She began acting in the 1990s, appearing in several television series, includingOnce and Again (1999–2002). She expanded to films at the age of nine inDigging to China (1997) and garnered praise for herGolden Globe-nominated role as a troubled teenager in the drama filmThirteen (2003). After starring in several independent films, Wood appeared in more mainstream films, includingThe Wrestler (2008),Whatever Works (2009), andThe Ides of March (2011).
Wood was born inRaleigh, North Carolina, on September 7, 1987.[1] Her mother, Sara Lynn Moore, is an actress, director, and acting coach.[2] Her father,Ira David Wood III, is an actor, theater director and playwright prominent in Raleigh, where he is the co-founder and executive director of a community theatre company calledTheatre in the Park.[3][4] Wood's brother, Ira David Wood IV, is also an actor; she has two other brothers, Dana and Thomas, and a sister named Aden. Her paternal aunt, Carol Winstead Wood, was aproduction designer inHollywood.[5]
Of having a traditionally masculine given name, Wood has said: "My mother had a dream that she was gonna have a daughter with blond hair and blue eyes named Evan, so that was just my name."[6]
Wood was actively involved in Theatre in the Park while growing up, including an appearance in the 1987 production of her father's musical comedy adaptation ofA Christmas Carol when she was a few months old.[5][7] She subsequently played theGhost of Christmas Past in several productions there, and starred asHelen Keller alongside her mother (asAnne Sullivan) inThe Miracle Worker, under her father's direction.[8][9]
Wood began her career appearing in severaltelevision films that were shot in her native North Carolina from 1993 onwards.[7] She made her acting debut at the beginning of that year inSondra Locke'sDeath in Small Doses.[12] She had recurring roles in the television seriesAmerican Gothic (1995–1996)[5] andProfiler (1998–1999),[7] receiving a nomination for Best Supporting Young Actress in a TV Drama Series at the21st Young Artist Awards for the latter.[13]
From 1999 to 2002, Wood was a regular on theABC television family dramaOnce and Again in the role of Jessie Sammler. Her character dealt with her parents' divorce, anorexia, and falling in love with her best friend Katie, played byMischa Barton,[16] in what became the first teen lesbian pairing onnetwork television.[17] For her performance as Jessie, Wood was nominated for the YoungStar Award for Best Young Actress,[18] and won Best Ensemble in a TV Series along with her co-starsJulia Whelan andMeredith Deane, at the22nd Young Artist Awards.[19]
Wood made her teenage debut as a leading film actress in 2001'sLittle Secrets, directed byBlair Treu, where she played 14-year-old aspiring concert violinist Emily Lindstrom. For that role, she was nominated for Best Leading Young Actress at the24th Young Artist Awards.[20] Wood next played a supporting role inAndrew Niccol's 2002 satiricalscience fiction filmSimone. That same year, Wood was recognized as One to Watch at theYoung Hollywood Awards.[21]
Wood's breakout film role followed withCatherine Hardwicke's 2003 filmThirteen. She starred as Tracy Louise Freeland, a young teen who sinks into a downward spiral of hard drugs, sex, and petty crime. Her performance garnered critical acclaim, earning herGolden Globe andScreen Actors Guild nominations for Best Lead Actress.[5][22] During the time ofThirteen's release, Wood was featured on the cover ofVogue, with the magazine naming her as one of the "It Girls" of Hollywood.[5] She similarly appeared, along with eight other teen actresses, on the cover ofVanity Fair's Young Hollywood issue in July 2003.[23] A supporting role inRon Howard'sThe Missing, in which she played the kidnapped daughter Lilly Gilkeson, followed the same year, earning her a nomination for Best Leading Young Actress at the25th Young Artist Awards.[24]
In 2005, Wood appeared in theMike Binder-directedThe Upside of Anger, a well-reviewed film in which Wood played Lavender "Popeye" Wolfmeyer, one of four sisters dealing with their father's absence. Her character narrated the film.[4] Wood's next two starring roles were in dark independent films. In the 2005Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize nomineePretty Persuasion, ablack comedy focusing on the themes ofsexual harassment in schools and attitudes about women in media and society, Wood played Kimberly Joyce, a manipulative, sexually active high-schooler. One critic commented, "Wood does flip cynicism with such precise, easy rhythms and with such obvious pleasure in naughtiness that she's impossible to hate."[25]David Jacobson'sneo-westernDown in the Valley premiered later that year, in which Wood's character, Tobe, falls in love with an older man, played byEdward Norton, a cowboy who is 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."[26] Wood has commented on her sexually themed roles, saying that she is not aiming for the "shock factor" in her film choices.[4] Also in 2005, Wood starred in the music videos forBright Eyes' "At the Bottom of Everything" andGreen Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends".[5]
