Jena Malone is an American actress and musician. She made her movie debut with the film Bastard
Out of Carolina and has appeared in films including Ellen Foster, Contact, Stepmom,
Donnie Darko, Saved!, Pride & Prejudice, Into the Wild, The Ruins, Sucker Punch and The
Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Malone is also an experimental musician who has released
music both under her own name and as The Shoe.
Early life and education Malone was born in Sparks, Nevada to Deborah
"Debbie" Malone. She was raised by her mother and her mother's girlfriend at the time, whom
she has called "Godmom". Malone has stated that her biological father's surname was "Berge"
or "Bergen", and that he was of part Norwegian descent; she also has Irish ancestry. By the
time she was 9 years old, she had already lived in 27 different locations. Malone began
taking an interest in acting after watching her mother, who was involved in community
theatre. In 1995, she moved to Las Vegas, and later persuaded her mother to move to
Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. 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, 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). She has one younger sister,
Madison Mae Malone. Career
Malone progressed to professional acting with the 1996 film Bastard Out of Carolina. She
was nominated at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards for Best Debut Performance 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.
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 2011, Malone played the role of Rocket
in Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch. In 2012, Malone also starred in a two-part series on the YouTube
channel Wigs entitled Dakota portraying the title character. She also played the role
of Carson McCullers in the film Lonely Hunter, directed by Deborah Kampmeir.
Malone played Johanna Mason in the second film in The Hunger Games franchise, Catching
Fire. She will reprise her role in the final two films, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part
1 and Part 2. Filmography
Film Television
Theatre Awards and nominations
References
External links Jena Malone at the Internet Movie Database
Jena Malone on Myspace There Was An Old Woman Records
Jena Malone at AllMovie