The 15 Best Christina Ricci Roles

Christina Ricci has built a wide-ranging career across studio hits, independent films, and television, moving from standout child roles to complex adult characters. Her filmography spans gothic comedies, period dramas, true-crime stories, and contemporary thrillers, with collaborations alongside directors like Barry Sonnenfeld, Tim Burton, Ang Lee, and Patty Jenkins.

This list highlights 15 notable roles across movies and series, with each entry identifying the project, release year, and character name. The summaries include core story details, creative teams, and relevant production context so you can quickly place where each role fits within Ricci’s broader body of work.

‘The Addams Family’ (1991) – Wednesday Addams

Barry Sonnenfeld’s adaptation of Charles Addams’s creations centers on the eccentric Addams clan and a scheme involving a man who resembles Uncle Fester. Christina Ricci plays Wednesday Addams, the daughter of Gomez and Morticia, appearing alongside Anjelica Huston, Raúl Juliá, and Christopher Lloyd, with the story following a plot to swindle the family’s fortune.

The production blends macabre humor with elaborate set design and costuming, using practical effects and stylized cinematography to capture the family’s world. Ricci’s character is written with deadpan dialogue and morbid hobbies, and the screenplay positions Wednesday as a catalyst in uncovering the deception targeting the household.

‘Addams Family Values’ (1993) – Wednesday Addams

In the sequel directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the Addamses hire a nanny, Debbie Jellinsky, whose ulterior motive targets Uncle Fester. Christina Ricci returns as Wednesday Addams, with the plot sending Wednesday and Pugsley to Camp Chippewa, where scenes contrast the siblings’ dark sensibilities with the camp’s forced cheer.

The film expands the family’s dynamics, introducing baby Pubert and intercutting the camp storyline with Debbie’s scheme. Ricci’s character participates in a school-pageant sequence that intersects with the main plot’s climax, tying the threads back to the Addams home for the resolution.

‘Casper’ (1995) – Kat Harvey

Brad Silberling’s live-action take on the Harvey Comics character follows a paranormal therapist and his daughter, Kat Harvey, who move into Whipstaff Manor to deal with a resident ghost. Christina Ricci’s Kat interacts with Casper and his uncles, while the narrative explores the ghost’s past and the mansion’s secret inventions.

Industrial Light & Magic delivered extensive visual effects work to integrate digital characters with live actors on set. The screenplay incorporates themes of grief and memory through Kat’s family backstory, using the manor’s hidden laboratory and a resurrection device as key plot mechanisms.

‘The Ice Storm’ (1997) – Wendy Hood

Ang Lee’s suburban drama adapts Rick Moody’s novel, focusing on two Connecticut families over Thanksgiving during a severe winter storm. Christina Ricci plays Wendy Hood, whose scenes intersect with the era’s social shifts, including changing attitudes toward family roles and adolescent boundaries.

The film situates Wendy within parallel storylines involving the Carver family, aligning her arc with the ensemble’s intersecting decisions during the storm. Production design, wardrobe, and music reference early-1970s details, while the screenplay places Wendy in sequences that connect family tensions to the event that anchors the film’s final act.

‘The Opposite of Sex’ (1998) – Dede Truitt

Written and directed by Don Roos, the dark comedy follows Dede Truitt, a teenager who arrives at her half-brother’s home and sets off a chain of interpersonal crises. Christina Ricci’s Dede navigates the story’s voiceover-driven structure, which frames the plot through her character’s account of relationships, theft, and a cross-country escape.

The production uses a tight ensemble with shared locations to advance twists that involve custody conflicts and legal complications. The script positions Dede at the center of multiple betrayals, and Ricci’s scenes interlock with Martin Donovan, Lisa Kudrow, and Lyle Lovett to move the narrative toward its courtroom and epilogue beats.

‘Buffalo ’66’ (1998) – Layla

Vincent Gallo’s film follows Billy Brown after his release from prison, where he coerces a young tap dancer, Layla, into posing as his wife during a visit to his parents. Christina Ricci plays Layla, whose interactions with Billy reveal how the false-marriage premise drives the family-dinner sequences and the later confrontation with a former football player.

Shot in and around Buffalo, the production employs off-beat framing, 16mm blowups, and period-leaning soundtrack choices to support the story’s tone. Ricci’s character participates in bowling-alley and motel scenes that connect the staged relationship to Billy’s plan for retribution, pushing the plot toward the nightclub and photo-booth resolutions.

‘Pecker’ (1998) – Shelley

John Waters’s comedy follows a Baltimore teen nicknamed Pecker who becomes an overnight art-world discovery after a New York show. Christina Ricci plays Shelley, a laundromat worker and Pecker’s girlfriend, who appears in sequences that map local neighborhood routines onto the sudden demands of galleries, openings, and media attention.

The film uses Waters’s recurring Baltimore settings and a supporting cast that includes Mary Kay Place and Martha Plimpton. Shelley factors into conflicts about privacy and consent when candid photographs of friends and family circulate, and her scenes help bridge Baltimore’s tight-knit community with the Manhattan art scene that fuels the plot’s turning points.

‘Sleepy Hollow’ (1999) – Katrina Van Tassel

Tim Burton’s supernatural mystery adapts Washington Irving’s tale, sending Ichabod Crane to investigate a series of decapitations in a rural village. Christina Ricci portrays Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of a prominent local family, sharing major scenes with Johnny Depp’s Crane as the investigation uncovers conspiracies within the community.

