I think I've had a fairly meandering career. Because I did start so young, I think that I've always chosen my parts based on what's interesting to me and what I think would be challenging or fun, or someone I've always wanted to work with or a place I've always wanted to work in or a topic.

Christina Ricci

Any obsession is dangerous.

Christina Ricci

actresses obsessed obsession

To Craig's [ Brewer] credit, I felt totally safe on the set [of Black Snake Moan] . And because I felt safe, Sam[L.Jackson] had to protect me. He got upset at all the physical stuff Craig wanted me to do. When I start doing stuff like that, all the screaming and running, I kinda go out of my head. I'm not necessarily in my own body anymore.

Christina Ricci

upset snakes running

We might all be so afraid to be who we are, but in the end, it's really you're individual, unique qualities that make you attractive to people.

Christina Ricci

quality unique people

People feel like they have to live up to being perfect or have a perfect life or be perfectly happy, and it just makes them more unhappy.

Christina Ricci

unhappy perfect people

Remember who you are. It's really okay to be who you are.

Christina Ricci

remember-who-you-are be-who-you-are okay

I was a big sci-fi fantasy geek when I was younger... secretly, in my room.

Christina Ricci

geek fantasy rooms

I just want to be married, or just engaged. Basically, I just want a ring. And the tax break.

Christina Ricci

married break want

I mean, I don't like anyone who likes themselves too much.

Christina Ricci

likes too-much mean

It's so normal for a teenager to dress in black -- and be real unhappy and stay in your room and say sarcastic things. How could something so normal be considered morbid?

Christina Ricci

teenager sarcastic real

I hate the things they preach. They found a gimmick that sells. The fact that they're making money off all these teenage kids who actually believe in their message is disgusting.

Christina Ricci

teenage hate believe

I went through an awkward adolescence and had braces.

Christina Ricci

braces adolescence awkward

I'm not perfect-looking and I don't say the right things, I'm a little different, nothing really special, but I guess I come across as a little more real to people and that comes through on the screen. I know I look young, but with the right make-up I can look older. I definitely feel older.

Christina Ricci

real perfect people

I’m not going to let my insecurities keep me from having a good time. I think that if you don’t loose your self-consciousness, you can’t really be present in a situation. For example, if you’re at The Louvre, but you’re thinking about how much you hate your jeans, you’re not really at The Louvre. So in your memory, when you look back, you’re always going to be like, “I was wearing those jeans I hated”. And you’re not going to remember anything else.

Christina Ricci

hate memories thinking

I like the way my own feet smell. I love to smell my sneakers when I take them off.

Christina Ricci

sneakers smell feet

The whole growing-up process seems to have eluded me

Christina Ricci

growing-up whole process

We all have insecurities, and the thing that makes them crippling is that we all have the ability to blow them up into such huge issues in our minds, that we might as well have a facial deformity. It keeps us from really going out there and living our lives, and forgetting about hating yourself and just experiencing the world around you.

Christina Ricci

issues hate blow

I don't come from money.

Christina Ricci

I've been to therapists my whole life. I find the less attention I pay to food, the healthier I am. Any obsession is dangerous. And a whole country that's obsessed with one thing, unless it's, like, jeans, it's very dangerous. Everyone's obsessed right now with carbohydrates in this country. It's ridiculous.

Christina Ricci

jeans attention country

I think everybody who really wants to change things has to allow themselves to be angry in a constructive way, and you have to fully understand the thing you're trying to change. We really need to get serious about this now; there needs to be real, effective programs. I think there needs to be a little bit more strategy involved and a little more realism, to be pragmatic and realistic, looking at the way we as women contribute to the problem. Once the second half of the population stops doing it, it's going to end.

Christina Ricci

real trying thinking

Working in television it's really great to be able to stick with a character for a long period of time. It's not like you have one shot, and that's it. You have more time, more room, an ability to reflect on your performance and the character and how much has really been shown, and what you'd like to see. It's nice. You have more breathing room.

Christina Ricci

breathing nice character