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. She attended Cary Elementary School in Cary, North Carolina, where she starred in its production of The Little Mermaid. When her parents divorced, she moved with her mother to her mother's native Los Angeles in 1997 to further her acting career. She attended public school in California before leaving at age 12 for homeschooling. She received her high school diploma at 15. Wood said she earned a black belt in taekwondo when she was 12, and that she participated in the AAU Junior Olympic Games. Career 1994–2000: Early work Wood began her career appearing in several made-for-television films that were shot in her native North Carolina from 1994 onwards. She also had recurring roles in the television series American Gothic (1995–1996) and Profiler (1998–1999), receiving a nomination for Best Supporting Young Actress in a TV Drama Series at the 21st Young Artist Awards for the latter. Wood's first major screen role was in the low-budget 1997 film Digging to China, as a ten-year-old girl who forms an unlikely friendship with a mentally handicapped man, played by Kevin Bacon. It was shot in Western North Carolina and won the Children's Jury Award at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. Wood remembers the role as initially hard, but that it "eventually led to her decision that acting is something she might never want to stop doing." The following year she had a role in Practical Magic, a fantasy film directed by Griffin Dunne starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Young Actress at the 20th Young Artist Awards. It was followed by the 1999 made-for-television thriller Down Will Come Baby, for which she was nominated for the YoungStar Award for Best Young Actress in a Mini-Series/Made for TV Film. From 1999 to 2002, Wood was a regular on the ABC television family drama Once and Again in the role of Jessie Sammler. Her character dealt with her parents' divorce, anorexia, and falling in love with her best friend Katie, played by Mischa Barton, in what became the first teen lesbian pairing on network television. For her performance as Jessie, Wood was nominated for the YoungStar Award for Best Young Actress, and won Best Ensemble in a TV Series along with her