By 2006, Wood was described byThe Guardian as being "one of the best actresses of her generation."[4] Later that year, she received the Spotlight Award for Emerging Talent atPremiere magazine's annual Women in Hollywood gala.[27] Also in 2006, Wood appeared with an all-star ensemble cast as Natalie Finch in thecomedy-drama filmRunning with Scissors.[28] Directed byRyan Murphy and starringAnnette Bening, the film was based on thememoir byAugusten Burroughs, which is asemi-autobiographical account of Burroughs' childhood in a dysfunctional family.
Wood had roles in two films released in September 2007.King of California, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,[29] tells the 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 aquixotic search for Spanish treasure. One review praised Wood's performance as "excellent."[30] The second film wasAcross the Universe,Julie Taymor'sjukebox musical set to the songs ofthe Beatles that was nominated for theGolden Globe Award for Best Musical or Comedy. Set during thecounter-cultural revolution of the 1960s, Wood played Lucy, an American teen who develops a relationship with her brother's British friend Jude (Jim Sturgess).[31] The film featured her singing musical numbers, and she has described the role as her favorite.[32] One critic wrote that "Wood brings much-needed emotional depth."[33]
Wood provided the voice of an alien named Mala inBattle for Terra, a 2007 animatedscience fiction film about a peaceful alien planet that faces destruction from colonization by the displaced remainder of the human race.[31] The film won the 2008 Grand Prize at theOttawa International Animation Festival. The film was screened at theSan Francisco International Film Festival, where she received an award at the Midnight Awards.[34] Also in 2007, Wood starred in theVadim Perelman-directedThe Life Before Her Eyes, based on theLaura Kasischke novel of the same name, about the friendship of two teens of opposite character who are involved in aColumbine shooting-like incident at their school and are forced to make an impossible choice. Wood played the younger version ofUma Thurman's character, Diana. One critic cited her performance as "hands-down extraordinary."[35] Wood stated that she intended the film to be the last one in which she played a teenager.[36]
The following year, she co-starred inDarren Aronofsky'sThe Wrestler, winner of theGolden Lion Award for Best Film at theVenice 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, 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."[37]
Wood co-starred inWoody Allen'sWhatever Works, which premiered at the 2009Tribeca Film Festival, playing the young wife ofLarry David's character.[38] She later expressed regret for taking the role and that she would not work with Allen again.[39] In May 2009, she playedJuliet in six fundraising performances ofWilliam Shakespeare'sRomeo and Juliet at the Theater In The Park; the production was directed by her brother Ira, who also starred.[40] That same year, Wood was named Young Hollywood Superstar at the Young Hollywood Awards.[41]
In late 2012 she began filming10 Things I Hate About Life, a followup to the hit 1999 teen comedy10 Things I Hate About You in which she andThomas McDonell played a couple who meet while attempting suicide. Filming was suspended when she became pregnant with her son; when it resumed again in 2013 Wood left the production, claiming she had not been paid beyond her $300,000 advance since the production company had not been able to raise enough money to pay her for the filming already completed. In response they sued her for $30 million.[46][needs update]
In 2016, Wood began starring as sentient android Dolores Abernathy in the HBO science fiction Western seriesWestworld. Her performance was praised as "spectacular",[51] "tour-de-force, turn-on-a-dime",[52] as well as "a tremendous technical achievement".[53]
In 2012, Wood recorded "I'd Have You Anytime" which is on the fourth CD ofChimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International, a compilation production for the benefit of the organization.[62] She performed as electro-pop duo, Rebel and a Basketcase, with multi-instrumentalistZach Villa in 2016.[63][64][65] The duo disbanded in August 2017.[66] Wood is one-half of cover band Evan + Zane, which she formed with guitarist/singer-songwriter Zane Carney in 2018.[67][68] Evan + Zane put out their first CD, calledDreams, in December 2022.
