Ricci, Christina (1980– )

US film actor. A child star who successfully made the transition to adult roles, Ricci gained fame in such films as Mermaids (1990), Casper (1995), and, notably, The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993), in which she gave assured performances as the twisted child Wednesday. In the late 1990s she relaunched her career in a string of powerful roles in offbeat film productions. In such films as The Ice Storm (1997), Buffalo '66 (1998), The Opposite of Sex (1998), and Monster (2004), Ricci proved herself an accomplished character player.

An outspoken and popular celebrity, Ricci was one of the most prolific performers in US cinema in the late 1990s, with over ten credits to her name in 1998 and 1999, including Pecker (1998), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), 200 Cigarettes (1999), and Sleepy Hollow (1999). She also played sexy lawyer Liza Bump on the popular television series Ally McBeal in 1997.

She was born in Santa Monica, California, and made her film debut at the age of nine. She directed the film Asylum (1999) at the age of 19. Other films include The Man Who Cried (2000), Bless the Child (2000), Prozac Nation (2001), Anything Else (2003), and Cursed (2004).