Jena Malone

Malone was born on November 21, 1984, in Sparks, Nevada, the daughter of Deborah Malone and Edward Berge. Her father is of partly Norwegian descent; she also has Irish ancestry. According to Malone, her mother became pregnant with her after a one-night stand with her father, who was married to another woman at the time. Malone was raised by her mother and her mother's girlfriend. "They were lovers," Malone has said. "I had two moms, and it was awesome." She remained estranged from her father for much of her early life but reconciled with him in adulthood.

Malone grew up impoverished; her family relocated frequently and at times was homeless. "We were just so poor," Malone has said. "We'd hop out of apartments, lose jobs, find a cheaper place, get kicked out, live in cars, and live in hotels." By the time she was nine years old, she had lived in 27 locations. Despite the frequent moves, Malone said, "I don't think it was a tough childhood... it prepared me for this strange, gypsy lifestyle of an actor. It's a beautiful thing to give children diversity of where to live and how to live; it makes you believe that security is built within instead of four concrete walls that you call a home."

As a child, Malone first began taking an interest in acting while watching her mother perform in community theater in the Lake Tahoe area. In 1995 she moved to Las Vegas, where she resided with her family for nine months, and began taking acting classes while her mother worked in a call center. She subsequently persuaded her mother to move to Los Angeles so she could pursue an acting career. Malone has said that she and her mother struggled financially in Los Angeles. She was home-schooled from sixth to eighth grade and attended the Professional Children's School in New York City for ninth grade. She has one younger maternal half-sibling, Madison Mae Malone (born 1997). After dropping out of high school in 1999, Malone obtained a General Educational Development certificate in 2001.