Biography
Evan Rachel Wood was born in Raleigh, NC, where her father Ira David Wood ran a theater company. Along with her two brothers, she acted in her dad's stage productions before getting small roles in made-for-TV movies. In 1995, she made several guest appearances on the CBS drama
American Gothic, as the daughter of Mrs. Russell (played by real-life mom Sara Lynn Moore). Her next regular role was Chloe on the NBC sci-fi police drama
Profiler. She left the show to join the cast of the popular ABC family drama
Once and Again as Rick's daughter Jessie. Along with child actor co-stars Julia Whelan and Meredith Deane, she won a Young Artist Award for her work on the show. Other TV appearances include
Touched by an Angel,
The West Wing, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In 1998, Wood made her first feature film in
Timothy Hutton's directorial debut
Digging to China. In the starring role of Harriet Frankovitz, she played a ten-year-old girl who befriends mentally challenged adult Ricky (
Kevin Bacon). More movie appearances followed in
Griffin Dunne's fantasy
Practical Magic,
Joey Travolta's crime movie
Detour, and
Andrew Niccol's sci-fi comedy
Simone. Her next leading role was in the family-friendly drama
Little Secrets as teenage concert violinist Emily Lindstrom. Her big breakthrough came in 2003 as the star of
Catherine Hardwicke's directorial debut
Thirteen, which was partially written by teenage co-star
Nikki Reed. Launched into semi-stardom by the well-marketed movie, she was then offered a part in
Ron Howard's Western
The Missing, also starring
Cate Blanchett and
Tommy Lee Jones. Projects for 2004 include the family drama
The Upside of Anger and the teen comedy
Pretty Persuasion. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide