Focus Features

Jena Malone

Lydia Bennet

Jena Malone made an unforgettable debut in the lead role of Anjelica Huston's Bastard Out of Carolina (based on the Dorothy Allison book of the same name), which aired on Showtime. Her performance earned her CableACE, Screen Actors Guild, and Independent Spirit Award nominations as well as a Young Artist Award.

A number of projects followed, with roles that firmly established her as a gifted young actor. She starred in another acclaimed Showtime telefilm, Martin Bell's Hidden in America; Robert Zemeckis' blockbuster Contact (as the young Jodie Foster character); Goldie Hawn's telefilm Hope (which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination); John Erman's "Hallmark Hall of Fame" telefilm Ellen Foster; Chris Columbus' popular Stepmom; and John Stockwell's telefilm Cheaters.

More recently, Ms. Malone has starred onscreen in one of the most talked-about films of recent years, Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko; Irwin Winkler's Life as a House; Peter Care's The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys; Jordan Brady's American Girl (which she co-produced); Anthony Minghella's award-winning Cold Mountain; Rebecca Miller's The Ballad of Jack and Rose; and Brian Dannelly's Saved!