Shailene Woodley earned raves for her role as George Clooney's troubled teenage daughter in The Descendants — not bad, considering it was the ABC Family star's first major film role. Nominated in the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture category at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, Us Weekly uncovers some need-to-know info about the 20-year-old rising star.
1. She was diagnosed with scoliosis (a severe curvature of the spine) at age 15. "When I first put on the back brace, I said, 'I can do this.' My only real issue was I needed a new wardrobe," Woodley told Us in 2008. "It's like wearing a tacky, disgusting, plastic corset for 18 hours a day. In the beginning, it was hard to eat or breathe. And I had to give up cross-country running. But I needed to have it to realign my spine." After two years, Woodley's doctors gave her the OK to remove her brace.
2. She believes in a drug-free lifestyle. "I was never the party girl. I know a lot of people in high school who smoke weed. At some parties, I know that people snorted coke on the table or heroin, but I've never seen that," Woodley told Seventeen in May 2010. "It was mainly pills. There are a lot of people in school who do drugs and do turn their lives around, but it's hard to do. I'm just grateful that I never tried it."
3. Disney characters cheer her up. "If you listen to the lyrics, they actually have incredibly valuable lessons for human beings to learn," Woodley told L.A. Confidential in January 2012. "Whenever I need a pick-me-up, I just watch Pocahontas."
4. She quit her job at American Apparel when she was cast in The Descendants. Despite starring on ABC Family's Secret Life of the American Teenager, the humble actress worked in retail. "I feared that day where I had to go tell my manager that I had to quit because I booked [The Descendants]. I felt so bad," Woodley said on Chelsea Lately in November 2011. "But she was happy for me. I didn't tell her any details about the film, though."
5. She's been a video vixen! In June 2011, Woodley donned '80s attire for Best Coast's Our Deal" music video (directed by Drew Barrymore). Fellow teen stars Chloe Moretz and Miranda Cosgrove also made cameos.
