Elle Fanning

Birthday: 9 April 1998, Conyers, Georgia, USA

Height: 5' 7¾" (1.72 m)

Biography

Mary Elle Fanning was born on the 9th of April 1998 in Conyers, Georgia, USA. Her step into stardom was when she was almost 3 years old when she played the younger version of her sister, Dakota Fanning, in the blockbuster I Am Sam (2001), as Lucy. She then played younger Dakota again in "Taken" (2002) as Allie, age 3. But her first big independent movie without her sister was in 2003's Daddy Day Care (2003) as Jamie. She then had two guest appearances on "Judging Amy" (1999) and "CSI: Miami" (2002).

Fanning was born in Conyers, Georgia on April 9, 1998, the daughter of Heather Joy (née Arrington), who played tennis professionally, and Steven J. Fanning, who played minor league baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and now works as an electronics salesman in Los Angeles.^[1] Her maternal grandfather is American football player Rick Arrington, and her aunt is ESPN reporter Jill Arrington.^[2] Fanning is the younger sister of Dakota Fanning, who is also an actress.^[3] Fanning has Irish, German, English, and French ancestry. Fanning and her family are members of the Southern Baptist Convention.^[4] She has been quoted as saying "We're just normal sisters. We both go to school and we just play together."^[5] Fanning currently attends Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, which was also attended by child actresses Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen.^[6]

Career

Fanning started acting at the age of 2 years and 8 months. She began her acting career by playing the younger version of her older sister Dakota's characters in the mini-series Taken and the movie I Am Sam. In 2002, at the age of four, Fanning won her first role independent of her sister in the comedy Daddy Day Care. Anecdotal evidence of her emerging skill was seen in the decision to cast her in the role of Ruth in The Door in the Floor (2002) opposite Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger. The film's producers originally planned to hire identical twins for the intense shooting schedule, but were so impressed with Fanning that they used only her.^[7]
Late in 2003, Fanning appeared in Because of Winn-Dixie in the small role of Sweetie Pie Thomas. In 2004, she did voice-work in the English dubbed version of Miyazaki's animated film My Neighbor Totoro, in the role of Mei. Later that same year, she filmed I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. In early 2005, Fanning filmed scenes in Charlotte's Web as the "future granddaughter" of Fern Arable played by Dakota Fanning. However, the scenes didn't make the final cut. In mid-2005, she played Debbie, the daughter of Richard and Susan Jones (played by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) in the Academy Award-winning film Babel. In early 2006, Fanning filmed scenes in both The Nines and Déjà Vu. In mid-2006, she filmed The Lost Room a sci-fi TV mini-series. Also in 2006, she appeared on the episode "Need to Know" of House: MD, playing the patient's daughter.
By the end of 2006, Fanning began to book lead roles. The first of these was the one of Emma Learner in Reservation Road—the grieving daughter of Grace and Ethan Learner. The film deals with the aftermath of a tragic car accident in which Emma's brother is killed. Late in 2008, Fanning had a small part in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as a younger version of Cate Blanchett's character. Mid-year 2007, Fanning filmed the title role Phoebe of Phoebe in Wonderland—the tale of a little girl who won't—or can't—follow the rules. Phoebe in Wonderland also starred Felicity Huffman and was released in March 2009. From July through October 2007, Fanning appeared in The Nutcracker in 3D, playing Mary. Set in 1920's Vienna, this is a tale of a little girl whose godfather gives her a special doll on Christmas Eve. The movie was filmed in Budapest, Hungary and was released late 2010.
In March 2008, Fanning and her sister Dakota were scheduled to star in My Sister's Keeper, but the opportunity fell through when Dakota learned she would have to shave her head. The sisters were immediately replaced by Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva.^[8]
Variety reported in April 2009 that Fanning would be starring in Academy Award-winning screenwriter Sofia Coppola's new film, Somewhere. The plot centers around a "bad-boy" actor who is forced to re-evaluate his life when his daughter, played by Fanning, arrives unexpectedly.^[9] The film was released during the 2010 awards season. At its first film festival, the 67th Venice Film Festival, it took out the Golden Lion.^[10]

