Early life and education

Malone was born in Sparks, Nevada, the daughter of Deborah "Debbie" Malone and Edward Berge. She was raised by her mother and her mother's girlfriend at the time, whom she has called "Godmom". Her paternal grandfather was Karl Berge, former owner of the Bourbon Square Casino. Her father is of part Norwegian descent; she also has Irish ancestry. Malone grew up impoverished, and her family relocated frequently, and were at times homeless. "We were just so poor," Malone said in retrospect. "We'd hop out of apartments, lose jobs, find a cheaper place, get kicked out, live in cars, and live in hotels." By the time she was 9 years old, she had already lived in 27 different locations. However, she stated the experience was positive for her: "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."

Malone began taking an interest in acting after watching her mother, who was involved in community theatre. In 1995, she moved to Las Vegas, and later persuaded her mother to move to Los Angeles in order to pursue a career in acting.

Malone has stated that she and her mother struggled with money while living in Los Angeles. She was homeschooled from sixth to eighth grade, and attended the Professional Children's School in New York City for ninth grade. Malone quit school a year later, when she became legally emancipated in January 2000. At some later point, she obtained her General Educational Development (GED). She has one younger maternal half-sister, Madison Mae Malone (born 1997).

Career

Malone progressed to professional acting with the film Bastard Out of Carolina (1996). She was nominated at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards for Best Debut Performance and at the 3rd 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 have grown 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 Hope.

After working on various TV projects, and as a supporting actress in films such as Contact and Stepmom, Malone had her first cinematic leading role in the cult hit Donnie Darko (2001) as Gretchen Ross, the new girl in town who becomes the girlfriend of Jake Gyllenhaal's title character. Malone co-produced the film American Girl (2002), a drama in which she also acted. In the film Saved! (2004), she got top billing in her first role as the primary star. In 2005, she played the spoiled fifth Bennet daughter Lydia in the film Pride and Prejudice. In 2006, she made her Broadway stage debut in a production of the Tony Award-winning play Doubt.

In 2007, it was announced that Malone was releasing her first single on The Social Registry, a New York City experimental music label. A number of tracks were posted to her MySpace page. Pitchfork Media has described Malone's music as "pretty out-there - bedroom electronics, spaced-out keyboards, and Malone's spare vocals." Malone's more recent musical work is performed as/with The Shoe. Malone appeared in the horror film, The Ruins, which was released on April 4, 2008, and co-starred Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, and Jonathan Tucker. She played Lavinia in an off-Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's play Mourning Becomes Electra in 2009.

In 2011, Malone played the role of Rocket in Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch, which flopped at the box office and caused the actress to consider focusing on her photography and band, Shoe. It was after the huge success of her next role in The History Channel's miniseries Hatfields and McCoys that Malone's passion for acting returned. In 2012, Malone also starred in a series on the YouTube channel Wigs entitled Dakota, portraying the title character. She also played the role of Carson McCullers in the film Lonely Hunter, directed by Deborah Kampmeir. Malone played Johanna Mason in three out of four films in The Hunger Games franchise, Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Part 1, and Mockingjay - Part 2.

In November 2014, Malone exhibited 39 photographs that she took in Myanmar in the summer of that year. The exhibition, which ran from November 21 to November 28, 2014, was called "The Holy Other." It took place at MAMA, an art gallery owned by her personal friend Adarsha Benjamin in Downtown Los Angeles. Proceeds were donated to Girl Determined, a non-profit organization which benefits girls' education in Myanmar.

She was cast as Barbara Gordon in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, also directed by Zack Snyder. Her scenes were left out of the theatrical release, but will appear on the "Ultimate Edition" home video release. In February 2015, she was cast alongside Keanu Reeves in Nicolas Winding Refn's thriller film The Neon Demon.

Personal life

At age nineteen, Malone purchased a home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where she resided as of 2012.

