal theme of encountering love within the five boroughs of New York.

The following year, Christina appeared in the dramatic "Long Time Gone" (2009), about a broken family that finds itself being healed whether it wants to or not when the girlfriend of the youngest son moves in and takes over. Ricci then lent her voice talents to the animated family adventure "Alpha And Omega" (2009), with Hayden Panettiere, Justin Long and Dennis Hopper, where two mismatched young wolves are thrown together by circumstance. The actress wrapped her year in another animated feature "The Hero Of Color City" (2009), where a colorful and diverse band of crayons strive to protect their magical, multi-hued homeland from an evil tyrant that threatens to rid their world of joy and color. 

Watch Christina Ricci In Celebrity Spotlight Interview

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