Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood was born, Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, in San Francisco, California on July 20, 1938 to Russian immigrant parents. She appeared in her first movie, Happy Land, as a four year old in 1943. After her appearance in her first movie, Natalie and her family moved to Los Angeles, California, so that she can further her career. As a prolific child actress, she appeared in more than a dozen movies. Neither of these movies heightened her stardom quite like her role in Rebel Without a Cause, made with James Dean when she was seventeen years old and in which she garnered her first Academy Award Nomination.
Natalie always wanted to play profound character roles rather than career-boosting sex symbol parts. She died on November 29, 1981, in a drowning accident in Santa Catalina, California.
Her sister is the actress Lana Wood.