A Christian high school is just like any other high school in the sense of the politics and all of these levels of who's cool and what to wear.
A lot of the powerful religious leaders, from Jesus to Buddha to Tibetan monks, they're really talking about the same things: love and acceptable, and the value of friendship, and respecting yourself so you can respect others.
Adolescence isn't just about prom or wearing sparkly dresses.
Advice is such a tricky thing when you're young.
And I love writing; I've been writing ever since I was seven.
And so it started there, but I don't think I was consciously making choices until I was independently making my own choices and no one else was involved.
As long as there's truth and it's a script that I respond to and that's beautiful and that's wonderful.
Belief is such a powerful thing - but because it is, it can also be very destructive and it's very easily manipulated.
But I've really learned you don't have to fit in. No matter where you go, you're always going to be you and if they don't like you for who you are, then what's the point of being someone else?
But there is not a wide variety of roles to pick from as a young woman, and these sort of small, complicated things fall through cracks.
Film is a very powerful medium and I know I was affected by films and magazines and all of that when I was 13 years old.
Financially I had come to a sink or swim situation. I ran into some strange tax problems, and the only way out of them was to get to my trust fund.
For a child actor, it's a matter of listening, reacting, and being able to put yourself in a new place without being scared.
For me it's about truth, it sounds really gross and cheesy, but if it's an honest depiction of youth then I'm stoked about it.
For my personal health, I need some physical separation. I want a home where I can be creatively inspired.
I didn't really have a clear answer in regards to the juvenile detention systems, and also in regards to a lot of these acts that have been committed in the media involving school shootings and young people committing heinous acts that you can't really comprehend.
I had a pretty strong idea of what I wanted. I wanted to find fun, interesting stories that affected me.
I have a wonderful house in Lake Tahoe, a supportive family and a boyfriend I love, all of which keeps me real.
I just hate going and seeing movies where I'm just like I don't even know these people and they're actually my age and I should relate to them, but I just don't.
I love talking about movies that mean something to me.
I make sure that I read things that I'm not right for and things I guess I would typically read for.
I really admire Claire Danes. She's so amazing, and all the choices she's made for her career are good. I hope to work with her soon.
I tell my agent that I want to read everything.
I think everyone should follow their instincts, and go with what they feel, and follow their heart.
I think it would be really hard to be an agent, because you have to manage someone else's career, and pick what you think would be good, but you never really know what they would think.
I think it's a valuable exchange for the atheist and also the Christian.
I think it's an individual thing. Your mountains are my molehills.
I think particularly in a younger actor in this business it's incredible to see someone who steps beyond themselves to look at the big picture.
I think sleep's really important. I value it as much as waking up and having a full day.
I think the more you know about what's being put out there, the easier it is to find the projects you really love.
I think the script definitely comes first and it's not even necessarily about the role, because it can be one scene in a really incredible script that's funny, but it's not the most incredible scene.
I think we have more of a limited perspective when we're young.
I think what Kevin Spacey brought to the film was a certain amount of respect, just because he's always making really classy decisions.
I think you have a certain amount of apprehension because every director works differently and you don't know if a new director is going to be really strange.
I try to pretend I'm in that dark theater and when I'm scripts, I try to be that audience member and try to see what's new and what needs to be told, whether that's acting or taking photos and showing people.
I used to want to be a children's writer, because I would have all these great ideas when I was little, and I'd write them and draw them, and turn them into class.
I was really excited to see these important questions being asked in a film that was made for young people.
I've always found that the loopholes have carried me through so I try not to strategize.
I've made a lot of movies where I'm the only kid, or there are just two other kids, and you're working with adults in a very adult world.
If we could all just laugh at ourselves, in hard times or good times, it would be an incredible world.
In L.A., if you're an actor, your personal and professional lives are too intertwined.
It doesn't have to be weighty, dramatic, and hard to understand. I think you can find humor and truth to it and that's the beauty of life.