Production design by Rick Heinrichs and cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki emphasize fog-laden landscapes and period interiors. Katrina’s family ties position her within the inheritance and property disputes that drive the murders, and the character’s backstory and symbols used in her scenes link to the film’s witchcraft elements and final reveal.

‘Prozac Nation’ (2001) – Elizabeth Wurtzel

Based on Elizabeth Wurtzel’s memoir, the drama follows a Harvard student struggling with depression, relationships, and academic pressure. Christina Ricci plays Wurtzel, moving through dorm, classroom, and therapy settings that track medication changes, writing deadlines, and family communication.

The production adapts episodic chapters into a linear timeline, intercutting editorial offices and performance venues related to the character’s ambitions. Supporting roles for Jessica Lange and Jason Biggs provide family and peer perspectives that frame counseling sessions and the publication milestones that close the narrative.

‘Monster’ (2003) – Selby Wall

Patti Jenkins’s crime drama chronicles Aileen Wuornos’s life leading up to her arrest, with Christina Ricci as Selby Wall, a character inspired by Wuornos’s real-life companion. The film presents their meeting, motel stays, and correspondence as anchors for the timeline, while Charlize Theron’s portrayal of Wuornos tracks the crimes investigated in Florida.

Location shooting in central Florida complements the script’s focus on bars, highways, and motels that define the couple’s movements. Selby’s letters and phone calls form a record used by investigators within the story, and courtroom scenes and plea discussions mark the transition to the case’s legal outcomes.

‘Black Snake Moan’ (2006) – Rae

Craig Brewer’s Southern drama follows Rae, a young woman coping with trauma, and Lazarus, a former bluesman who intervenes in her life. Christina Ricci’s Rae appears in hospital, farmhouse, and town-square scenes that chart medical, psychological, and community responses as the characters negotiate boundaries and recovery.

Music is integrated through rehearsal and performance sequences tied to Lazarus’s past, and the script uses local church gatherings and neighborhood gossip to show shifting community perceptions. Rae’s relationship with an Army boyfriend provides a parallel track involving deployment schedules and return plans that intersect with the main storyline.

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (2005) – Hannah Davies

In the two-part event episodes created by Shonda Rhimes, Christina Ricci guest-stars as Hannah Davies, a paramedic who becomes central to a case involving an explosive device embedded in a patient. The story unfolds at Seattle Grace Hospital, where surgical and bomb-squad teams coordinate procedures under strict safety protocols.

Hannah’s scenes cover transport, operating-room positioning, and chain-of-custody steps for the device, while cross-cutting shows hospital lockdown procedures and triage. The episodes integrate series-regular arcs with the incident’s timeline, concluding with debriefs that reference how the staff managed risk and post-event counseling.

‘Penelope’ (2006) – Penelope Wilhern

Mark Palansky’s modern fairy tale centers on Penelope Wilhern, an heiress born under a family curse that gives her a porcine facial feature. Christina Ricci plays Penelope, whose parents stage a series of introductions with suitors while reporters and a gambler plot to expose the secret for profit.

The narrative uses disguises, staged photographs, and tabloid coverage to move from seclusion to public identity. Supporting roles for James McAvoy and Catherine O’Hara connect Penelope’s personal choices to legal and media consequences involving impersonation and breach of privacy, which the third act resolves through a public reveal.

‘Pan Am’ (2011–2012) – Maggie Ryan

The ABC period series follows international flight crews for a major airline during the early 1960s. Christina Ricci plays Maggie Ryan, a flight attendant whose routes take her across European and transatlantic destinations, intersecting with storylines about Cold War intelligence, workplace rules, and evolving social norms.

Production details include recreated aircraft cabins, era-specific uniforms, and location shoots that stand in for global cities. Maggie’s arc involves union discussions, housing arrangements in New York, and regulations on appearance and conduct, with episodes linking layovers to subplots involving diplomacy and surveillance.

‘Yellowjackets’ (2021– ) – Misty Quigley

Showtime’s survival mystery follows members of a high-school soccer team after an aviation disaster and tracks the group in two timelines. Christina Ricci portrays adult Misty Quigley, whose present-day scenes connect to her past as the team’s equipment manager, tying her actions to unanswered questions from the wilderness period.

The series alternates between investigation threads, media scrutiny, and interpersonal fallout among the survivors. Misty’s storyline covers employment in healthcare settings, communications with other survivors, and interactions that reveal parallel agendas, with the show’s structure using journals, news reports, and evidence trails to move between eras.

‘Wednesday’ (2022– ) – Marilyn Thornhill

Set at Nevermore Academy, the series follows Wednesday Addams during her enrollment at a school for outcasts. Christina Ricci appears as Marilyn Thornhill, a teacher whose connections to the academy’s history and local community become relevant as a string of incidents draws outside law enforcement and town residents into the plot.

The production mixes on-campus classes, secret societies, and local archives to frame Wednesday’s investigations. Thornhill’s scenes intersect with school-policy disputes, botanical labs, and town-and-gown tensions, with key episodes linking her character to past events documented in diaries, portraits, and institutional records.

Share your favorite Christina Ricci role in the comments and tell us which performance you think deserves more attention!