Jena Malone Biography

Jena Malone (born November 21, 1984) is an American actress and musician. She made her movie debut with the film Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), and has appeared in films including Contact (1997), Stepmom (1998), Donnie Darko (2001), Saved! (2004), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Into the Wild (2007), The Ruins (2008), Sucker Punch (2011) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013). Malone is also an experimental musician who has released music both under her own name and as "The Shoe".

Early life

Malone had lived in 27 locations by the age of nine, including Lake Tahoe, California. She was raised by her mother, Deborah, and her mother's girlfriend, whom she calls "Godmom," and 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. Malone was home-schooled from sixth to eighth grade. She attended the Professional Children's School, for the ninth grade, in New York, and quit it after a year, when she became legally emancipated, in January 2000. At some point she later obtained her General Educational Development (GED).

Career

Malone progressed 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 her role in the film, Ruth Anne 'Bone' Boatwright. 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 working on various TV projects, and as a supporting actress in films such as Contact and Stepmom, Malone had her first cinematic leading role in the 2001 cult hit Donnie Darko as Gretchen Ross, the new girl in town who becomes the girlfriend of Jake Gyllenhaal's title character.

Malone co-produced the 2002 film American Girl, a drama in which she also acted. In the 2004 film Saved!, she got top billing in her first role as the primary star. In 2005, she played the spoiled fifth Bennet daughter Lydia in the film Pride and Prejudice. 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 Malone was releasing her first single on The Social Registry, a New York City experimental music label. A number of tracks were posted to her MySpace page. Pitchfork Media has described Malone's music as "pretty out-there " bedroom electronics, spaced-out keyboards, and Malone's spare vocals." Malone's more recent musical work is performed as/with The Shoe.

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. She played Lavinia in an off-Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's play Mourning Becomes Electra in 2009.

In 2012, Malone also starred in a two-part series on the YouTube channel 'Wigs' entitled "Dakota" as the mini-series' title character.

Malone is to portray Carson McCullers in the film Lonely Hunter, directed by Deborah Kampmeir.

In July 2012, Malone was reportedly in negotiations to portray Johanna Mason in the sequels to The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. It was later confirmed she will play Johanna Mason in the film, to be released in late 2013.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Bastard Out of Carolina	Ruth Anne 'Bone' Boatwright
1997	Contact	Young Ellie
1998	Stepmom	Anna Harrison
1999	'	Mary McGuire
1999	For Love of the Game	Heather Aubrey
2000	Cheaters	Jolie Fitch
2001	Donnie Darko	Gretchen Ross
2001	Life as a House	Alyssa Beck
2002	'	Margie Flynn
2002	'	Ashley Hardwick
2002	American Girl	Rena Grubb
2003	'	Becky Pollard
2003	Cold Mountain	Ferry Girl
2004	Saved!	Mary
2004	Howl's Moving Castle	Lettie (voice)
2004	Corn	Emily Rasmussen
2005	'	Red Berry
2005	Pride & Prejudice	Lydia Bennet
2006	Container	The Woman/Speaker (voice)
2006	Lying	Grace
2007	Four Last Songs	Frankie
2007	'	Joely
2007	Into the Wild	Carine McCandless / Additional Narrator
2008	'	Amy
2009	'	Kelly
2009	'	Cheery Lab Tech
2010	5 Star Day	Sarah Reynolds
2010	Rachel	Rachel	Short film
2011	David Goldberg	Vida	Short film
2011	I Think Bad Thoughts	Jena	Short film
2011	Sucker Punch	Rocket
2011	'	Angela	Post-production
2012	For Ellen	Susan
2012	In Our Nature	Andie
2012	Ten Cent Pistol	TBA	Filming
2013	'	Johanna Mason	Post-production
2014	Inherent Vice		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Chicago Hope	Stacy Morissey	Episode: "Sweet Surrender"
1996	Hidden in America	Willa	TV movie
1997	Hope	Lilly Kate Burns	TV movie
1997	Ellen Foster	Ellen Foster	TV movie
1998	Homicide: Life on the Street	Debbie Straub	Episode: "Kellerman, P.I: Part 1" Episode: "Kellerman, P.I.: Part 2"
1999	Touched by an Angel	Casey	Episode: "Hearts"
2000	Cheaters	Jolie Fitch	TV movie
2001	'	California Morning 'Lucy' Whipple	TV movie
2003	Hitler: The Rise of Evil	Geli Raubal	TV movie
2008	Law & Order	Michelle Landon	Episode: "Lost Boys"
2011	Robot Chicken	Boy George / Singer (voice)	Episode: "Beastmaster and Commander"
2012	Hatfields & McCoys	Nancy McCoy	TV miniseries
2012	WIGS: Dakota	Dakota	Episode: "Almost Up $6,640"

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
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
	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
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
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