Christina Ricci‘s decades-long career dates back to her childhood, when she became known for playing smart, spooky characters. While Ricci made her film debut in Mermaids in 1990, her breakout role is widely recognized as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family; she would reprise the morbid character for 1993’s Addams Family Values. In 1995, she starred in Casper as Kat Harvey, a teenager who develops a bond with a ghost. Four years later, Ricci worked alongside Tim Burton, a master of spooky, for his gothic horror Sleepy Hollow. During a recent conversation with PEOPLE, Ricci was asked what it was like to be a pioneer in the spooky genre:
“That’s very kind of you. I don’t feel like a pioneer… certainly. I was lucky as a young person at that time [with] where our culture was to play really interesting roles, interesting young girls and then interesting women.”
Ricci has consistently worked in Hollywood since making her debut in the Cher and Winona Ryder-led Mermaids, and she has earned accolades and praise for her work in projects including The Ice Storm, The Opposite of Sex, Monster, and the ongoing Yellowjackets. She attributes her enduring career to her good fortune:
“I just feel like I kind of lucked out. I wasn’t really capable of playing the other type of woman that was available or the other type of little girl that they were writing for. So, I just felt like I was lucky that there were opportunities and parts and roles.”
Christina Ricci on Wednesday Addams
Along with starring as Misty in Yellowjackets, Ricci recently reunited with Burton (with whom she collaborated on Sleepy Hollow and Big Fish) for Netflix’s Wednesday. The hit series stars Jenna Ortega (who is paving a similar path to Ricci’s by portraying dark and complex characters) as the titular character, with Ricci appearing during its first season as Marilyn Thornhill. While speaking with Forbes about her new West Elm project Christina Ricci’s Cat Full of Spiders Tarot Deck and Guidebook, Ricci discussed what it was like to see Ortega tackle the same character she first portrayed in 1991.
“I love getting to see Jenna do it as a fan and as someone who loves the Wednesday character it’s fun to see another Wednesday—but I never felt any personal ownership over that character. There have been other actresses who have played that character in the past, and I just feel it’s really fun to be associated with all of this and to be in that world—and it was such a joy to work with Tim again.”
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The first actress ever to portray Wednesday Addams on screen was Lisa Loring, who starred in the 1960s classic series The Addams Family. Ricci was the second. Despite not feeling ownership over the character, she says she still references Wednesday Addams often “because people are so obsessed with the character itself.” Ortega, the most recent actress to portray Wednesday on-screen, will reprise her role in the upcoming Season 2 of Wednesday, set to premiere in 2025.
Ricci will next appear in the third season of Yellowjackets. Yellowjackets is currently available to stream on Paramount+. The first season is available on Netflix.