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Evan Rachel Wood
Wood at the Toronto Film Festival, 2007
Born	September 7, 1987 (1987-09-07) (age 21) Raleigh, North Carolina
Years active	1994 – present

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 roles, 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 Thirteen (2003).²

Wood continued acting in mostly 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 has been described by The Guardian newspaper as being "wise beyond her years" and as "one of the best actresses of her generation".³ Her relationship with singer Marilyn Manson has received considerable media coverage.

Biography

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.³ 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.⁴

Evan Rachel Wood is Jewish.⁵⁶ She has described the music of The Beatles as being a major part of her life since her first family Christmas.⁷ Wood and her brothers were actively involved in Theatre In The Park, a community theater directed by her father, while growing up; she was the Ghost of Christmas Past in a production of A Christmas Carol at the theater when she was several months old, 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.⁸⁹

Career

Early works, 1994-2000

Wood began her career appearing in several made-for-television films from 1994 and onwards, 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.³¹⁰ 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. 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."³

2001-2005

In 2002, Wood played a supporting role in the film S1m0ne, which starred Al Pacino. Wood's breakthrough movie role followed with the somewhat controversial 2003 independent film Thirteen. 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.¹¹ A supporting role opposite Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones, in Ron Howard's The Missing, followed the same year.

In 2005, she appeared in The Upside of Anger, opposite Kevin Costner and Joan Allen, a well-reviewed film in which Wood played one of several sisters dealing with their father's absence.³

Her next two starring roles were in the dark independent films, the 2005 Grand Jury Prize Sundance Film Festival nominee, Pretty Persuasion,a black comedy/satirical film focusing on themes of sexual harassment and discrimination in schools, and attitudes about females in media and society, in which she played, Kimberly Joyce, a villainous, sexually active high-schooler. One review commentaed that, 'Wood does flip cynicism with such precise, easy rhythms and with such obvious pleasure in naughtiness that she’s impossible to hate.'¹²

Down in the Valley, was directed by David Jacobson, where her 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.' ¹³ Wood has commented on her choice of sexually themed roles, saying that she is not aiming for the "shock factor" in her film choices.³

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."

2006- Present

In September of 2006, she received Premiere magazine's "Spotlight Award for Emerging Talent."¹⁴ 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."³

Later that year, 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, it is based on the memoir by Augusten Burroughs, a semi-autobiographical account of Burroughs' childhood in an excentric dysfunctional family. Wood was awarded the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Chopard Trophy for Female Revelation for her performance. ¹⁵

Wood with Michael Douglas in 2007's King of California

Wood had roles in two films released in September, 2007: Sundance Film Festival - premiered ¹⁶ , King of California, a story of a bipolar jazz musician (Michael Douglas) and his long-suffering teenage daughter, Miranda (played by Wood) who are reunited after his two-year stay in a mental institution and embark on a Quixotic search for Spanish treasure. One review praised Wood's performance as 'excellent'. ¹⁷

Across the Universe, a Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated musical directed by Julie Taymor and set in Liverpool, United Kingdom, New York City, and Vietnam about the tribulations of several characters during the counter-culture revolution of the 60's, 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.'¹⁸

Wood provided the voice of an alien named Mala, a mechanically-inclined free-thinker in Terra, a 2008 computer animated science fiction film about a peaceful alien planet which faces destruction from colonization by the displaced remainder of the human race, winner of the 2008 Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. ¹⁹

Starring 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 has cited her performance as 'hands-down extraordinary'.²⁰ Wood has stated that she intends the film to be the last time she plays a teenager.²¹

She has a role in director Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler²², 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. She plays Stephanie, Randy "Ram" Robinson's estranged daughter. Of her performance one critic has written, 'Once her character stops stonewalling her father and hears him out, Wood provides a fine foil for Rourke in their turbulent scenes together.' ²³

She has a role in Woody Allen's Whatever Works²⁴, to be released in 2009. Next, will play writer Anne Brontë in the film Brontë, and will be involved in the film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll.¹⁰²¹ 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 will be composed and written by Bono and The Edge of the band U2.²⁵

Personal life

Evan Rachel Wood in 2005

Wood was home-schooled for most of her schooling years and received her high school diploma at age fifteen.²⁶ She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and enjoys singing, having recorded the song "Christmas Isn't Christmas Without You."

Wood also 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.³ 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.³²¹ She is also a friend of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.³

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 has described their relationship as "healthy and loving."²⁷ 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 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.²¹ In November 2008, Wood issued a statement saying that, 'Manson and I both decided to take some time apart so we could concentrate on work.' ²⁸

Music

On October 24, 2007, Entertainment Weekly announced that Evan Rachel Wood will sign a record deal with Interscope Records. As of 2008, she is currently working on her long-anticipated debut album.

Filmography

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Evan Rachel Wood

External links

• Evan Rachel Wood Pics
• Evan Rachel Wood at the Internet Movie Database
• Evan Rachel Wood at TV.com
• Interview, 2001, CNN.com
• Interview, 2003, Girl.com
• 2007 Video ANS Interview on Running with ScissorsRetrieved 16-11-2008
• 2007 CW11 TV interview on Across the UniverseRetrieved 14-11-2008
• 2008 Video ANS Interview on The Life Before her EyesRetrieved 14-11-2008
• Evan Rachel Wood Interview on The Wrestler
• 2008 Video Interview on The Wrestler - Toronto International Film FestivalRetrieved 12-11-2008