She went on to star alongside Hollywood greats such as James Stewart, Bing Crosby and Bette Davis, and at the age of 11 appeared in the Christmas hit Miracle on 34th Street.
One of the most significant roles of her child acting days was playing John Wayne's niece on John Ford's The Searchers, once described as the greatest American Western of all time.
At the age of 16, Wood featured in her first grown-up role, starring opposite James Dean in the 1955 film Rebel Without A Cause.
Her film career dwindled for the next few years as the struggling actress was cast in a number of secondary roles, often playing a lead character's wife or girlfriend, which she said she found "unsatisfying".
After appearing in the box office flop, All the Fine Young Cannibals, Wood's career was saved by her role in Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass, opposite Warren Beatty, which earned her three best actress nominations.
She starred in a number of musicals, including West Side Story and Gypsy, and later turned to television roles after becoming pregnant with her first child, Natasha, in 1970.
While Wood's career blossomed on the silver screen, her personal life was rocky and she was never far from the headlines.
Her marriage to Robert Wagner, star of television series Hart to Hart, was well publicised. The young star had admired Wagner as a teenager and on her 18th birthday went on a date with the actor, then aged 26.
They married a year later, only to separate in 1961 and divorce in 1962.
Seven years later, Wood married British producer Richard Gregson. They had one daughter, Natasha, but divorced in 1972 after Wood had Gregson escorted from the family home after she found he was having an affair with her secretary.
While the couple's divorce was being finalised, she got back together with Wagner and the couple remarried in 1972. Their daughter, Courtney, was born in 1974.
Wood's turbulent relationships, as well as continuing pressure from her mother over her acting career, drove her to alcohol and reliance on prescription drugs to calm her nerves and prepare her for social occasions.
She found it hard to cope with speculation from the tabloid press about her private life, and attended a therapist after suffering an emotional breakdown during filming.
At the time of her death in 1981, Wood was working on the science fiction film Brainstorm with Christopher Walken, who was rumoured to have been her lover at the time.
She drowned in November 1981 after falling into the water from a yacht, which was moored off the coast of Santa Catalina island, California.
Police said her death was accidental and a coroner found that she had drunk seven or eight glasses of wine before the incident.
Wood's husband, Wagner, received a telegram of condolence from the Queen, and her funeral was attended by Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire and Sir Laurence Olivier.
Despite the official ruling, there were tabloid rumours that Wood's death had been suicide. Her sister, Lana Wood, asked detectives to take another look at their findings in 2010.
Los Angeles police have now announced that they will reopen the investigation into Wood's death after new information from Dennis Davern, the captain of the boat.
Tragically, the yacht on which Wood died, Splendor, was named after one of her greatest film triumphs.
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