Jena Malone (born November 21, 1984) is an American actress.
Malone was born in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and lived in 27 different locations by the age of nine. 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. Malone made the jump to feature films with the 1996 film Bastard Out of Carolina. She was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries for this role.
From there, her roles grew in stature, including several Hollywood features. In 1997, she was nominated for a Golden Globe, Best Actress in a Mini-Series or TV Movie, for her role in Hope. After several years of being homeschooled, she briefly attended the Professional Children's School in New York, but did not last long. In January 2000, Malone won legal emancipation from her mother, barring her from interfering with her career and earnings; Malone has said that her mother "mismanaged" some of her earnings.
Malone was a co-producer for the 2002 film American Girl, a teen comedy which she also acted in. She was due to feature in the film Vinyl, but had to withdraw due to filming conflicts, and was replaced by Michelle Trachtenberg. She also starred in the 2004 film Saved!.
