Every Actress Who Played Wednesday Addams—From Lisa Loring to Jenna Ortega
From the 1960s until now, this child named after the middle of the week has remained a cultural icon
Wednesday Addams might be one of the creepiest and kookiest characters of all time. From her signature all black looks to her unforgettable pig-tail braids, she truly is a cultural icon—and so are the people who have played her! Since The Addams Family first debuted on TV in the 1960s, several A-list actresses have stepped into the role of Wednesday, including Jenna Ortega and Christina Ricci. Below, we look into exactly who has played the iconic character named after the middle of the week, and find out what some of them thought about their time at the Addams Family Mansion. Read on for more.
Lisa Loring in ‘The Addams Family’ and ‘Halloween with the New Addams Family’
Born in 1958, Lisa Loring was the first-ever actress to play Wednesday Addams. The first time she did so was in the 1964 to 1966 sitcom The Addams Family, which also starred Ted Cassidy, John Astin and Carolyn Jones. She then reprised the role in the 1977 TV reunion film Halloween with the New Addams Family, which starred several members of the show’s original cast, and featured Loring as an adult Wednesday Addams.
Loring tragically died in January 2023 at age 64 from a stroke. Wednesday is considered to be her most well-known role.
Cindy Henderson in ‘The New Scooby-Doo Movies’
Back in 1972, Scooby Doo and the rest of Mystery Inc. detectives headed to the Addams Family Mansion to try and find a missing Wednesday, who Cindy Henderson voiced. This plotline only lasted one episode; however, to this day, fans of both Scooby-Doo and The Addams Family still think of it as one of TV’s best-ever crossover episodes.
Henderson died in 2010 at age 56. Details of her death remain murky, though, as she spent most of her adult life out of the spotlight.
Noelle Von Sonn in ‘The Addams Family Fun House’
Sadly, we never got to see Noelle Von Sonn as Wednesday Addams because her 1973 TV movie The Addams Family Fun House was never picked up. Reports claim that it was supposed to follow the Addams Family as they hosted a variety show. Still, since there were never any promotions available to the general public, it’s hard to determine what that means. Aside from her never-seen work as Wednesday, Von Sonn was in one episode of Room 222, but that’s it.
Christina Ricci in ‘The Addams Family’ and ‘Addams Family Values’
When most people think of Wednesday Adams, the name Christina Ricci is most likely to come to mind. The actress portrayed her in both the 1991 film The Addams Family and its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values. She then returned to the Addams family world in the hit Netflix show Wednesday, in which she portrayed Marilyn Thornhill.
“It’s a different character to the one I played,” Ricci told Digital Spy of how much she contributed to the Netflix show in June 2024. “You know, I was playing a child. She’s [Jenna Ortega] not playing a child, really, more of a teenager. I was playing, like, a nine-year-old … I also just feel like ‘What? Just because she’s younger than me, she needs my insight?’ She doesn’t. She doesn’t need anybody’s advice. She’s great, she’s doing so well and she never needed anything from me.”
Aside from her work as Wednesday, Ricci has also been in Casper (1995), Now and Then (1995), Buffalo ‘66 (1998), Grey’s Anatomy (2006), Speed Racer (2008) and Yellowjackets (2021 to 2025). She is 45 years old and has been married to her husband Mark Hampton since 2021.
Debi Derryberry in ‘The Addams Family’
Fresh off the success of Ricci’s The Addams Family, the studios decided to create an animated series of the same name. It ran from 1992 to 1993, with Debi Derryberry voicing the role of Wednesday. The show had a total of two seasons, and following that, Derryberry became quite famous for voicing Jimmy Neutron. She is 64 years old and has over 350 voice acting credits to her name.
Nicole Fugere in ‘Addams Family Reunion’ and ‘The New Addams Family’
The 1990s certainly were a good era for the Addams family, as there were films, an animated show and a made-for-TV movie entitled Addams Family Reunion. It aired in 1998 and starred Nicole Fugere as Wednesday. Following that, a live-action series entitled The New Addams Family aired from 1998 to 1999, comprising a total of 65 episodes. Shortly after it was canceled, though, Fugere left the film industry. She is currently 38 years old.
Chloë Grace Moretz in ‘The Addams Family’ and ‘The Addams Family 2’
A family-friendly cartoon version of The Addams Family, featuring actors like Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, and Snoop Dogg? Count us in! In 2021, the first film, The Addams Family, was released, followed by the sequel in 2022. Chloë Grace Moretz voiced Wednesday in both and shared with Screen Rant that the character “looks different than she’s really ever looked before.”
“She’s always rebellious. She’s trying to push Morticia’s buttons and she knows how to do it and get her mother all riled up–which I think is really indicative of being a teenager across the board,” she continued. “So, that was fun to show, but it’s the opposite of what would normally make your parents mad. It’s for her putting on pink clothing and doing a cheerleading sequence, which is going to make her mother terrified.”
Moretz is 28 years old and recently married her longtime girlfriend, Kate Harrison.
Karina Varadi in ‘Wednesday’
In the hit Netflix show Wednesday, Karina Varadi plays the younger version of the character. She appears in a total of two episodes, and that show is Varadi’s first acting role.
Jenna Ortega in ‘Wednesday’
Ortega brings the role of Wednesday to life in the hit Netflix show, which recently concluded its second season. The show has received critical acclaim and quickly became a cultural phenomenon, which Ortega said was a very overwhelming experience.
“To be quite frank, after the show and trying to figure everything out, I was an unhappy person,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in May of this year. “After the pressure, the attention—as somebody who’s quite introverted, that was so intense and so scary.”
Ortega is 22 years old and has also appeared in Stuck in the Middle (2016-2018), You (2019), Scream VI (2023 and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).
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