Really, Christina Ricci is just acting weird

Christina Ricci is not a weirdo.

True, she's played the girlfriend of a female serial killer, a morbid child, a sex addict, a teenage seductress and a girl who talks to a ghost.

And yes, in her latest film, the modern fairy tale "Penelope," which comes out Friday, she plays a young woman born with the snout of a pig.

But, you know, she's just acting.

"I think if you look at all these roles, they're all extreme situations, but they're all human stories," she says on the phone from Los Angeles

"I find that as an actor the more interesting characters to play are usually the ones who are in some sort of pain or turmoil," she says. "Because, you know, when people are happy, they don't generally do much."

Besides, what is normal?

"I don't know what normal is. I think anyone suffering from the same human condition as the rest of us falls into the normal category," she says.

"I have played characters in extreme situations, but I've also played people who have gone through things I have gone through, or people I know have gone through. So I would never consider them abnormal," Ricci says.

Still, Ricci has hardly led your everyday life. A recognizable Hollywood face since she was perfectly cast at age 10 as Wednesday Addams in "The Addams Family," Ricci has grown up in show business.

Yet, she says she's doesn't feel cut off from the real world or intimidated by attention.

"Because people sort of recognize me and have known me for a long, long time, I've had a chance to really sort of get used to it and sort of absorb it into my everyday life," she says. "(Fame) doesn't make me feel like an outsider or someone who doesn't belong in any kind of regular, normal situation, like grocery shopping or a book club.

"I kind of have learned to view people being familiar with me in a very sort of pleasant, warm way," Ricci says.

In fact, despite the abundance of dark roles on her résumé, Ricci exudes optimism.

"My friends kind of joke that in my world everybody is just really friendly; we just live in a neighborhood where everybody knows my name, and doesn't everybody know your name?" she says. "It's this kind of make-believe Mr. Rogers world. But it's what makes everything livable and fun for me."

Ricci has made more than 35 films since her debut at age 9 alongside Cher in 1990's "Mermaids." She's never had any formal training, but she has worked alongside the likes of Johnny Depp (1999's "Sleepy Hollow"), Sigourney Weaver (1997's "The Ice Storm"), Charlize Theron (2003's "Monster"), Samuel L. Jackson (2006's "Black Snake Moan") and many others.

The work became her education.

"I think I've learned a lot from every situation I've been in and watching every different actor I've worked with," she says. "I've picked up tricks from everyone I've been around."

And she's learned obstacles can be opportunities.

"Every situation you're in where there's something difficult or an impediment, I sort of learned to say, 'OK, this is me learning how to deal with this irritating element,' " she says. "I've sort of followed the belief that if you're talented, you're talented in any situation, and every bad situation is a chance to learn how to shine."

She's also learned how to play with and against her tiny frame and youthful looks.

"I do look very childlike, and I think in many situations it's actually beneficial," she says. "In 'Black Snake Moan,' it was a chance to show that this girl who's viewed as a slut or sex addict is really not an adult at all. She's still very much the abused child that she was when she was 9. And she never grew up. So in that way, having her visually look young is incredibly helpful."

Ricci has worked steadily in film her entire career, but she's also happy when she has a break between films and can do some television work. Over the years, she's popped up on "Grey's Anatomy," "Ally McBeal," "The Simpsons" and "Malcolm in the Middle." "That's something I actually have to go and seek out because it doesn't occur to people that someone who usually does movies, that they'll want to do TV," Ricci says.

"But for me, this is what I do. I'm an actress, and all sorts of versions of acting are interesting and fun," she says.

"My goal is really to be doing this for a very, very, very long time," she says.