Natalie Wood was born on July 20, 1938 in San Francisco, California. She was the first child of Russian immigrants, Nikolai and Maria Zakharenko.
Her parents changed her name to Natasha Nikolaevna Zacharenko after her birth. Wood started her career as a child actress in the late 1940s.
Her first role was as an extra in the movie "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947).
She continued to make small appearances in movies throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1961, she starred in the movie "Splendor in the Grass" opposite Warren Beatty. The movie was a critical success and established her as a leading lady in Hollywood.