 jena malone (; born november 21, 1984) is an american actress and musician. she made her movie debut with the film bastard out of carolina (1996) and has appeared in films including ellen foster (1997), contact (1997), stepmom (1998), donnie darko (2001), saved! (2004), pride & prejudice (2005), into the wild (2007), the ruins (2008), sucker punch (2011) and the hunger games: catching fire (2013). malone is also an experimental musician who has released music both under her own name and as the shoe. ==early life and education== malone was born in sparks, nevada to deborah "debbie" malone. she was raised by her mother and her mother's girlfriend at the time, whom she has called "godmom".malone discussed this at a march 2004 appearance on loveline malone has stated that her biological father's surname was "berge" or "bergen", and that he was of part norwegian descent; she also has irish ancestry. by the time she was 9 years old, she had already lived in 27 different locations. 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 to pursue a career in acting. in los angeles, california, malone has stated that she and her mother struggled with money. malone was home-schooled from sixth to eighth grade. she attended the professional children's school, for the ninth grade in new york, and quit it after a year, when she became legally emancipated, in january 2000.richard kern: [http://www.indexmagazine.com/intervi
1984_births 20th-century_American_actresses 21st-century_American_actresses Actresses_from_Nevada American_child_actresses American_female_singers American_film_actresses American_people_of_Irish_descent American_people_of_Norwegian_descent American_photographers American_television_actresses Living_people People_from_Los_Angeles,_California People_from_Sparks,_Nevada