MALONE AT THE TOP
Jena Malone is the rising star everyone wants to work with. Just ask Julia Roberts!
With her slight frame, straight brown hair and scrappy personality, Jena Malone,14, resembles Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. And like that classic character, Malone doesn't scare easily. Cast her as a girl who has been sexually abused in the Showtime movie Bastard Out of Carolina and she won't flinch. "If you just go do it, and it's something apart from you," she explains, "you're not going to have to go through therapy or have nightmares, because it's ust a character you play." Put her in Stepmom, with megastars Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts, and she won't even twitch. In that movie, Malone plays Anna, the daughter of divorced parents, who resents her dad's decision to remarry. "The movie is about how one change can affect an entire family-how it affects each person differently-and how kids are not well-adjusted to change," she says.
Change has never been a problem for Malone. The Nevada native moved frequently when she was younger. She landed in L.A. with her mother, Debbie, when she was 10, and they had to "count change to Taco Bell." Steady work in TV and films [like Contact with Jodie Foster] has eased burdens. "I'm able to help my family because I've been doing movies," says Malone. The benefits of acting are more than financial, though-nmely working with inspiring actors such as Malone's Stepmom mother, Sarandon. "If I had to base my career on someon's, it would probably be hers," Malone says. "Because, you know, she took risks."
Malone has ventured into new territory recently-high school. After years of being taught at home, she moved east and enrolled in the Professional Children's School in New York City. "I asked my friends, "What do I do when I switch classes? I've never [done that]. "" Luckily, everythig worked out. "School is not really as hard as I thought it would be, except for French."
JULIA ROBERTS' MOMENT OF JENA ENVY
"We were shooting a scene that was supposed to take place on Christmas morning, and Chris [Columbus], our director, said, "I'm so happy to announce that Jena Malone has been nominated for a Golden Globe [for HOPE]." Everyone gave her a round of applause. Suddenly I thought, I have a movie out too. It was such a brief moment of my own ego saying, "What a bummer." And then I thought how excited it was for her and how well-deserved. She's a great person, a phenomenal actor, and when you're on a movie set five days a week, twelve hours a day, what more could you ask for?" [That same day Roberts received a Golden Globe nomination for My Best Friend's Wedding]
