Christina Ricci, the silent return of the child prodigy who has rediscovered an entire generation

“I just realized that Ms. Thornhill from the Netflix series

was the original Wednesday Addams from the 90s movies.”

This message was written a few weeks ago by a Twitter user upon discovering that Christina Ricci, Professor Thornhill in the

of

directed by Tim Burton and released on the platform a couple of months ago, also has a past as Wednesday Addams.

Born in Santa Monica (California) just today, February 12, 42 years old, Christina Ricci was not exactly the original Wednesday Addams.

That title falls to Lisa Loring, protagonist of the series

issued between 1964 and 1966 and died at the end of January.

But Ricci did participate in the successful 1991 film adaptation, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.

A fact unknown to the youngest fans of the new Netflix fiction, who shared this discovery on social networks in the face of the outrage of

an audience that grew up with children's films starring the actress during the 1990s.

Christina Ricci has been rediscovered by an entire generation, but her return to the small screen is not limited to this recent adaptation led by the young actress Jenna Ortega.

After years without very remarkable projects, she has returned to big productions.

In November 2021, she premiered the

series , a

psychological with fantastic overtones where comedy and drama are intertwined thanks to the presence of characters like his.

In Showtime's fiction she plays Misty Quigley, a good-natured-looking and helpful nurse with a terrifying double face, a darkness present in many of the roles she has played throughout her career.

Her work on the series, where she shares a plane with Juliette Lewis or Melanie Jayne Lynskey, earned her her first Emmy Award nomination in 2022 in the category of Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (in 2006 she had received a nomination for Best Guest Actress for her participation in

).

More information

Christina Ricci turns 40: why Hollywood didn't know what to do with the most captivating teenager of the nineties

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At just nine years old, she made her debut in the world of cinema at the hands of Cher and Winona Ryder, co-stars in the family drama

(Richard Benjamin, 1990).

Ricci, the youngest of four siblings, did not have an exactly easy childhood.

Making ends meet was a constant challenge for her parents and when she started working as a child actress she also became the main breadwinner for the family.

Her parents separated shortly after she jumped into the movies.

Ricci grew up in Santa Monica, spending part of her early teens in New Jersey and later moving to New York's Tribeca with her mother.

Although she has never gone public about her childhood trauma, in a recent interview in

He said that in his family there was "child abuse."

In February 2019, she mentioned something similar to the

when asked if her son would follow in her footsteps in the cinema.

"I think it's child abuse to make your child famous," she said.

And she added: "Once you are an adult, have studied and understand that it is an art form, you can have a career in the world of acting, if you want."

Perhaps the interpreter was alluding to her own history and experience.

The 1990s and early 2000s were a time of intense work and her childish face became a recurring feature in many of the blockbusters of those years.

Christina Ricci, characterized as Wednesday in a scene from the film 'Addams Family Values' (1993).

Paramount Pictures (Getty Images)

His big moment came in 1991 with the role of the sinister Wednesday in

.

The film was such a success that its sequel was released two years later.

Between 1990 and 2000 she made more than 20 movies.

Among others

, where she was the absolute protagonist

The film was released in 1995 and became a phenomenon, giving Christina Ricci an everlasting place of honor in the collective imagination of those nostalgic for the nineties.

That same year she hit theaters

and the movie

it swept the box office on the first weekend of its release, ahead

of David Fincher 's thriller

Throughout the decade, he interspersed teen titles with independent productions.

The roles of marginal, complex female characters and carriers of personal problems that are difficult to solve arrived.

In real life, she lived with her own ghosts and experienced the consequences of her early fame: she suffered from anxiety and eating disorders.

cinema

opened its arms to her talent and her image far removed from the Hollywood archetype of Californian beauty.

Titles like

(Vincent Gallo, 1998) made it clear that adolescent characters had been left behind and that roles with a certain depth were her favorite challenges.

Director Tim Burton cast her in the role of Katrina Van Tassel in

, where she first worked with Johnny Depp.

And so she closed a decade in which she went from a child to an adolescent, linking one project to another.

“I burned a lot of money on bags, shoes and jewelry when I was younger.

You know, coming from not having money to suddenly having it… It was a mistake,” she said in an interview in

last November.

Christina Ricci poses with Jenna Ortega, star of the Netflix series 'Wednesday,' at the premiere of the production on November 16, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

Gilbert Flores (Variety via Getty Images)

The return to the great blockbusters

His filmography is as extensive as it is diverse.

From playing a twenty-something addicted to antidepressants in the emblematic

(Erik Skjoldbjærg, 2001) to getting into the shoes of the lover of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, played by Charlize Theron in the acclaimed

(Patty Jenkins, 2003). .

In recent years, she has entered the world of dubbing animated films with titles such as

or

.

The passage of time has reduced the intensity of the media focus under which the actress spent a good part of her life, leaving it almost in the shadows.

In the last 10 years, she seemed to be experiencing a vital phase of family stability.

In 2013 she married producer James Heerdegen, whom she met on the series

, broadcast on ABC in 2012 and canceled after its first season.

The couple had her first child in 2014. Seven years after going through the altar, her divorce was announced and Christina Ricci denounced having suffered physical and emotional abuse from her ex-husband.

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In December 2021, the birth of her second daughter was announced, the result of her relationship with her current partner, Mark Hampton, the actress's hair stylist.

Her professional career is also going through a great moment now.

Ricci's participation in

, with a secondary but very relevant role, has reconnected her with her origins.

Of course, she makes it clear that each generation has to enjoy a particular Wednesday Addams: “It is important to realize that this Wednesday is different.

Young people today deserve to have their own version of it,” she reflected in

.

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Last year he also appeared in

, the highly anticipated fourth installment of the Matrix.

And in the campaigns of Marc Jacobs, a firm with which he has collaborated on several occasions in recent times.

By 2023, he will return with the second season of

, whose premiere date in Spain is scheduled for March 24 on Movistar.

Ricci herself assured in an interview that she was "shocked" by reading the first two scripts.

For now, one of the great novelties of this second installment is the signing of actor Elijah Wood.

In addition, on January 31, she premiered the DC and Warner Bros audio series

on Spotify .

The actress's career begins to reach cruising speed again.