It feels so false to be putting on a lot of makeup and wearing crazy clothes in this heightened form of sexuality and femininity.
It sucks when there's interference of that vision, particularly when you're Richard Kelly and you have this clear and precise vision as to the movie you want to make.
It's always been a struggle to be able to find the most truthful and honest depictions of young people.
It's not necessarily about what you relate to - I think the hardest thing to do is actually to play yourself, because you have to be so raw and honest.
It's so hard to really get big studios to actually know you're a kid, and to be treated the same way.
It's very easy to make certain decisions that affect your life that you have no perspective on.
No matter who the characters are, you can strip them down and find small universal truths.
People have their own strategies in this business. Everyone implicates their own rules.
Some locations are so terrible, you can't even breathe, and you still have to act.
Some of the most incredible experiences I've had are with first time directors and writers, people who have actually written scripts and don't have the regular chains of Hollywood tying them down.
That's one of the strongest things you can say for a script is when you read it and you have an idea for it, you know what it's about, but there are a lot of questions that the script leaves in your head.
The great thing about homeschool is you can learn what you really need to learn, and you can take things that you're interested in.
The reason I started homeschool is I was so bored in school. I'd be helping the teacher, like the teacher's assistant and helping other kids.
The topic of homosexuality is something I've grown up with and been aware of. I've always had a hard time expressing to my peers what it was like, that it was just something they needed to understand.
There is a point in every young person's life when you realize that the youth that you've progressed through and graduate to some sort of adulthood is equally as messed up as where you're going.
There's so much more (to say) about being young and being a woman, but I feel like not a lot of those stories are being told, so you have to grab onto what ever small truths you can find and present it in the most honest way you can.
Unfortunately, I didn't have your typical high school experience.
We are all searching for some form of family or foundation - for a place we can feel safe and secure.
When I'm not working, I definitely I like waking up at noon.
You know, it's different when you see different actors and see how they work; some are great workers, really hard workers, and some are never there to give off-camera stuff, even though they're great actors.
You learn so much on the set, and that's one of the things I love about it.
I think the greatest taboos in America are faith and failure.
I started acting as a child because I loved stories and wanted to be part of them. I thought it would be something I could do for a few years, but it shows no sign of going away.
I get to play a lot of teenage girls with supposed problems. But I don't see them as problems - just part of the process of growing up.
[When told by an interviewer that she has a good head on her shoulders for someone who's grown up in the scary world of Hollywood:] But the scary world is all around us. Whether the walls are Hollywood or the walls are New York or the walls are Afghanistan. It's just a scary world, you have to know what you want from it, what your intentions are, and know that those things continually change.
[In reference to growing up without a father figure but rather with two mothers] I grew up with two moms. They were lovers until I was nine. Then they split up. I was the product of a one-night stand. But I met my father once when I was four. He lives somewhere in Reno. The thing is, I had two loving parents. Love in any shape or form is a beautiful thing. I didn't grow up missing my father.
Won legal emancipation from her mother, who is now barred from interfering with Jena's career and earnings. [January 2000]
Filed suit against mother Debbie, charging mismanagement of her earnings, failure to pay taxes, and seeking emancipation [1999]
Plans to study photography at a community college in northern California beginning in the fall 2002.
Half-sister, Madison Mae, born August 1997.
Briefly attended the Professional Children's School in Manhattan.
She lived in Lake Tahoe until age 10
Mom's name is Debbie (born 1962)
Was originally set to play Emily in Havoc (2005), but was replaced by Bijou Phillips.
Starred as Susan Sarandon's daughter in Stepmom, and then starred alongside Susan Sarandon's real daughter, Eva Amurri, in Saved!.
At the age of 12, she was the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in "Bastard out of Carolina" until 2001 when 7 year old Dakota Fanning was nominated for "I Am Sam".
Turned down auditioning for Air Force One (1997).
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