Jena Malone

Jena Malone
Malone at the premiere of Hatfields & McCoys (miniseries).
Born	(1984-11-21) November 21, 1984 Sparks, Nevada, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, musician
Years active	1996–present

Jena Malone (/ˈdʒiːnə məˈloʊn/; born November 21, 1984)^[1] 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 Ellen Foster (1997), 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 film series (2013–15). Malone is also an experimental musician who has released music both under her own name and as The Shoe. Her next film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, is scheduled to be released on March 25, 2016.

Early life and education

Malone was born in Sparks, Nevada,^[2] to Deborah "Debbie" Malone and Edward Berge.^[3] She was raised by her mother and her mother's girlfriend at the time, whom she has called "Godmom."^[4] Her paternal grandfather was Karl Berge, of the Karl's Silver Club casino.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]} Her father is of part Norwegian descent; she also has Irish ancestry.^[11] By the time she was 9 years old, she had already lived in 27 different locations.^[12] Malone began taking an interest in acting after watching her mother, who was involved in community theatre.^[13] In 1995, she moved to Las Vegas, and later persuaded her mother to move to Los Angeles, California in order to pursue a career in acting.^[14] In Los Angeles, California, Malone has stated that she and her mother struggled with money. Malone was home-schooled from sixth to eighth grade. She attended the Professional Children's School, for the ninth grade in New York,^[14] and quit it after a year, when she became legally emancipated, in January 2000.^[15][16] At some point she later obtained her General Educational Development (GED).^[17] She has one younger sister, Madison Mae Malone (born 1997).

Acting career

Malone at the Deauville American Film Festival in 2013

Malone progressed to professional acting with the 1996 film Bastard Out of Carolina.^[18] She was nominated at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards for Best Debut Performance^[19] and at the 3rd Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for her role in the film. From there, her roles have grown to include several Hollywood features. In 1997, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the category Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film, 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.

Malone at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival

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.^[20] Pitchfork Media has described Malone's music as "pretty out-there – bedroom electronics, spaced-out keyboards, and Malone's spare vocals."^[21] Malone's more recent musical work is performed as/with The Shoe.^[22]

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 2011, Malone played the role of Rocket in Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch, which flopped at the box office and caused the actress to consider focusing on her photography and band, Shoe. It was after the huge success of her next role in The History Channel's miniseries Hatfields and McCoys that Malone's passion for acting returned.^[23] In 2012, Malone also starred in a series on the YouTube channel Wigs entitled Dakota^[24] portraying the title character. She also played the role of Carson McCullers in the film Lonely Hunter, directed by Deborah Kampmeir.^[25]

Malone played Johanna Mason in three out of four films in The Hunger Games franchise, Catching Fire, Mockingjay – Part 1, and Mockingjay – Part 2.^[26] It has also been announced that she has been cast in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, also directed by Zack Snyder.^[27][28] In February 2015, she was cast alongside Keanu Reeves in Nicolas Winding Refn's thriller film The Neon Demon.^[29]

Photography

In November 2014, Malone exhibited 39 photographs that she took in Myanmar in the summer of that year.^[30][31] The exhibition, which ran from November 21 to November 28, 2014, was called "The Holy Other."^[30][31] It took place at MAMA, an art gallery owned by her personal friend Adarsha Benjamin in Downtown Los Angeles.^[30][31] Proceeds were donated to Girl Determined, a non-profit organization which benefits girls' education in Myanmar.^[31]

Personal life

On January 20th, 2016, Malone announced she is expecting a child with boyfriend Ethan DeLorenzo.^[32][33]

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jena Malone.

• Jena Malone at the Internet Movie Database
• There Was An Old Woman Records
• Jena Malone at AllMovie