Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, also billed as Natasha Gurdin (July 20, 1938, San Francisco, California – November 29, 1981, Santa Catalina Island, California) was a three-time Academy Award nominated American film actress. Wood began appearing in movies when she was 5 years old, had parts in successful Hollywood films and unlike many child actors made the difficult transition to adult roles, most notably in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and West Side Story (1961). By age 25 she was a three-time .