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. Wood was in a relationship with singer Marilyn Manson, to whom she was engaged until August 2010.
Early life and family
Evan Rachel Wood was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her father, Ira David Wood III, is a locally prominent actor, singer, theater director, and playwright who is the Executive Director of a local regional theatre company called Theatre in the Park. Her mother, Sara Lynn Moore (born March 6, 1958), is an actress, director and acting coach. Wood's brother, Ira David Wood IV, is also an actor; she has another brother, Dana. Her paternal aunt, Carol Winstead Wood, is a Hollywood production designer.
Wood and her brothers were actively involved in Theatre in the Park while growing up, including an appearance by her in the 1987 production of her father's internationally renowned musical comedy adaptation of A Christmas Carol when she was just a few months old.
Career
Early Works
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. 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.
Evan Rachel Wood 2001–2005
Wood made her teenage debut as a leading film actress in 2002's Little Secrets, directed by Blair Treu, where she played aspiring 14-year-old concert violinist Emily Lindstrom. For that role, she was nominated for Best Leading Young Actress at the Young Artist Awards. 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 2003 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, 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. 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. Also in 2003 she played the part of Nora Easton in the episode "Got Murder?" of TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
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.
In Down in the Valley, which was directed by David Jacobson, Wood's character, Tobe, falls in love with an older man, a cowboy who is 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." Wood has commented on her choice of sexually themed roles, saying that she is not aiming for the "shock factor" in her film choices.
2006–present
In September 2006, Wood received Premiere magazine's "Spotlight Award for Emerging Talent. 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.
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.
Wood had roles in two films released in September 2007. King of California, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, 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".
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, who has described the music of The Beatles as a major part of her life, played Lucy, who develops a relationship with Jude (Jim Sturgess).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". Wood stated that she intended the film to be the last one in which she played a teenager.
In the same year, she also co-starred in director Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, 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.
In production
Wood has been attached to play writer Anne Brontë in the film Brontë, the title character in Flora Plum and will be involved in the film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll. Wood has a role in the film, The Conspirator. which premiered at Ford's Theatre in Washington D. C. in April, 2011, directed by Robert Redford, about the conspiracy surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Variety reported in May 2010 that Wood and Marilyn Manson were attached to star in a slasher film entitled Splatter Sisters.
Personal life
Wood has described her religion as Jewish (her mother is a convert to Judaism and her father is Christian). She briefly attended Cary Elementary, a public school in Cary, North Carolina. She was home-schooled and received her high school diploma at age 15. Wood has a black belt in taekwondo. In her early teens, she was described as "the sad, introverted teen", on which she commented: "It's just a type I enjoy playing. But I don't want to be typecast as the misery chick for the rest of my career. I guess I have to watch out for that.
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. 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. She is also a friend of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 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. 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. In November 2008, Wood issued a statement saying "Manson and I both decided to take some time apart so we could concentrate on work."
After a short time together again in 2009, both Manson and Wood stated that they wanted to take a break and focus on their careers.
Filmography
1998 Digging to China Harriet Frankovitz limited release
Practical Magic Kylie Owens Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress
Profiler Chloe Waters 6 Episodes
Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Drama Series - Supporting Young Actress
1999 Down Will Come Baby Robin Garr TV Film
Nominated — YoungStar Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Mini-Series/Made for TV Film
1999–2002 Once and Again Jessie Sammler 55 Episodes
Young Artist Award for Best Ensemble in a TV Series (Drama or Comedy)
Nominated — YoungStar Award for Best Young Actress/Performance in a Drama TV Series
2002 Little Secrets Emily Lindstrom Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress
S1m0ne Lainey Christian
The West Wing Hogan Cregg 1 Episode
2003 C.S.I. Nora Easton Got Murder? - Season 3, Episode 12
The Missing Lily Gilkeson Nominated — Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress
Thirteen Tracy Louise Freeland Bratislava International Film Festival Award for Acting
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Youth in Film
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Breakout Performance - On Screen
Prism Award for Best Performance in a Theatrical Feature Film
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Female Performance
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role - Female
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
2005 Pretty Persuasion Kimberly Joyce limited release
The Upside of Anger Lavender 'Popeye' Wolfmeyer
2006 Running with Scissors Natalie Finch
Down in the Valley October "Tobe" limited release
Asterix and the Vikings Abba (English Dub) limited release
Shark Bait Cordelia (Voice) Also known as The Reef
2007 King of California Miranda
Across the Universe Lucy Carrigan
Battle for Terra Mala (Voice)
The Life Before Her Eyes Young Diana limited release
2008 The Wrestler Stephanie Ramzinski
2009 Whatever Works Melodie
2009–2011 True Blood Sophie-Anne Leclerq
2011 The Conspirator Anna Surratt
Mildred Pierce Veda Pierce HBO Miniseries
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
The Ides of March Molly Stearns To be released
No comments:
Post a Comment