Evan Rachel Wood

Evan Rachel Wood Biography

Evan Rachel 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 Wood IV, is also an actor. She also has a half brother, Dana, from her mother's first marriage. Evan Rachel Wood is Jewish.

Evan's first career disappointment came at the age of five when she lost the role of Claudia in "Interview With The Vampire" to Kirsten Dunst. She got back on track, however, appearing in several television roles, including American Gothic and Once and Again. Wood made her debut as a lead film actress in 2002's Little Secrets, and became well known after her Golden Globe-nominated role in Thirteen, which gained her critical praise.

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 with the Valley, which was directed by David Jacobson, Wood's character, Tobe, falls in love with an older man posing as a cowboy at odds with modern society. 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.

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 Benning. 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 and his long-suffering teenage daughter, Miranda, who are reunited after his two-year stay in a mental institution and who embark on a 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 played Lucy, who develops a relationship with Jude. The film features her singing musical numbers. One critic wrote that "Wood brings much-needed emotional depth.


Wood also co-starred in The Wrestler winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, about Randy "Ram" Robinson, a professional wrestler from the 1980s who is forced to retire after a heart attack threatens to kill him the next time he wrestles.

On October 24, 2007, Entertainment Weekly announced that Wood planned to sign a record deal with Interscope Records. As of 2008 she is currently working on her debut album.