Name: Christina Ricci Born: 12 February 1980 (Age: 30) Where: Santa Monica, California, USA Height: 5' 1" Awards: Nominated for 1 Golden Globe All about this star
Gallery Biography: Many, many young actors lay claim to integrity. You won't catch me in a blockbuster, they say, when there's interesting and challenging indie work to be done. Then come the offers of fame and money and so seduced they fall, in their thousands, their pretty faces snapped up one by one. Some stand firm, though, the most notable of recent examples being Christina Ricci. Known from Day One for her quirkiness, she has bloodymindedly ploughed her own, often controversial furrow, purposefully working with outsiders and unknowns to create a CV packed with dark hits and fascinating oddities. Ricci's movies are seldom dull and usually see her step boldly outside her comfort-zone. In doing so she has become the most reliably impressive actress of her generation.
She was born Christina Ricci (pronounced Ree-chee) on the 12th of February, 1980, in Santa Monica, California, the youngest of four children born to Ralph Ricci and Sarah Murdoch. Though possessed of an Italian name, Ralph's male forebears had favoured Irish girls through five generations, giving him a dominant celtic bloodline. Sarah, meanwhile, as her name suggests, was Scots-Irish. Christina had two brothers, Rafael and Dante, nine and six years older respectively, and one sister, Pia, four years her senior. When Christina was three, her family would switch coasts, moving to Montclair, New Jersey.
Situated by the first ridge of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair was on the western edge of the New York conurbation, the famous skyline being visible just twelve miles away. With its historic architecture, art museum, university and arboretum, it was a popular home for big-wigs in the New York media. Strangely, it's twinned with Barnet.
Having already been taught to read by her sister Pia, Christina would attend Edgemont Elementary School, a Montessori school on the edge of Edgemont Memorial Park. The Montessori method, based on self-directed activity on the part of the child and clinical observation from the teachers, would give the girl an early sense of independence. A notion of self-improvement would be instilled in her naturally by her family. Formerly a gym teacher, Ralph would train and set himself up as a therapist, then a lawyer and finally a drug counsellor while Sarah, in her youth a model for the Ford Agency (she sometimes stood in for Twiggy at fittings) would become an estate agent.
What Christina also got from her family, her father in particular, was a clear sense that all was not right. Later described by his daughter as "paranoid", he'd teach the kids to never trust anyone, that no one ever really likes you. By the time Christina was six they were all in family therapy.
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