Jena Malone
Jena Laine Malone (/ˈdʒɛnə məˈloʊn/; born November 21, 1984) is an American actress. Her accolades include a nomination for a Golden Globe Award. Born in Sparks, Nevada, Malone spent her early life there and in Las Vegas, while her mother acted in local theater productions. Inspired to become an actress herself, Malone convinced her mother to relocate to Los Angeles. After auditioning for several projects, Malone was cast by Anjelica Huston in her television film Bastard Out of Carolina (1996), for which she earned acclaim. She subsequently obtained roles in the major studio productions Contact (1997), Hope (1997) and Stepmom (1998).
Jena Malone
Malone began the 2000s with the independent psychological thriller Donnie Darko (2001), which became a cult film. She followed this with roles in the drama Life as a House and the miniseries Hitler: The Rise of Evil (both 2003), and starred in the dark comedy Saved! (2004). She was subsequently cast as Lydia Bennet in Joe Wright's adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice (2005). She additionally had supporting roles in the dramas The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005), Into the Wild (2007), and the horror film The Ruins (2008). Malone made her foray into action films with Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch (2011) and was subsequently cast as Johanna Mason in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), a role she reprised in two sequels between 2014 and 2015; The Hunger Games franchise ranks among her highest-grossing film roles. She was then cast in supporting roles in Nicolas Winding Refn's psychological horror film The Neon Demon and Tom Ford's thriller Nocturnal Animals (both 2016).
Malone has ventured into music, releasing a single as Jena Malone and the Blood Stains in 2007. The following year she began performing street shows with a musical project called The Shoe, which features Malone performing with various instruments contained in a steamer trunk.
Early life[edit]
Malone was born on November 21, 1984, in Sparks, Nevada,[1] the daughter of Deborah Malone and Edward Berge. Her father is of partly Norwegian descent; she also has Irish ancestry.[2] According to Malone, her mother became pregnant with her after a one-night stand with her father, who was married to another woman at the time.[3] Malone was raised by her mother and her mother's girlfriend.[4] "They were lovers," Malone has said. "I had two moms, and it was awesome."[3] She remained estranged from her father for much of her early life but reconciled with him in adulthood.[3]
Malone grew up impoverished; her family relocated frequently and at times was homeless. "We were just so poor," Malone has said. "We'd hop out of apartments, lose jobs, find a cheaper place, get kicked out, live in cars, and live in hotels."[3] By the time she was nine years old, she had lived in 27 locations.[1] Despite the frequent moves, Malone said, "I don't think it was a tough childhood... it prepared me for this strange, gypsy lifestyle of an actor. It's a beautiful thing to give children diversity of where to live and how to live; it makes you believe that security is built within instead of four concrete walls that you call a home."[3]
As a child, Malone first began taking an interest in acting while watching her mother perform in community theater in the Lake Tahoe area.[5] In 1995 she moved to Las Vegas, where she resided with her family for nine months, and began taking acting classes[4] while her mother worked in a call center.[1] She subsequently persuaded her mother to move to Los Angeles so she could pursue an acting career.[4] Malone has said that she and her mother struggled financially in Los Angeles. She was home-schooled from sixth to eighth grade and attended the Professional Children's School in New York City for ninth grade.[4] She has one younger maternal half-sibling, Madison Mae Malone (born 1997).[6]
Career[edit]
1990s: Early roles and child acting[edit]
Malone progressed to professional acting with the film Bastard Out of Carolina (1996).[7] She was nominated at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards for Best Debut Performance[8] and at the third 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 grew 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 the television film Hope (1997), portraying a young girl growing up in a small town in the 1960s.[9]
After completing Hope, Malone was cast in Robert Zemeckis's science fiction film Contact (1997), playing the child counterpart of Jodie Foster's lead character.[10] For her portrayal she won a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.[11] In 1998, she played the role of an unwed mother who is suspected of murdering her newborn baby in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. The following year Malone was cast opposite Susan Sarandon, Julia Roberts and Ed Harris in the drama Stepmom (1998), playing an adolescent girl whose father has remarried and whose mother is dying of terminal cancer. The film was a box office success, grossing over $150 million against a $50 million budget.[12] Malone played Heather Aubrey, the teenage daughter of Kelly Preston in the 1999 movie, For Love of the Game, starring Kevin Costner. In 1999 Malone filed for legal emancipation from her mother in a Los Angeles County Court, and subsequently alleged that her mother had mismanaged her earnings, spending $280,000 of her trust account.[13] She was granted legal emancipation in January 2000.[4] After dropping out of high school in 1999, Malone obtained a General Educational Development certificate in 2001.[14]
2000s: Independent films and other endeavors[edit]
Malone had her first cinematic leading role in the psychological science fiction thriller film Donnie Darko (2001), playing Gretchen Ross, the new girl in town who becomes the girlfriend of Jake Gyllenhaal's title character. Though the film was not a box-office hit, it later gained notoriety as a cult film.[15] The same year she had a supporting part in the drama Life as a House (2001), portraying the girlfriend of a young man (Hayden Christensen) whose ailing father (Kevin Kline) is building a home.[16] Malone co-produced the independent comedy-drama American Girl (2002), the first feature in which she had top billing, co-starring with Brad Renfro and Alicia Witt as a suicidal young woman whose father is in prison.[10] In 2002 Malone played the part of a Catholic schoolgirl with a painful secret opposite Emile Hirsch in The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, also featuring Vincent D'Onofrio and Jodie Foster. In 2003, Jena appeared as "ferry girl" in Cold Mountain.
Personal life[edit]
In 2000, at age 15, after appearing in Contact and Stepmom, Malone won legal emancipation from her mother after accusing her of squandering her earnings through "excessive spending and mismanagement," according to court papers.[50]
In 2003, at age 19, Malone purchased a home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada,[51] where she resided as of 2012.[52]
In May 2016, Malone gave birth to a son[53] with her boyfriend, photographer Ethan DeLorenzo.[54] The couple announced their engagement on August 30, 2016.[55] In February 2019, Malone and DeLorenzo ended their relationship. She has been in a relationship with musician Alex Ebert as of 2019.[56]
Malone endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 United States presidential election.[57]
In 2022, Malone helped rescue a dog that was being abused by its owner, and donated to a GoFundMe campaign to cover the costs of its surgery.[58]
In August 2022, Malone publicly came out as pansexual and polyamorous.[59]
In March 2023, Malone opened up about being sexually assaulted while working on The Hunger Games franchise; Malone shared a photo to Instagram that she took after filming wrapped on the series’ fourth and final film, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. In the comments section, Malone explained she had chosen not to name her alleged assailant due to the 'cancel-like culture' nowadays.[60][61]