She also portrayed the title character's malicious daughter in the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce (2011), for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe and Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Wood also had a voice role in the Disney animated film Frozen II (2019), and portrayed Madonna in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022).

"[6] Wood was actively involved in Theatre in the Park while growing up, including an appearance in the 1987 production of her father's musical comedy adaptation of A Christmas Carol when she was just a few months old.

[5][7] She subsequently played the Ghost of Christmas Past in several productions there, and starred as Helen Keller alongside her mother (as Anne Sullivan) in The Miracle Worker, under her father's direction.

Her character dealt with her parents' divorce, anorexia, and falling in love with her best friend Katie, played by Mischa Barton,[16] in what became the first teen lesbian pairing on network television.

[19] Wood made her teenage debut as a leading film actress in 2001's Little Secrets, directed by Blair Treu, where she played 14-year-old aspiring concert violinist Emily Lindstrom.

[20] Wood next played a supporting role in Andrew Niccol's 2002 satirical science fiction film Simone, which starred Al Pacino.

She starred as Tracy Louise Freeland, a young teen who sinks into a downward spiral of hard drugs, sex, and petty crime.

One critic commented, "Wood does flip cynicism with such precise, easy rhythms and with such obvious pleasure in naughtiness that she's impossible to hate.

"[25] David Jacobson's neo-western Down in the Valley premiered later that year, in which Wood's character, Tobe, falls in love with an older man, played by Edward Norton, a cowboy who is at odds with modern society.

King of California, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,[29] tells the story of a bipolar jazz musician (Michael Douglas) and his long-suffering teenage daughter, Miranda (Wood), who are reunited after his two-year stay in a mental institution and who embark on a quixotic search for Spanish treasure.

Set during the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960s, Wood played Lucy, an American teen who develops a relationship with her brother's British friend Jude (Jim Sturgess).

[34] In 2007, Wood also starred in the Vadim Perelman-directed The Life Before Her Eyes, based on the Laura Kasischke novel of the same name, about the friendship of two teens of opposite character who are involved in a Columbine-like shooting incident at their school and are forced to make an impossible choice.

Of her performance, one critic wrote, "Once her character stops stonewalling her father and hears him out, Wood provides a fine foil for Rourke in their turbulent scenes together.

"[37] Wood co-starred in Woody Allen's Whatever Works, which premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, playing the young wife of Larry David's character.

[42] Wood had a role in the film The Conspirator, which premiered at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., in April 2011, directed by Robert Redford (about the conspiracy surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln).

[46] Wood starred with Chris Evans in a 2010 ad campaign filmed by Frank Miller for Gucci Guilty Eau fragrances.

[48][49] Wood played Gabi in the 2013 psychological romantic thriller film Charlie Countryman with Shia LaBeouf and Rupert Grint.

In 2016, Wood began starring as sentient android Dolores Abernathy in the HBO science fiction Western series Westworld.

[61] In 2012, Wood recorded "I'd Have You Anytime" which is on the fourth CD of Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International, a compilation production for the benefit of the organization.

Wood appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in 2019 when "Show Yourself", the duet she sang alongside Idina Menzel from the Frozen II soundtrack, debuted on the chart at number 99.

[71][72] In February 2018, she testified before the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations in support of the Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights Act.

[73] In April 2019, she testified before the California State Senate to help pass the Phoenix Act, which extended the statute of limitations in domestic violence cases from three to five years and requires police to have additional training.

[74] In her testimony, Wood said she had been physically, sexually and emotionally abused by singer Marilyn Manson,[75] including antisemitism,[76][77][78] and that she had subsequently been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

[112][113] In March 2022, HBO released the docuseries Phoenix Rising, focusing on these allegations and the circumstances that led Wood, who was 18 at the time, to enter a relationship with the then-37-year-old Manson.

[114] That month, Manson filed a lawsuit against Wood for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violations of the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, as well as impersonation of an FBI agent and falsifying federal documents.

[117] In January 2025, following a four-year investigation, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department declined to file charges against Manson, citing a lack of evidence.