Film Industry ‘Rescued’ Me From an ‘Unsafe’ Childhood

The year was 1990; the film, “Mermaids.” From the very first time a 9-year-old Christina Ricci graced the big screen, she proved to moviegoers that she had “it.” You know, that magic that someone that young age can only be born with. Now, 35 years later, on March 6, she is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, cementing herself — literally — in the history of the entertainment industry.

“This is profoundly meaningful to me,” Ricci says. “I was really moved by it, actually. I’m not sentimental and I don’t care about accolades, but to be acknowledged in this way is really profound.”

It’s amazing when one realizes that Ricci has spent three-quarters of her life acting professionally, growing up onscreen and consistently playing interesting characters. Even at that young age, she sort of seemed older — a confident old soul in a tiny body that instinctually knew she was doing exactly what she was meant to do.

“I remember everything about that time,” Ricci says. “The one thing that I think has made me a successful actress is that from the time I was very young, I always felt completely comfortable in front of a camera; not a still camera,” she adds with a laugh. “But in front of a film camera. I’ve always felt really at ease and safe in a way that I don’t feel in life. It makes me able to take risks to do things that are not planned, to be spontaneous. I did that from the moment I started, and I don’t know why. Now as an adult, realizing how valuable and what a gift that is, I do my best to protect that all the time.”

As a young actor in films like “Mermaids,” “The Addams Family,” “Casper,” “Now and Then” and “Bastard Out of Carolina,” to her transition into more adult-themed roles in “The Ice Storm,” “Buffalo ’66,” “The Opposite of Sex,” “200 Cigarettes,” “Sleepy Hollow” and “Prozac Nation” (and many notable others), to roles as real-life infamous women Zelda Fitzgerald and Lizzie Borden, to her most recent turn as sadistic healthcare worker Misty in “Yellowjackets,” Ricci has carved her way into a career that most can only dream of.

Ricci sat down with Variety to reflect on her long and distinguished career and discussed how she not only survived the pitfalls that have damaged many young actors, but thrived and grew.

Did you always know you wanted to act? When did the acting bug bite you?

What had bitten me was that I finally found something that I knew I was good at, and I knew I understood in a way that the other children around me did not. I remember when somebody came in from the local newspaper when I was in second grade to photograph kids for flag day. All the kids were smiling and cheesing it up, and I knew to just pretend I was doing my schoolwork and to pose as though I didn’t see the camera. I don’t know how I knew to do that, but I just did. And so I ended up on the front page of the paper.

When you were 8, there was a school play that you wanted to be in, but another kid was cast. You taunted him so much that he punched you. He lost the role, and you got it.

When they started rehearsing for that play, we were supposed to look at the lines, I knew exactly how to do it, and I just knew that the other kids didn’t get this, but I knew what they wanted — something real and casual. I remember thinking, “This is my thing. I found this thing that I do well just by instinct. And that’s an incredible gift.”

There are so many horror stories about the life of a child actor and growing up within that system. What was your experience like as a child star?

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. 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.

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.

As you have grown as an actor, you seem to have chosen your roles very carefully. They’re all very distinct characters.

I probably didn’t do very well in auditions for things I didn’t want because I just have that problem. But also, for me, when I read a script, if I do not understand the character, there’s just no point in me doing it. As an artist, I feel like you need to connect with something on a really deep, instinctive level to be able to do it. I also have no patience for any of the surface stuff. Just as a human being and as an artist, it’s like you give so much of yourself and you use so much of your own emotions and your vulnerabilities that there’s just no point in doing it unless you connect.

What would you like to play that you haven’t and also, what would you never want to play?

I’ve always said that I wanna play a mute [laughs]. If you don’t have to talk on camera, that’s my favorite thing. … I don’t really ever wanna play a mother on camera. I guess maybe the way I feel about motherhood is to me so personal and precious, and I don’t ever wanna exploit it, if that sounds right. I think it’s easier to use emotions that you’re having way after the fact, and right now being a mom and being in it and having so many feelings about it, I feel like it would be too much to actually do anything. You know, like I’ve read scripts about moms and sick kids. For me, it’s just like too raw.

Let’s fast forward 15 years looking back at your career. What can you say about the evolution of Christina Ricci as an artist and as a woman?

I’ve been doing this my whole life. I’ve gone through all of these personal changes and personal growth while I have been continuing with my career. There were certainly times, especially when I was younger, that I just was so disenfranchised with everything and also with being an actress. I will say that I do watch some films from that time in my life and I’m not really very good because I was not trying very hard. And as I got older, I really started to understand the value in acting for me, that I could put so much into it that would actually help me as a human being.

I remember the first time I realized what acting really was, besides all these sort of instinctive things I understood about being on camera and delivering lines and consistency of takes and eye lines, hitting marks. All that stuff, I’ve always had down. I always viewed it as more a mechanical thing because also I had been a child actress, and no one ever talks to child actors about emotion or using emotion.

But I went to this audition for “Dolores Claiborne” when I was 13. I was reading with Kathy Bates in front of [director] Taylor Hackford. This scene was when she’s on the boat telling her mother what her father’s been doing to her. In the middle of the scene, I was completely overtaken by my emotion. Like I felt the writing trigger all of the feelings inside of me. And I just lost complete control. I connected to it in such a deep way that I couldn’t stop crying and shaking afterwards. And Kathy Bates held me and said, “Yeah, baby. That’s acting.” It changed everything for me about how I viewed what I could do and this thing that could happen to me in a moment. And just that I would then be able to genuinely give voice to the writing because you feel it in such an uncontrollable way. And that’s how it feels for me.

When I get through really emotional scenes that I actually connect to them and I actually feel all the things that I’m saying and doing, it’s exhausting. But it’s that same feeling of relief after you just have a good cry. And even if it’s a rageful scene, it’s same thing. It’s like exercising emotion and having a place to put your emotion that not so many people are lucky enough to have. The fact that I get to use my work as a way to work through my trauma and my emotional problems is a gift.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.