Dakota Fanning

Biography of Dakota Fanning

Hannah Dakota Fanning was born on February 23, 1994 in Conyers, Georgia. She is an American actress, model and voice actress who began her acting career as a child actress.

Fanning is the eldest daughter of Heather Joy and Steve J. Fanning. She has German, Irish, English and French roots. Actress Elle Fanning is her younger sister. The family moved to Los Angeles when Dakota was five years old.

Fanning was introduced to an artist agency by her parents when she was still a child. When she was five, she was hired for a commercial. She has appeared in various television series such as Ally McBeal, ER, Friends and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In 2001, Fanning made her breakthrough starring in the drama I Am Sam opposite Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer. Fanning was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance as the youngest actress to date.

In 2002, Fanning starred in all ten episodes of the Steven Spielberg-produced sci-fi series Taken; first as a narrator, in the second half also as an actress. Fanning's mimic and vocal expressiveness made her one of the most sought-after child actors in Hollywood.

In 2004, Fanning starred in Tony Scott's action film Man on Fire alongside Denzel Washington, who played her bodyguard. In 2005, Fanning engaged in a challenging acting duel with Robert De Niro as her on-screen dad in the essentially two-person psychological thriller Hide and Seek. That same year, Fanning fought her way through the apocalyptic blockbuster War of the Worlds alongside her film dad Tom Cruise and starred with Kurt Russell in the more family-friendly equestrian film Dreamer.

In addition to acting, Fanning is also a voice actress for animated films, such as in the Disney sequel Lilo & Stitch (2005) and as the older sister Satsuki in the English language version (2005) of My Neighbor Totoro (1988) by Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki , which starred Fanning's four-year-younger sister, Elle Fanning, as Mei.

In Hounddog (2007), Fanning played a brutal rape scene that was harshly criticized not only in the USA. In 2008, Fanning was offered the role of cancer-stricken Kate Fitzgerald in the film My Sister's Life, opposite Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin. However, since she allegedly refused to perform with a bald head, Sofia Vassilieva finally took on the role.

Fanning played the role of Jane in 2009's New Moon and 2010's sequel Eclipse. Also in 2010, Fanning starred in the biographical film The Runaways, about the band of the same name, as musician Cherie Currie. Musically, she was previously active as the singer of a song on the soundtrack of Pig Wilbur and Friends. Several tracks are sung by her on The Runaways soundtrack.

In 2018, Fanning took on the female lead in crime series The Alienist. In 2019, she played Lynette Fromme, a member of the Manson Family, in Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.