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" (1994) 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.
Wood has been described by The Guardian newspaper as being "wise beyond her years" and as "one of the best actresses of her generation".
Evan was homeschooled due to bullying, and received her high school diploma at age fifteen. She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and enjoys singing, having recorded the songs "Christmas Isn't Christmas Without You" and "Silver and Gold" for the School's Out Christmas Album.
In January 2007, reports emerged romantically linking Wood to shock rock star Marilyn Manson before he made public his estrangement from his wife, Dita Von Teese. Wood was allegedly a factor in the demise of their relationship. Two portraits of Wood, painted by Manson, hang in the Celebritarian Corporation Gallery of Fine Art. Manson has subsequently confirmed that the two are together in a BBC Radio 1 interview with presenter Zane Lowe. Wood is also the inspiration behind Manson's song "Heart-Shaped Glasses".
She has 3 tattoos. The letter J on her ankle which is in reference to her last boyfriend Jamie Bell, a Beatles themed tattoo on the other ankle and a black heart with a lightning bolt on her thigh. The heart represents her love for Marilyn Manson and the lightning bolt is in reference to David Bowie.
Evan Rachel Wood appeared in several made-for-television films from 1994 and onwards, also playing an occasional role in the television series American Gothic. In early 1997, Wood's parents separated and later divorced, and Wood moved with her mother to her mother's native Los Angeles, where Wood was cast in the supporting role of Jessie Sammler on the television show Once and Again. Wood's first major screen role was in the low-budget 1998 film, Digging to China, which also starred Kevin Bacon and Mary Stuart Masterson. Wood remembers the role as initially being "hard", but notes that it eventually led to her decision that acting is something she "might never want to stop doing".
Wood subsequently appeared in a number of films catering to a teenage audience, including Little Secrets. She was set to have the leading role in the films Raise Your Voice and Mean Girls, but was unable to because of production scheduling changes. Wood's breakthrough movie role followed, with the controversial 2003 independent film Thirteen, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress - Drama. During the time of Thirteen's release, Vanity Fair named Wood as one of the It Girls of Hollywood, and she appeared, along with the other actresses, on the magazine's July 2003 cover.
