LONG BEACH, Calif. — Christina Ricci has had an interesting year. She has been on the big screen as a well-known animated character in a big-budget movie. Then there was her turn as a pig-nosed girl in a small fairy-tale feature. Talk about extremes.

The big-budget movie was "Speed Racer," in which she played Trixie. The other film, "Penelope," was made in 2006 but wasn't released until this year. If you missed it, "Penelope" hit DVD this week.

Ricci says she has no set formula when it comes to choosing her next role.

"It is different with every movie," she said in April during an interview promoting "Speed Racer." "I am constantly looking for something new and different."

Sometimes Ricci picks a script because she wants to work with a certain actor or director. That was the case with "Speed Racer" directors Andy and Larry Wachowski. At other times, it has been whether she thinks the project will be fun. That was the case with "Penelope."

In that movie, Ricci plays a young woman who has spent her life in hiding. She was born with a pig snout, the result of a curse put on the family. Her family is pushing to find her a suitor, but the efforts end up in screams and shouts once the young men see Penelope's face.

The movie goes on to show that what really counts is what is inside a person.

No matter the process, Ricci, 28, has accumulated many TV and film credits. The work ranges from the television series "Ally McBeal" to the emotionally dark film "Black Snake Moan."

Ricci was only 10 years old when she started acting. That was in the 1990 film "Mermaids." By the time she became a teen, Ricci had appeared in several feature films, including two "Addams Family" movies.

She had the kind of early success that could have made her a favorite of the tabloids. She wasn't, though she says she could have been.

"I went through the same growing pains and partying in my late teens and early 20s. But there wasn't the same level of scrutiny and paparazzi that there is now," Ricci says. "I got to go through all of that without people taking pictures of me and judging me.

"I think had there been the same amount of media attention, I would have been in the same amount of trouble as everybody else is in these days."

ALSO ON DVD