In late 2010, Fanning began working on Francis Ford Coppola's new film Twixt, that Coppola wrote, based on a dream he had.^[11] She plays the role of a young ghost named V. In 2011, Fanning starred in J. J. Abrams' sci-fi-drama film Super 8 as Alice Dainard. The movie was released on June 10, 2011 and centers around a group of kids who are forced to deal with strange happenings in their small town.^[12]
In December 2011, Fanning appeared in Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo.^[13] She played Lily, a thirteen-year-old who is working at the zoo's restaurant, and lives on the property with her only parental figure, Kelly (Scarlett Johansson).
On September 2012, Fanning starred as Ginger along with Alice Englert who played Rosa in the drama film Ginger & Rosa that took place during 1962 in London. The film was directed by Sally Potter and was released on October 19, 2012.^[14] Fanning has received widespread acclaim for her performance, with A. O. Scott of the The New York Times writing that she "shows a nearly Streepian mixture of poise, intensity and technical precision. It is frightening how good she is and hard to imagine anything she could not do."^[15] Ty Burr, film critic for The Boston Globe, praised her "luminous naturalism that seems the opposite of performance" and felt that "Fanning easily convinces you of Ginger’s emotional reality."^[16]
Fanning has also been rumored to star as Martha in the screen-adoption of Kevin Henkes novel, Olive's Ocean, which also happens to be the young star's favorite book. The film's producer, Donald Rosenfeld, got the idea of making the book into a film after Fanning told Rosenfeld that her favorite book was Olive's Ocean while on the set of her sister's new movie, Effie (which Rosenfeld also produced.) Christina Hammonds Reed is writing the film's screenplay while Rosenfeld will produce. There is no director for the film at the moment.^[17]
Filming of the new Walt Disney film directed by Robert Stromberg entitled Maleficent, which Fanning will star in alongside Angelina Jolie, began on June 18, 2012, and post production started October 5, 2012. The film was first scheduled for release on March 14, 2014 but later changed to July 2, 2014. Jolie will play the role of Maleficent and Fanning will play Princess Aurora.^[18]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2001	I Am Sam	Younger Lucy
2003	Daddy Day Care	Jamie
2004	The Door in the Floor	Ruth Cole
2005	My Neighbor Totoro	Mei	Voice only English dub
	P.N.O.K.	Rebecca Bullard	Short film
	Because of Winn-Dixie	Sweetie Pie Thomas
2006	Déjà Vu	Abbey
	Babel	Debbie Jones
	I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With	Penelope
2007	The Nines	Noelle
	Reservation Road	Emma Learner
	Day 73 with Sarah	Sarah	Short film
2008	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Daisy, Age 6
	Phoebe in Wonderland	Phoebe Lichten
2009	Astro Boy	Grace	Voice only
2010	The Nutcracker in 3D	Mary
	Somewhere	Cleo
2011	Super 8	Alice Dainard
	The Curve of Forgotten Things		Short film
	Twixt	V
	We Bought a Zoo	Lily Miska
2012	Ginger & Rosa[14]	Ginger
	Leaning Toward Solace[19]	Sara	Short film
2014	Low Down[20]	Amy Albany
2014	Young Ones[20]	Mary Holms
2014	Maleficent[18]	Princess Aurora
2014	The Boxtrolls[18]	Winnie	Filming began February 13, 2013
TBA	Olive's Ocean[17]	Martha

Notable TV guest appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Taken	Allie Keys – Age 3	"Charlie and Lisa"
2003	Judging Amy	Rochelle Cobbs	"Maxine Interrupted"
	CSI: Miami	Molly Walker	"Death Grip"
2004	CSI: NY	Jenny Como	"Officer Blue"
2006	House M.D.	Stella Dalton	"Need to Know"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Eden	"Cage"
	The Lost Room	Anna Miller	3 episodes
2006–2007	Criminal Minds	Tracey Belle	2 episodes (guest role) "The Boogeyman" and "No Way Out, Part II: The Evilution of Frank"
2007	Dirty Sexy Money	Kiki George	"Pilot"

Awards and nominations

Year	Title	Award	Category	Result
2004	Daddy Day Care	Young Artist Award	Best Young Ensemble in a Feature Film	Nominated
2007	The Lost Room	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special (Comedy or Drama): Supporting Young Actress	Nominated
	Babel		Best Performance in a Feature Film: Young Actress Age Ten or Younger	Nominated
2011	Somewhere	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Young Actor/Actress	Nominated
		Young Hollywood Award	Actress of the Year Award	Won
	The Nutcracker in 3D	Young Artist Award[21]	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress	Nominated
	Super 8	Hollywood Film Festival	Spotlight Award	Won
		Satellite Award	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Nominated
		Scream Award	Breakout Performance: Female	Nominated
		Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Sci-Fi/Fantasy	Nominated
			Choice Movie Chemistry	Nominated
		Phoenix Film Critics Society	Best Ensemble Acting	Won
			Breakthrough Performance on Camera	Nominated
			Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role: Female	Nominated
2012		Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Young Actress	Nominated
		Young Artist Award[22]	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress	Nominated
			Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast	Nominated
		MTV Movie Award	Best Breakthrough Performance	Nominated
	Ginger & Rosa	British Independent Film Award	Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film	Nominated
2013		Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Young Actress	Nominated