The Addams Family cast: then and now

Possibly the coolest kid character to come out of the entire '90s decade, Wednesday Addams was given her signature eerie deadpan by then 11-year-old actress Christina Ricci.

While many child stars don't grow up to have successful careers in the entertainment industry, Ricci was certainly an exception. In her 26-year career, she's played iconic roles in Now and Then, Casper, Monster and Sleepy Hollow. She's stayed pretty busy recently, and is set to star in Showtime drama Yellowjackets, which is about a team of talented high school soccer players who survive a plane crash. It's been described as a coming of age story/horror.

While he wasn't much of a talker, Dutch actor Struycken delivered a super memorable performance as the quiet giant Lurch. The role was originally played by Ted Cassidy, at six-foot-nine-inches tall, in the '60s series, but Struycken is even taller than Cassidy, at seven feet tall.

In addition to his role in The Addams Family, Struycken has played several well-known characters, including The Giant in Twin Peaks, Fidel in The Witches of Eastwick and Mr. Homn in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Puerto Rican actor Raúl Juliá played the charismatic and passionate Addams family patriarch, Gomez Addams.

Juliá passed away at just 54 years old after suffering a stroke in 1994, but despite his all-too-short career, he made a huge mark on the film industry. Juliá's incredible performances earned him nominations for Golden Globes, MTV Movie Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and his success helped pave the way for future Puerto Rican and other Latin American actors.

Comedic mastermind Christopher Lloyd delivered a hilarious performance as Gordon Craven, a.k.a. Uncle Fester, Gomez's long-lost brother.

Okay, chances are that you know this funny guy from a certain other film. While Back to the Future and its sequels are arguably Lloyd's best-known films, his career — which spans nearly 50 years! — has also included award-winning roles in Taxi, Road to Avonlea and Twenty Bucks. And Lloyd is showing no signs of stopping any time soon. He's appeared in TV shows and films, and has five projects in post-production as of 2020.

Pugsley was portrayed by then child actor Jimmy Workman, who was cast as Gomez and Morticia's son when his older sister, actress Shanelle Workman, originally auditioned for the role of Wednesday. (She of course didn't get the part, but we have an update on her too! Keep reading.)

Since his days as a child star, Workman has retired and stayed out of the spotlight, though his family is still in showbiz. Workman's older sister is actress and executive producer Shanelle Gray, who has appeared on Grey's Anatomy and in several movies, and his younger sister is actress Ariel Winter, best-known for playing Alex Dunphy on ABC's wildly popular Modern Family.

The Addams' resident witchy grandmother, a.k.a. Grandmama, was portrayed by German-American actress Judith Malina.

Sadly, Malina passed away in 2015 at the age of 88. She is remembered for her devotion to theatre, having co-founded the legendary Living Theatre troupe in 1947 with her husband Julian Beck, and was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2003.

The film's antagonist, crooked and indebted lawyer Tully Alford, was marvelously played by Dan Hedaya.

More than 25 years later, Hedaya has been hard at work. In the last two and a half decades, Hedaya has appeared in Clueless, A Night at the Roxbury, Mulholland Drive, and numerous other big-name films. He starred in Blue Bloods from 2015-2019 and his most recent big box office gig was his role in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, starring Eddie Redmayne.

Iconic character actress Elizabeth Wilson played the cunning Abigail Craven, who schemed alongside Tully to trick Gomez out of his money.

Wilson is another cast member who has passed away since The Addams Family. Her legacy in the industry lives on, however, having won Tony Awards in 1972 and 1980 and having been inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame for her seven-decade career.

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