Christina Ricci has a decades-long history of taking on roles that are outside the norm due to her interest in human behavior.
Most recently, Ricci starred in “Yellowjackets,” which is a psychological thriller series that follows a high school girls’ soccer team that gets stranded in the Canadian woods, turning to cannibalism and other extremes to survive.
Ricci’s character, the quirky and arguably psychopathic Misty Quigley, is exactly the type of role the actress likes to take on.
“I guess I’m not very normal as a human being. I’ve never been able to be the girl next door or any of those things.
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“I think it is more comfortable for me to play people who are more complicated or deviate a little bit from the norm. I also find human behavior really fascinating, and I find that happy people don’t really do anything that’s very interesting,” she told news.com.au in February.
“Yellowjackets” jumps from 1996 to the present day. Ricci stars as adult Misty Quigley and Sammi Hanratty plays the teenage version of her character.
The series also stars Melanie Lynskey, Sophie Thatcher, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Ella Purnell, Juliette Lewis, Elijah Wood and Hilary Swank.
This is not the first time that Ricci has starred in edgy roles. Ricci was a prominent child star in the ’90s.
She made her big debut in Cher’s “Mermaids” at just 9 years old in 1990.
Ricci joined Cher and Winona Ryder to sing the movie’s iconic ending song, “The Shoop Shoop Song.”
The following year, Ricci starred as Wednesday Addams in the iconic “The Addams Family” and the sequel movies.
She also starred in Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” with Johnny Depp and took on the role of Wendy in “Casper.”
In March, Ricci sat down with Variety to discuss her experience of being a child actor.
“I was really lucky in that I never had any heinous things happen to me, and nobody ever tried to take advantage of me sexually. I was exposed to a few jerks, but for the most part, I was aware enough to understand that those people were being jerks and it had nothing to do with me. There’s all the little things when you’re young that I think are difficult children.
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“For instance, when you work on a film, you are never as important as the product that’s being made. So as an adult, we choose to put our needs to the side. But as a child, to learn that you always come second and your needs and emotions and your physical well-being come second, I think that is a difficult thing for a child. As a child, you’re still developing your ego and sense of self. And so sometimes that ‘coming second’ thing becomes too much a part of who the child is. I think that can be really dangerous and make you vulnerable to being taken advantage of and manipulated as you get older,” she told the outlet.
Ricci continued, “I had all those, but like, I hated fittings and I hated camera-test days because I knew those were the days when everyone would look at me and talk about what was wrong with me, with my appearance and what they needed to fix. ‘We can’t ever shoot her from this side.’ Those kinds of things growing up I did not enjoy. I remember just dreading those days. But I didn’t have anything horrible happen to me really. The little kind of developmental things and problems I was taught that weren’t healthy for me, I have been able to sort of work through and get through. The film industry, it sort of rescued me from a childhood that was not very nice and a family that was not very safe. So to be able to escape and do this thing where I was totally safe when I was getting validation from adults, and it was based on a skill that I had that was special, I think really, really saved me.”
During a recent appearance on Conan O’Brien’s “Needs A Friend” podcast, Ricci and the host reminisced on the ’90s and once living in the same star-studded New York City apartment building.
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“I remembered seeing you, super cool,” O’Brien said, which Ricci quickly shot down. “I was not [cool]. I was a total wreck. I was in my Garbage Pail Kid style moment,” she said.
In 1985, the Garbage Pail Kids series of sticker trading cards was released, and they were gruesome parodies of the original Cabbage Patch Kids.
“Yeah, I had decided if I was going to be that ugly anyways that I was going to dress as hideously as possible, so I wore a lot of like conflicting colors and really big pants and men’s underwear, and it was just my whole style: Garbage Pail Kids,” Ricci said.
O’Brien didn’t understand Ricci’s view of herself and said, “Well, I don’t know why you had that self-image.”
“I was a teenager,” Ricci simply replied.
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During the podcast appearance, Ricci and O’Brien touched on the actress’ recent induction into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. During her ceremony, some of Ricci’s “Yellowjackets” co-stars, like Lynskey, Thatcher and Tawny Cypress, came out to support her.
“I know I’m here and my career has thrived as it has only because of the belief others had in me, and the work and support they were willing to offer me,” Ricci said during the ceremony, according to Entertainment Weekly.
She continued, “I’m only here, and will forever now be here at Hollywood [Blvd.] and Argyle [Ave]. I’m going to haunt my star when I die, so I’ll just always be here. I’m only here because of the incredible people in my life who have traveled this road with me. I’m so grateful, and so honored, and so incredibly moved.”
The season three finale of Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” airs on April 11.