On January 20, 2016, Malone announced that she is expecting her first child with boyfriend Ethan DeLorenzo.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Bastard Out of Carolina	Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright
1997	Contact	Young Ellie Arroway
1998	Stepmom	Anna Harrison
1999	The Book of Stars	Mary McGuire
1999	For Love of the Game	Heather Aubrey
2001	Donnie Darko	Gretchen Ross
2001	Life as a House	Alyssa Beck
2002	The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys	Margie Flynn
2002	The Badge	Ashley Hardwick
2002	American Girl	Rena Grubb	Also co-producer
2003	The United States of Leland	Becky Pollard
2003	Cold Mountain	Ferry Girl
2004	Saved!	Mary Cummings
2004	Corn	Emily Rasmussen
2005	The Ballad of Jack and Rose	Red Berry
2005	Howl's Moving Castle	Lettie (voice)	English dub
2005	Pride & Prejudice	Lydia Bennet
2006	Container	The Woman / Speaker (voices)
2006	Lying	Grace
2007	Four Last Songs	Frankie
2007	The Go-Getter	Joely
2007	Into the Wild	Carine McCandless
2008	The Ruins	Amy
2009	The Messenger	Kelly
2009	The Soloist	Cheery Lab Tech
2010	Five Star Day	Sarah Reynolds
2011	Sucker Punch	Rocket
2012	For Ellen	Susan
2012	In Our Nature	Andie
2013	The Painted Lady	The Painted Lady	Short film
2013	Teenage	American Girl (voice)	Documentary
2013	The Wait	Angela
2013	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire	Johanna Mason
2014	10 Cent Pistol	Danneel
2014	Time Out of Mind	Maggie Hammond
2014	Inherent Vice	Hope Harlingen
2014	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1	Johanna Mason	Cameo
2015	Angelica	Constance
2015	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2	Johanna Mason
2016	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	Barbara Gordon	Ultimate Edition only
2016	The Neon Demon	Ruby

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Hidden in America	Willa Januson	Movie
1996	Chicago Hope	Stacy Morissey	Episode: "Sweet Surrender"
1997	Hope	Lilly Kate Burns	Movie
1997	Ellen Foster	Ellen Foster	Movie
1998	Homicide: Life on the Street	Debbie Straub	2 episodes
1999	Touched by an Angel	Casey	Episode: "Hearts"
2000	Cheaters	Jolie Fitch	Movie
2001	The Ballad of Lucy Whipple	California Morning "Lucy" Whipple	Movie
2003	Hitler: The Rise of Evil	Geli Raubal	Miniseries
2008	Law & Order	Michelle Landon	Episode: "Lost Boys"
2011	Robot Chicken	Boy George / Singer (voice)	Episode: "Beastmaster and Commander"
2012	Hatfields & McCoys	Nancy McCoy	Miniseries
2012	Dakota	Dakota	3 episodes

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Doubt	Sister James	Broadway
2009	Mourning Becomes Electra	Lavinia Mannon	Off-Broadway

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1997	CableACE Awards	Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries	Bastard Out of Carolina	Nominated
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Debut Performance		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie		Nominated
	YoungStar Awards	Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Miniseries/Made-for-TV Movie		Nominated
	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Pilot or Miniseries - Leading Young Actress		Won
1998	Saturn Awards	Best Performance by a Younger Actor	Contact	Won
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film	Hope	Nominated
	YoungStar Awards	Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Miniseries/Made-for-TV Movie		Nominated
	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Pilot or Miniseries - Leading Young Actress	Ellen Foster	Won
1999	YoungStar Awards	Best Young Actress in a Drama Film	Stepmom	Won
	Young Artist Awards	Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film		Won
2000	YoungStar Awards	Best Young Actress in a Drama Film	For Love of the Game	Nominated
	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress		Nominated
2001	DVD Exclusive Awards	Best Supporting Actress	The Book of Stars	Won
2004	Sonoma Valley Film Festival	Imagery Honors		Won
2005	Satellite Awards	Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Saved!	Nominated
2008	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Into the Wild	Nominated
2014	Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Female Buttkicker	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire	Nominated
	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated

Charities

Jena Malone supports the following charitable cause: Vision.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]