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Christina Ricci was born in Santa Monica, California, the fourth child of
Ralph Ricci and Sarah Murdoch. Her father, before becoming a lawyer, was a
psychiatrist who specialized in shrieking therapy. While growing up, Christina
could hear the therapies through the vents in her room, and would act them out
in front her mother. The family moved to Montclair, New Jersey, where she grew
up attending Edgemont Elementary School, Mount Hebron Middle School and
Montclair High School. Her siblings are Dante, Pia and Rafael. She is of mostly
Scottish-Irish ancestry, although her great-grandfather was Italian; Ricci has
said 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."
Christina Ricci's parents divorced after she filmed Addams Family Values (1993).
Tiny at just over five feet, Ricci stopped growing when she was ten years old.
Ricci made her cinematic debut at the age of 9 alongside Cher, Bob Hoskins, and
Winona Ryder in Mermaids. She auditioned for the roles that were eventually
played by Kirsten Dunst in the films Little Women and Interview with the
Vampire. She also appeared in the video for Moby's song "Natural Blues," and in
ads for The Gap.
Ricci is perhaps best known for her roles in The Addams Family films, Sleepy
Hollow, Monster and independent films including Buffalo 66, Prozac Nation, and
The Opposite of S--. Ricci had to turn down the role of Ronna in Go (1999)
because of scheduling conflicts. She was turned down four times for the role of
Lolita Haze in Lolita (1997), which 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 has also begun producing films. The
dramatically contoured Ricci has stated that she would only appear nude on film
for legitimate artistic reasons. She appeared naked for the first time in the
film Prozac Nation; despite the film never being released theatrically, clips
and stills from the film featuring a topless Christina became an instant hit all
over the internet. Candid photos of Ricci braless or wearing see-through
clothing at film premieres and similar events are also a popular feature on
celebrity websites.
Minnesota-based hip hop artist Slug of Atmosphere and west coast based Murs, of
the Living Legends crew made an album dedicated to Ricci, titled Felt - A
Tribute to Christina Ricci. The first part of Goddess of Doom, a song by Finnish
doom metal-band Reverend Bizarre, is also a tribute to her.
Ricci has several tattoos, including a bouquet of sweet peas on her lower back,
a bat on her bikini line, a lion on her shoulder blade and others. Ricci also
owns her own production company, responsible for films she has starred in,
Prozac Nation and Pumpkin.
Christina Ricci is on the national board of VOX-Voices for Planned Parenthood,
which works to promote the mission of Planned Parenthood to young adults. She
will also be appearing in national ads for Emergency Contraception.
On December 4, 1999, she appeared on Saturday Night Live (1975) as the guest
host, in which she parodied
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" (1985) show, in which
she played a 13-year-old runaway who sleeps with dogs, and required her to
fake-punch Sally (Gasteyer), but accidentally hit her for real. While she
initially reacted by putting her hands over her mouth in surprise, she
maintained her professionalism and quickly fell back into character.
Film List
This Christina Ricci Biography Page is Copyright The Planets © 2004 - 2006 Chuck Ayoub