When the Sonoma Film Festival recently feted 19-year-old actress Jena Malone with its Imagery Honor to celebrate her career achievement, it might have raised some eyebrows. This, after all, is someone barely out of childhood—how much of a career can she possibly have? But Malone is a young woman who made an impressive film debut at 11 in Bastard Out of Carolina, Anjelica Huston’s acclaimed adaptation of lesbian writer Dorothy Allison’s searing novel. Since then, she has already made more than 20 movies, ranging from Hollywood blockbusters like Cold Mountain to idiosyncratic fare like Donnie Darko.

With Saved!, one of the most hotly anticipated indie movies of the summer, Malone adds another exceptional performance to her resume. In this teen comedy that satirizes knee-jerk religious faith, she plays Mary, a sweet-natured high school student whose life is upended when her boyfriend comes out to her as gay, she gets pregnant, and she suddenly finds herself in with the out crowd when her clique at her Christian high school ostracizes her. Malone is the linchpin in an ensemble that includes Macaulay Culkin, Mandy Moore, Patrick Fugit, Heather Matarazzo, and Eva Amurri. And while Mary’s experience is light years away from Malone’s, the actor jumped at the opportunity to play a girl whose faith and inner resolve move her. In Saved!, she found a lot to savor.

Q: What was your first reaction when you read the script?

Jena Malone: I think it was along the lines of, "Finally!" I was really excited to see these important questions being asked in a film that was made for young people, and I loved the humor.

Q: I loved some of the dialogue. I wrote down, "Please let it be cancer, please let it be cancer." That line of dialogue says so much about...

JM: ...about what that young woman is going through, the world that she’s living in, and sort of the only options that she really has. It’s just a total credit to [writer/director] Brian Dannelly that he can get into a young girl’s head and make it believable. There were some really [great lines]—"That’s what I call being hung on the cross!" is another one of my favorites, or "You’re not born gay, you’re born again."

Q: This all starts because Mary’s boyfriend comes out to her, and that act has harsh consequences. What was your own high school experience regarding gay students?

JM: I didn’t have your typical high school experience. I only went to one year of high school, but in my day-to-day [life], I had two moms growing up who were lovers. It was a very hard thing for people in my class to accept. Like on Father’s Day, when we’re all making Father’s Day cards—you know, which one does it go to?

Q: So gay issues are something you’ve been dealing with your whole life.

JM: The topic of homosexuality is something I’ve grown up with and been aware of. I’ve always had a hard time expressing to my peers what it was like [to have lesbian moms], that it was just something they needed to understand. Sometimes it was the cause of turmoil, but it’s OK. I find that fear, when you’re young, is usually a lack of understanding to some degree, and unfortunately, it really speaks volumes about their parents.

Q: Did that perspective give you an extra incentive to do this movie?

JM: Yeah, because you’re exploring issues that are kind of taboo, which are teen pregnancy and homosexuality in high school. I was really excited to show those two subjects within a situation of honest people going through crazy things. They’re kind of breaking those boundaries for young people saying, "Yeah, you’re allowed to make choices and you’re allowed to question things and you’re allowed to make mistakes, as long as you can process them and eventually live with the person you’re becoming." That’s an awesome thing.

Q: Before you started shooting, the whole cast was taken to a couple of Christian rallies. What were those like?

JM: It was one of the most educational experiences and so important for just understanding these characters. I can’t say it’s like a cult, but it’s a very rich culture, because they have their own sayings, and they relate to each other by words that they use and psalms that they throw out. They identify by different clothing and different music, so it’s kind of a tight-knit group. I think it’s hard for outsiders to penetrate. So to be able to go to these huge Christian rallies, like rock concerts, you have a rollicking good time.

Q: How so?

JM: It’s incredible, how much energy and how much power they’re really selling you. I couldn’t help being swept off my feet. I was up with the music, and I was, like, saved three times. Each time was different. Each time I got to speak to someone different to sort of help me along on the first steps of becoming a Christian.

Q: What was that like, being saved?

JM: One of the most awesome experiences was when I got this free Bible and everyone was sort of sectioned off with people their own age and sex to talk about the first steps in having a personal relationship with Christ. I was given this girl who was 17 years old, a really, really beautiful woman who loved her faith and loved what she found in it. She was so adamant about her beliefs that I felt, in turn, kind of empty, because I had never—there were certain things in my life that I had placed so much belief in, but not to the extremes of these kids. In that sense, I think it’s very commendable, but because it’s so powerful, it can be really dangerous. Things can be misinterpreted, and people can get really hurt.

Q: You play this girl who goes on a big journey: her boyfriend’s gay, she becomes pregnant, she completely changes her social circle. Did you learn anything playing her?

JM: What I responded to—and I think that might have been as important as learning something—was how much inner strength [Mary has]. Because of the pregnancy, she sort of withdraws from her closest friends and her teachers and her mom, and it’s really a hard thing to do, and it’s very traumatic, I think, to your own emotional health. You have to have a lot of strength. Her strength is really admirable to me; it really moved me.

Q: In your own life, who’s been a big influence on you?

JM: I think one of the strongest people, who’s been in and out of my life continually, but I always know is kind of there, is Anjelica Huston. She’s always been really supportive and really sweet. She’s always calling me and wanting to know how I am and sending me beautiful little trinkets. She’s like the ultimate mom. She’s been very instrumental in making sure I stay on the right track.

Q: She’s like your third mom.

JM: I’ve got like eight moms, actually. It’s a beautiful thing.