Jena Malone (born November 21, 1984) is an American actress and
musician. Her film work has been mainly in
independent films, and she has acted in theater.
She made her cinema debut with the
movie Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), and has appeared in films including
Contact (1997),
Stepmom (1998),
Donnie Darko (2001),
Saved! (2004), and
Into the Wild (2007).
Biography
Early life
Malone was born in
Sparks, Nevada,
[Jena Malone bio: Into the Wild Actor] 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".
[Malone discussed this on a March 2004 appearance on Loveline] 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.
