Christina Ricci has been acting since she was a child, and she doesn’t really know life any other way. Making her on-screen debut at only 9 years old, The Addams Family star has had a variety of roles and has more than proven that she can transform into any character. The Emmy nominee recently opened up about starting her Hollywood career at such a young age, saying how she enjoyed “escaping” into acting as a child. As it turns out, Ricci “didn’t like being a kid.”
Christina Ricci began acting as a child
New York Magazine reports Ricci got her start following a “spectacular grade-school freak-out.” Her school was holding auditions for The Twelve Days of Christmas, and the actor was in danger of losing the lead part to someone else. She devised a plan, taunting the other kid so much that he punched her, and when she told on him, he lost the part. Says Ricci, “I’ve always been a really ambitious person. I guess that’s the first time it really reared its ugly head.” After a local theater critic noticed her, she soon began appearing in ads.
Ricci, according to IMDb, first appeared on the big screen in the 1990 film Mermaids alongside Cher. Soon after, she landed the role of Wednesday Addams in the 1991 film The Addams Family, and following that, The Addams Family Values. In 1995, she appeared in her first lead role in the movie Casper, and she then landed parts in films including Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, and Now and Then. It wasn’t long before the actor entered the world of adult roles.
Christina Ricci enjoyed ‘escaping’ into acting
Recently, the star appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show to talk about her latest projects, and she reflected on what it was like to be working in the entertainment industry as a young child. Ricci found that acting was something of an escape for her, saying how fun filming was as a kid
The Yellowjackets star said that “I really enjoyed escaping from my home life and I didn’t like going to school and I didn’t like being a kid. And getting to go to set and be good at something and to be encouraged, and to be successful at something — I liked the actual day-to-day work and everything.”
But Christina Ricci didn’t like fame
As much as the actor loved playing different parts, there was one aspect of the job that wasn’t all that enjoyable — the celebrity. “It wasn’t until I was older and a teenager that I really kind of felt the effects of fame,” she told Clarkson. “And it was the fame aspect that I didn’t like. I loved the work itself, but I didn’t really enjoy all the specific attention of fame.” She added, “It’s really hard too, when you don’t even know who you are yet. Like, how are you supposed to present yourself to the world, when you don’t know who you are?”
Most people can’t imagine what it is like growing up in the public eye like Ricci did. She touched on the subject of social media, and how she’s glad it wasn’t around in her childhood years. The actor said that she couldn’t imagine having to deal with the added pressures of social media, and Clarkson agreed. Ricci noted, “I was like a feral creature as a teenager, so it would have been a real bad situation for me. I don’t see how everybody is handling it all so well.”
Despite the fact that Ricci struggled with attention as a child, it looks like her career is still going strong, and fans can’t wait to see what is in store for the future.
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