Jena Malone

Jena Malone (born November 21, 1984) is an American actress, primarily in independent films. She is also a musician. She made her screen debut with the movie Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), and has appeared in films including Stepmom (1998), Donnie Darko (2001), Saved! (2004), and Into the Wild (2007).

Biography

Early life

Malone was born in Sparks, Nevada, and lived in 27 different locations by the age of nine, including Lake Tahoe, California. Malone was raised by her mother, Deborah, and her mother's girlfriend, whom she calls "Godmom". She began taking an interest in acting after watching her mother, who was involved in community theatre. She briefly moved to Las Vegas, hated it, and persuaded her mother to move on to Los Angeles.

Career

Malone made the jump to professional acting with the 1996 film Bastard Out of Carolina. She was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries for this role. From there, her roles have grown to include several Hollywood features. In 1997, she was nominated for a Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Mini-Series or TV Movie, for her role in Hope. After several years of home schooling, she briefly attended the Professional Children's School in New York, but did not last long. In January 2000, Malone won legal emancipation from her mother, to bar maternal interference with her career and earnings; Malone has said that her mother "mismanaged" some of her earnings.

Malone co-produced the 2002 film American Girl, a drama in which she also acted. She was due to feature in the film Vinyl, but had to withdraw due to filming conflicts, and was replaced by Michelle Trachtenberg. She had her first starring role in the 2004 film Saved!. In 2006, she made her professional stage debut in the Broadway production of the Tony Award winning play Doubt.

In 2007, it was announced that she was releasing her first single on Social Registry, a New York City experimental music label. A number of tracks were posted to her MySpace page, and the first single, a 7" vinyl record featuring two tracks, is scheduled for release in 2007. Pitchfork Media has described her music as "pretty out-there-- bedroom electronics, spaced-out keyboards, and Malone's spare vocals.

Malone appeared in the horror film The Ruins, which was released on April 4, 2008 and co-starred Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, and Jonathan Tucker.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Bastard Out of Carolina	Ruth Anne 'Bone' Boatwright
	Hidden in America	Willa	(TV-Movie)
1997	Contact	Young Ellie
	Ellen Foster	Ellen Foster	(TV-Movie)
	Hope	Lilly Kate Burns	(TV-Movie, Golden Globe Nomination)
1998	Stepmom	Anna Harrison
1999	For Love of the Game	Heather Aubrey
	The Book of Stars	Mary McGuire
2000	Cheaters	Jolie Fitch	(TV Movie)
2001	The Ballad of Lucy Whipple	California Morning 'Lucy' Whipple	(TV-Movie)
	Donnie Darko	Gretchen Ross
	Life as a House	Alyssa Beck
2002	The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys	Margie Flynn
	Hitler: The Rise of Evil	Geli Raubal
	The Badge	Ashley Hardwick
	American Girl	Rena Grubb	(also co-producer)
2003	The United States of Leland	Becky Pollard
	Cold Mountain	Ferry Girl
2004	Corn	Emily Rasmussen	(also Associate Producer)
	Saved!	Mary
	Howl's Moving Castle	Lettie	(voice)
2005	The Ballad of Jack and Rose	Red Berry
	Pride and Prejudice	Lydia Bennet
2006	Lying	Grace
	Container	The Woman/Speaker (voice)
2007	Four Last Songs	Frankie
	The Go-Getter	Joely
	Into the Wild	Carine McCandless
2008	The Ruins	Amy
2009	The Messenger	Kelly	post-production

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Result	Role
1996	CableACE Award	Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries	Nominated	Ruth Anne 'Bone' Boatwright in Bastard Out of Carolina
	Independent Spirit Award	Best Debut Performance	Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made For Television	Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries	Nominated
	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Movie/Mini-Series - Young Actress	Won
	YoungStar Award	Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Made For TV Movie	Nominated
1998	Saturn Award	Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress	Won	Young Ellie in Contact
	Golden Globe Award	Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV	Nominated	Lilly Kate Burns in Hope
	YoungStar Award	Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Miniseries/Made-for-TV Movie	Nominated
	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Movie/Pilot/Mini-Series - Leading Young Actress	Won	Ellen Foster in Ellen Foster
1999	Blockbuster Entertainment Award	Favorite Supporting Actress - Drama	Nominated	Anna Harrison in Stepmom
	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress	Won
	YoungStar Award	Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film	Won
2000	Blockbuster Entertainment Award	Favorite Supporting Actress - Drama/Romance	Nominated	Heather Aubrey in For Love of the Game
	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress	Nominated
	YoungStar Award	Best Young Actress/Performance in a Motion Picture Drama	Nominated
2001	DVD Exclusive Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Won	Mary McGuire in The Book of Stars
2004	Sonoma Valley Film Festival	Imagery Honors	Won	-- --
2005	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical	Nominated	Mary in Saved!
2008	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Nominated	Carine McCandless in Into the Wild shared with rest of cast

References

External links

• Jena Malone at MySpace