Wood's mother is aconvert to Judaism, and she has said that she was "raised with the religion."[78] In 2012, she stated, "I believe in God but I am not religious. I am spiritual. My definition of God isn't in any religion. It's very personal."[79]
In 2011, Wood publicly disclosed that she isbisexual,[84][85] and rekindled her relationship with Jamie Bell.[86] They were married in October 2012[87] and had a son in July 2013.[88] In May 2014, they announced their separation.[89] By 2015, Wood was in a relationship with her bandmateZach Villa.[90] They were engaged in January 2017 and called it off that September.[91][92] Starting in 2020, Wood and Bell were in dispute over the custody of their son.[93] Bell said he was deprived of contact with him when Wood moved from Los Angeles to Nashville; Wood claimed she did this to protect the child from former fiancé Marilyn Manson.[94] Bell argued in court that Wood's story "defies credibility", and accused her of "withholding our son from me for other reasons of her own invention."[95] In May 2023, the two agreed the child would live primarily with Bell in Los Angeles, with Wood having visitation for "one extended weekend per month," and certain holidays.[96]
In 2020, Wood wrote a message on Twitter regarding thedeath ofKobe Bryant, describing Bryant as a "rapist",[97][98] a reference to his2003 sexual assault case.[99] Many, including Bryant's widow, criticized Wood for the comment,[100] and Wood deleted her Twitter account soon after.[99]
In 2016, Wood told aRolling Stone reporter she had beenraped twice years earlier, once by a "significant other".[101][102][103] In February 2021, Wood named Manson as her alleged abuser onInstagram,[104] where four other women made similar allegations against him.[105] Sixteen women have made accusations against Manson, and four have sued him for sexual assault.[106] TheLos Angeles County Sheriff's Department said they were investigating Manson due to allegations of domestic violence.[107] In September 2022, the LACSD presented the report of their 19-month investigation on Manson to Los Angeles Countydistrict attorneyGeorge Gascón.[108] Gascón called the file "partial", and said more evidence was needed in order to file charges.[109][110]
In March 2022,HBO released thedocuseriesPhoenix Rising, focusing on these allegations and the circumstances that led Wood, who was 18 at the time, to enter a relationship with the then-37-year-old Manson.[111] That month, Manson filed a lawsuit against Wood fordefamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violations of theCalifornia Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, as well as impersonation of an FBI agent and falsifying federal documents.[112] In May 2023, a judge dismissed a part of the lawsuit that involved an FBI letter, which Wood denied forging, and another that alleged Wood and another woman named as a defendant, Illma Gore, created a checklist for other women to use to accuse Manson of abuse.[113] In 2024, Manson dropped his lawsuit and agreed to pay Wood's legal fees.[114]
In January 2025, following a four-year criminal investigation of the sexual abuse and domestic violence allegations by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the Los Angeles district attorney's office declined to file charges against Marilyn Manson, citing a lack of evidence and thestatute of limitations. WhileNathan Hochman, the district attorney of Los Angeles, said he "acknowledged the courage of the women who spoke up", he said the decision was "necessitated by the facts and evidence in this matter".[115]
^abcdefgJohnson, Adrienne M. (September 19, 1999). "Raleigh's Evan Wood lands a role in a show that has critics talking".The News & Observer. pp. 1G, 9G.
^Pilcher, Bradford R. (September 10, 2006)."Evan Rachel Wood".American Jewish Life Magazine. Archived fromthe original on July 15, 2012. RetrievedJanuary 15, 2007.
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