Early life
Wood was born in Raleigh, North Carolina to Ira David Wood III, an award-winning actor, singer, theatre director and playwright, and Sara Lynn Moore, an actress. Her brother, Ira David IV, is also an actor and her aunt, Carol Winstead Wood, is a Hollywood production designer; she also has a half brother, Dana, from her mother's first marriage. Wood is Jewish.
Wood and her brother were actively involved in their father's theatre, Theatre In The Park, while growing up; she appeared in a production of A Christmas Carol at the theatre when she was a few months old, and later starred as Helen Keller in a production of The Miracle Worker, under her father's direction.
Career
Wood auditioned for the child role in Interview with the Vampire, which was eventually given to actress Kirsten Dunst. She appeared in several made-for-television films from 1994 and onwards, also playing an occasional role in the television series American Gothic. In early 1997, Wood's parents separated and later divorced, and Wood moved with her mother to her mother's native Los Angeles, where 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".
Wood in American Gothic, in 1995
Wood left regular school at the age of eleven, and was home schooled, because of bullying and difficulty with teachers, who Wood says treated her like she was "spoiled" because she was an actress. She later drew upon her experiences with bullying to portray a malicious high school student in Pretty Persuasion.
Wood subsequently appeared in a number of films catering to a teenage audience, including Little Secrets. She was set to have the leading role in the films Raise Your Voice and Mean Girls, but was unable to because of production scheduling changes. Wood's breakthrough movie role followed, with the controversial 2003 independent film Thirteen, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress - Drama. During the time of Thirteen's release, Vogue 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.
Wood (left) and Nikki Reed (right) in Thirteen (2003), for her role, Wood was nominated for a Golden Globe award
Her next two starring roles were in the dark independent films, Pretty Persuasion (2005), in which she played a villainous, sexually active high-schooler, and Down in the Valley (2006), in which her character engages in a sexual relationship with an older man posing as a cowboy. Wood has commented on her choice of sexually themed roles, saying that she is not aiming for the "shock factor" in her film choices, and adding that she hopes her roles "spread awareness" about the consequences of deviant behavior among teenagers, citing that she has known people who behave similarly to her film characters.
Wood with Josh Zuckerman in Pretty Persuasion, 2005
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". In September of 2006, she received Premiere magazine's "Spotlight Award for Emerging Talent".
Wood has roles in several as-yet unreleased films, including King of California, and Across the Universe, a musical directed by Julie Taymor and set in the United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam; she will perform musical numbers in the film. During August and September 2006, Wood filmed In Bloom, in which she plays a younger version of a character played by Uma Thurman.
Wood is also mentioned in Veronica Mars as the actress to play Veronica in a film made of her life.
Personal life
Wood was homeschooled due to bullying, and received her high school diploma at age fifteen. [6] She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and enjoys singing, having recorded the songs "Christmas Isn't Christmas Without You" and "Silver and Gold" for the School's Out Christmas Album, which featured various artists. Wood is now considering taking part-time college courses, but is not yet pursuing a full-time college education.
Wood has said that her character in Across the Universe, whom she describes as an "old soul, street smart and ahead of her time", is close to her real-life personality. Wood also describes herself as being "laid back" and "not a party girl", citing her choice to stay away from what is considered a typical Hollywood lifestyle.
During 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 January 2007, reports emerged romantically linking Wood to rock star Marilyn Manson while he was married to Dita Von Teese. The report alleged that Wood was a factor in the demise of their relationship. Wood co-starred in his new horror film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll and attended the grand opening of his new Celebritarian Corporation Gallery of Fine Art on October 31, 2006. Among the notable artworks were the 2 portraits of Evan.
