Christina Ricci may have made the role famous, but she's not the only
actress to play Wednesday Addams. Here's everyone who donned the long black dress.
You either know Lisa Loring from the 1964 original series of The Addams Family as the
adorable pint-sized version of Wednesday Addams or you know her from a viral YouTube clip of
her dancing as Wednesday. Either way, she's the original — the first girl to portray the iconic
character. Loring, who was cast for the role when she was five, portrayed Wednesday during
the show's two-season run.
"It's me Wednesday."
Loring reprised the role in 1977 for the TV movie Halloween with the New Addams Family. She went on
to establish an acting career primarily on television, including the 1966 show The Girl
from U.N.C.L.E., the 1978 series Fantasy Island, and the soap opera As the World Turns. Her career
slowed in the 1990s, and Loring sought help from a rehab center for drug addiction, reports People.
She explored other careers in interior design and later praised Christina Ricci for her rendition
of Wednesday in the Addams Family movies. Loring's most recent acting credit comes from a role in the
2015 horror-comedy Doctor Spine.
Cindy Henderson's introduction into the world of the Addams Family actually came on an episode of
The New Scooby-Doo Movies. The 1972 show regularly featured special guests and in one episode,
the mystery-solving gang finds themselves at the Addams Family mansion only to find that
Wednesday has been kidnapped. Whereas many of the cast members from the original 1964
series returned to voice their characters for the episode, Henderson stepped in for
Lisa Loring and went on a run as Wednesday for the 1973 animated series The Addams Family.
As it turns out, the Scooby-Doo episode was just a way for the new Addams Family cartoon to test
the waters, and the resulting series was on the air until 1975. That was the last time Henderson
portrayed Wednesday, but she had other things on her resume to boast about. Before the Scooby-doo
role, she made appearances in Bewitched and The Partridge Family. Her last acting credit came in
1978, according to IMDB.
Christina Ricci is arguably the definitive Wednesday Addams. She took a minor character
from a fan-favorite TV series and cartoon and made it into a 1990s icon. With her adorable
deadpan and dangerous wit, it's no surprise that this role alone launched Ricci's career.
"It has to warm up." "Why?"
"So it can kill you." "I knew that."
Ricci was only 11 when she played the part in the 1991's The Addams Family. Ricci reprised
the role of Wednesday two years later in the 1993 sequel, The Addams Family Values.
Ricci went on to star in Casper, Now and Then, and Sleepy Hollow, along with several other films.
After her breakout success in the '90s, Ricci experienced a brief lull in her career — but
she never considered retiring from acting. Thankfully, that decision ultimately paid off.
Recently Christina Ricci's experienced a career resurgence with roles in Grey's Anatomy, the lead
in The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, and a starring role on the Hulu thriller Yellowjackets.
On the heels of the success of the 1991 film The
Addams Family, a new cartoon series was revived to portray the family's escapades. Simply named The
Addams Family, Debi Derryberry came in to voice Wednesday Addams. Although there were some notable
changes, such as more overt humor and jokes from the usually dry characters, the series was a hit
and garnered 3.5 million viewers a week. The series was lucky to have Derryberry,
a voice-acting veteran who has shown an impressive range over a nearly 40-year career. She voiced
Tinkerbell in the Peter Pan and the Pirates TV series, Jackie in Bobby's World, the baby ogres in
Shrek the Third, and has been the long-time voice for Jimmy Neutron. Derryberry will also voice
Jimmy Neutron for the 2024 film, Nicktoons.
There's one Addams Family production that usually gets swept under the rug:
the 1998 film Addams Family Reunion, along with its follow-up TV series. With the original 1991
cast gone — save for Lurch and The Thing — a new actress stepped in for Wednesday Addams,
Nicole Fugere. Overall, Addams Family Reunion had a promising cast with Tim Curry as Gomez
and Darryl Hannah as Morticia, but they failed to overtake Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston,
who both starred in the 1991 film. Unlike several aspects of the movie's resulting product,
Fugere made a good impression as Wednesday and was invited back to play the part for the
follow-up TV series, The New Addams Family. It seems as though Wednesday was the extent of
Fugere's acting career. According to IMDb, she had one other role in the 1996 film Things I
Never Told You. Her last credit came with the final season of The New Addams Family, in 1999.
When MGM revived the Addams family into an
animated feature, The Addams Family, in 2019, no one was more perfect for the voice role than Chloë
Grace Moretz, who admitted to being interested in the darker things in life, according to her
interview with the A.V. Club. Moretz voiced the role again for the film's 2021 sequel, The Addams
Family 2, in which Wednesday takes center stage. Moretz received positive reviews for being able
to carry the weight of the film, which relied a lot on her wit, notes The New York Times.
Moretz has had an enviable career before and since taking up Wednesday Addams. She started
acting on a sitcom when she was 8 years old, and after years of taking up minor roles, she busted
out her action chops in 2010's Kick-Ass. She then nabbed roles in Hugo, Clouds of Sils Maria,
and The Equalizer, rounding out an impressive drama portfolio. Now, she's headed into the world
of dystopian sci-fi with Amazon's The Peripheral.
With a new generation comes a new Wednesday Addams, and Jenna Ortega is taking up the
reins. She portrays an older, teenage Wednesday Addams who solves mysteries at her school,
Nevermore Academy, for Tim Burton's Netflix adaptation, Wednesday. Unlike the other
installments in the Addams family canon, the series is focused squarely on the Addams daughter,
hence the title. Ortega acknowledged that this version of Wednesday is quite different from
previous ones since the character can't rely on her childhood cuteness to soften the blow
of her insults and overall darkness.
"I know I'm stubborn, single-minded and
obsessive. But those are all traits of great writers… and serial killers."
In her young, yet extensive career, Ortega has starred in various notable films as a
child actor like Iron Man 3 and the TV series Jane the Virgin. Her career ramped up as the
lead in Disney Channel's Stuck in the Middle, leading to exciting roles in the films Scream
and The Fallout. She will reprise her role as Tara Carpenter for the upcoming Scream 6.