Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987)[1] is an American actress and singer.
Wood began her acting career in the late 1990s, appearing in several television series, including American Gothic and Once and Again. She made her debut as a leading film actress in 2002's Little Secrets and became well-known after her transition to a more adult-oriented Golden Globe-nominated role in the critically acclaimed film Thirteen, (2003)[2] co-written by Wood's co-star, Nikki Reed.[3]
Wood continued acting mostly in independent films, including Pretty Persuasion (2005), Down in the Valley (2006), Running with Scissors (2006), and in the big studio production Across the Universe (2007). Wood's acting has drawn critical praise, and she has been described by The Guardian newspaper as being "wise beyond her years" and as "one of the best actresses of her generation."[4] In their Spring 2009 issue, Venus Zine awarded Wood the top spot in their 25 Under 25 rankings.[5] Her relationship with singer Marilyn Manson, whom she dated from December 2006 through October 2008, received considerable news coverage.[6]Contents [hide] 1 Early life and family 2 Career 2.1 Early works, 1994–2000 2.2 2001–2005 2.3 2006–present 2.4 In production 2.5 Music 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 References 6 External links
[edit] Early life and family
Wood was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, the daughter of Sara Lynn Moore, an actress, director and acting coach, and Ira David Wood III, an actor, singer, theater director and playwright.[4] Wood's brother, Ira David Wood IV, is also an actor. Wood has another brother, Dana. Her paternal aunt, Carol Winstead Wood, is a Hollywood production designer.[7]
Wood is Jewish.[8][9] She has described the music of The Beatles as being a major part of her life since her first family Christmas.[10] Wood and her brothers were actively involved in Theatre in the Park, a community theater directed by her father, while growing up; she played the Ghost of Christmas Past in several productions of A Christmas Carol at the theater, and later starred as Helen Keller alongside her mother (who played Annie Sullivan) in a production of The Miracle Worker, under her father's direction.[11][12]
[edit] Career
[edit] Early works, 1994–2000
Wood began her career appearing in several made-for-television films from 1994 onward, also playing an occasional role in the television series American Gothic. In 1996, Wood's parents separated and later divorced, and Wood moved with her mother to her mother's native Los Angeles County, California.[4][13] After a one-season role on the television drama Profiler, Wood was cast in the supporting role of Jessie Sammler on the television show Once and Again.
Wood's first major screen role was in the low-budget 1998 film Digging to China, which also starred Kevin Bacon and Mary Stuart Masterson. The film won the Children's Jury Award at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival.[14] Wood remembers the role as initially being "hard," but notes that it eventually led to her decision that acting is something she "might never want to stop doing."[4] She also had a role in Practical Magic, a 1998 family fantasy film directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, that same year.
[edit] 2001–2005
Wood made her teenage debut as a leading film actress in 2002's Little Secrets, directed by Blair Treu. She played aspiring 14-year-old concert violinist Emily Lindstrom, and she was nominated for Best Leading Young Actress at the Young Artist Awards.[15] That same year, Wood played a supporting role in the Andrew Niccol-directed science fiction satirical drama film,S1m0ne, which starred Al Pacino.
Wood's breakthrough movie role followed with the somewhat controversial 2003 independent film Thirteen. She played the role of Tracy Louise Freeland, one of two young teens who sink into a downward spiral of hard drugs, sex, lies, and petty crime. Her performance was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress - Drama and for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Best Actress. During the time of Thirteen's release, Vanity Fair named Wood as one of the It Girls of Hollywood, and she appeared, along with the other actresses, on the magazine's July 2003 cover.[16] A supporting role opposite Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones in Ron Howard's The Missing, in which she played the kidnapped daughter, Lilly Gilkeson, in a Searchers-style western, followed the same year.
The Upside of Anger 2005
In 2005, Wood appeared in the Mike Binder-directed The Upside of Anger, opposite Kevin Costner and Joan Allen, a well-reviewed film in which Wood played Lavender "Popeye" Wolfmeyer, one of four sisters dealing with their father's absence. Her character also narrated the film.[4]
Pretty Persuasion 2005
Wood's next two starring roles were in dark independent films. In the 2005 Grand Jury Prize Sundance Film Festival nominee Pretty Persuasion, a black comedy/satirical focusing on themes of sexual harassment and discrimination in schools and attitudes about females in media and society, Wood played Kimberly Joyce, a villainous, sexually-active high-schooler. One critic commented, "Wood does flip cynicism with such precise, easy rhythms and with such obvious pleasure in naughtiness that she's impossible to hate."[17]
In Down in the Valley, which was directed by David Jacobson, Wood's character, Tobe, falls in love with an older man posing as a cowboy at odds with modern society (Edward Norton). Of her performance, it was written that "Wood conveys every bit of the adamant certainty and aching vulnerability inherent in late adolescence."[18] Wood has commented on her choice of sexually themed roles, saying that she is not aiming for the "shock factor" in her film choices.[4]
In 2005, Wood starred in the music videos for Bright Eyes' "At the Bottom of Everything" and Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends".
