Jena Malone
Currently: Making her Broadway debut as young teacher Sister James originated by Heather Goldenhersh in Doubt with Eileen Atkins, Ron Eldard and Adriane Lenox.
Hometown: "My hometown is hard to determine precisely," the actress says. "We moved around a bunch, generally in the Reno and Lake Tahoe area. We were poor white trash-you skip out on rent one month, you find another job another month, you find a cheaper place the next week… You constantly find new ground, new places."
Life as an Extra: Malone was exposed to the performing arts at a very young age. "My mother was always doing theater," she explains. "So, instead of me having a babysitter, I was the dancing flower in the background of Bye Bye Birdie and a crowd person in Fiddler on the Roof." After her start on the stage, she booked television commercials and even appeared in the Michael Jackson video "Childhood;" then, at the age of 11, she landed her big break playing an abused girl in the film Bastard Out of Carolina.
For Love of It: Ever since Bastard Out of Carolina, Malone has been in the public eye. "It's weird, you give interviews when you're 14 and whatever you say sticks for years afterwards, like a stigma," she states. While she has done some mainstream films Contact, Stepmom, For Love of the Game, Cold Mountain and Pride & Prejudice, Malone has mostly chosen quirkier projects Donnie Darko, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, The United States of Leland, Saved! and The Ballad of Jack and Rose among them. As she puts it: "I do what I'm drawn to. I try also to step back as an audience member and see what I've been missing and craving. What is great is I've surrounded myself with people who know they can't tell me what to do." In other words, don't expect her to be driving around in Herbie, fully loaded or not. "Thankfully there are people out there doing those types of films, so I don't have to!"
A Reunion: Malone did not know Atkins even though they both appeared in the film Cold Mountain or Lenox, but worked with Eldard previously on Bastard Out of Carolina, in which his character molested hers. "It's going to be a treat for the one audience member who puts the two together," she laughs. "When I found out he was doing it, it was really rad. It's wonderful working with him."
Finding It: Malone rehearsed with Atkins and Eldard for about a month before she started in Doubt on January 11. "If it were just me coming and it was still [original stars] Cherry [Jones] and Brían [F. O'Byrne], it would be stifling for me to have to fill Heather's exact shoes. But [this way] we can try new approaches together. Even if you end up making the exact same choices as the other actor, you want to find it on your own. Actors are like stubborn-headed children."
Her Inner Sister James: Despite her previous chorus work, this is really Malone's true stage debut. She was actually worried director Doug Hughes would be "babying" to her for that reason, but instead says he "cut through the bullshit" and gave her what she needed. "In film acting, the technical side is what is surrounding you-the equipment, the cameras," she points out. "With theater acting all of that science internalizes. In theater, if you need to shine a little more light on an issue, you do it from inside. If you need to shadow something that is too bright, you do it from inside. It's a different approach."
Without a Doubt: Malone resides in Lake Tahoe, where she has her own house complete with dark room she studied photography at a community college. But she is used to being away and is relishing her time on Broadway. "I'm kind of addicted to the feeling that you've created something new," she gushes. "Even if it's similar to what you did yesterday, you can never create the same thing again, even if you wanted to. It's wonderful."