[edit] 2006–present
In September 2006, Wood received Premiere magazine's "Spotlight Award for Emerging Talent."[19] Also in 2006, she was described by The Guardian as being "wise beyond her years" and as "one of the best actresses of her generation."[4]
Later in 2006, Wood appeared with an all-star ensemble cast as Natalie Finch in the Golden Globe-nominated 2006 comedy-drama film Running with Scissors. Directed by Ryan Murphy and starring Annette Bening, the film was based on the memoir by Augusten Burroughs, which is a semi-autobiographical account of Burroughs' childhood in a dysfunctional family. Wood was awarded the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Chopard Trophy for Female Revelation for her performance.[20]
Wood with Michael Douglas in 2007's King of California
Wood had roles in two films released in September 2007. King of California, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,[21] a story of a bipolar jazz musician (Michael Douglas) and his long-suffering teenage daughter, Miranda (Wood), who are reunited after his two-year stay in a mental institution and who embark on a quixotic search for Spanish treasure. One review praised Wood's performance as "excellent."[22]
Across the Universe, a Julie Taymor-directed musical that was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award and was set in Liverpool, New York City, and Vietnam, focused on the tribulations of several characters during the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960s. It was set to the songs of The Beatles. Wood played Lucy, who develops a relationship with Jude (Jim Sturgess). The film features her singing musical numbers. One critic wrote that "Wood brings much-needed emotional depth."[23]
Wood provided the voice of an alien named Mala, a mechanically-inclined free-thinker, in Battle for Terra, a 2008 computer-animated science fiction film about a peaceful alien planet that faces destruction from colonization by the displaced remainder of the human race. The film won the 2008 Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. The film is currently showing in the San Francisco International Film Festival where she also received at award at the Midnight Awards along with Elijah Wood. [24]
Wood starred in 2008's Vadim Perelman-directed The Life Before Her Eyes, based on the Laura Kasischke novel of the same name, about the friendship of two teens of opposite character who are involved in a Columbine-like shooting incident at their school and are forced to make an impossible choice. Wood played the younger version of Uma Thurman's character, Diana. One critic cited her performance as "hands-down extraordinary."[25] Wood stated that she intended the film to be the last one in which she played a teenager.[26]
Wood also co-starred in director Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler,[27] winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, about Randy "Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke), a professional wrestler from the 1980s who is forced to retire after a heart attack threatens to kill him the next time he wrestles. Wood played Stephanie, Randy "Ram" Robinson's estranged daughter. Of her performance, one critic wrote, "Once her character stops stonewalling her father and hears him out, Wood provides a fine foil for Rourke in their turbulent scenes together."[28]
[edit] In production
Wood has a role in Woody Allen's Whatever Works,[29] to be released in 2009. She plays the young wife of Larry David's Ebenezer Scrooge-like[30] character in the film. Next, she will play writer Anne Brontë in the film Brontë, and will be involved in the film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll.[13][26] Wood has stated that she prefers music to movies and is planning to launch a singing career. Wood and Across the Universe co-star Jim Sturgess are reported to be involved in the upcoming Julie Taymor Broadway production of a Spider-Man musical adaptation. Music for the show was composed and written by Bono and The Edge of the band U2,[31] the members of which participated in rehearsals, backing up Wood and Sturgess.[32]
On December 22, 2008, YouTube announced that Wood will return to television for the first time since April 15, 2002, the day the last Once and Again episode aired on ABC, this time, a regular lead role in a TV series. In August 2009, she will appear in two episodes of True Blood on HBO, playing a powerful vampire.[33]
Before Wood begins her Broadway Spider-Man run, she plans to go back to her theatrical roots by performing in an intimate production of Romeo & Juliet at her father's theater "just for fun."[30]
[edit] Music
On October 24, 2007, Entertainment Weekly announced that Wood planned to sign a record deal with Interscope Records. As of 2008, she is currently working on her debut album.
[edit] Personal life
Evan Rachel Wood in 2005
Wood was home-schooled and received her high school diploma at age 15.[34] She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Wood has described herself as being "laid-back" and "not a party girl," citing her choice to stay away from what is considered a typical Hollywood lifestyle.[4] In 2006, Wood, who was described by The Guardian as an "Anglophile," dated her "Wake Me Up When September Ends" music video co-star, English actor Jamie Bell.[4][26] She is also a friend of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.[4]
Wood at the Toronto Film Festival, 2007
In 2007, Wood's relationship with Marilyn Manson became public. The two met at a party at the Chateau Marmont Hotel; Wood has stated that she was attracted to Manson's frequent use of black eye liner and once described their relationship as "healthy and loving."[35] Two portraits of Wood, painted by Manson, have been exhibited at the Celebritarian Corporation Gallery of Fine Art. Wood is also the inspiration behind Manson's song "Heart-Shaped Glasses," and she appeared with Manson in the song's music video. Manson has said that Wood's appearance in the film was the highest-paid music video role ever.[26] When they were together she noticeably changed her appearance to look like Manson's ex wife, Dita Von Teese. In November 2008, Wood issued a statement saying "Manson and I both decided to take some time apart so we could concentrate on work."[36]
Wood has since been linked to actor Mickey Rourke. She played his daughter in the film The Wrestler, but she denies that they had any kind of romantic relationship. In a December 2008 interview, Wood said, "People thought we were dating because we got so close in a family kind of way. That's why we felt comfortable enough to put our arms around each other. We were just buds."[30] Marilyn Manson and Wood have reconciled and are now friends.
Most recently, Wood has been spotted dating former Once and Again co-star Shane West.
