Dakota Fanning

and Dakota Fanning in the promotional poster for Dreamer
Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23 1994) is an American child actress. Known professionally as Dakota Fanning, she is one of the first major stars among the youngest members of Generation Y.

Television

Fanning, born in Conyers, Georgia, to Steven and Joy Fanning, began her quick rise to stardom at age five, when she was chosen for a Tide commercial. Her first significant acting job was a guest-starring role in the NBC prime-time drama, ER, which remains one of her favorite characters ("I played a car accident victim who has leukemia. I got to wear a neck brace and nose tubes for the two days I worked." 1).

Several guest roles in established series would follow, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Friends, The Practice, Spin City and Malcolm in the Middle. She also portrayed the title characters of Ally McBeal and The Ellen Show as young girls.

In 2002, Steven Spielberg gave Fanning the lead child role in the science fiction miniseries Taken as Allison "Allie" Clarke/Keys. By this time, critics were starting to sit up and take notice; Tom Shales of The Washington Post wrote that Fanning "has the perfect sort of otherworldly look about her, an enchanting young actress called upon ... to carry a great weight.". 2

Film

In 2001, at age seven, Fanning was chosen to star opposite Sean Penn in I am Sam, the story of a mentally challenged man who fights for the custody of his daughter. This role made Fanning the youngest person (in 2002, at age eight) ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, for her supporting performance. When she won the Best Young Actor/Actress award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for I am Sam, she was too short to reach the microphone; presenter Orlando Bloom held her up for the duration of her acceptance speech (which turned out to be quite long).

In 2002, Fanning appeared in three films: As a kidnap victim who is more than the crooks bargained for in Trapped; as the young version of Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama; and, as Katie in Hansel & Gretel.

Fanning was featured even more prominently in two films released in 2003: Playing the uptight child to Brittany Murphy's childish nanny in Uptown Girls, and one of two children "babysat" by Mike Myers as The Cat in the Hat.

In 2004, Dakota starred in Man on Fire as Pita, a kidnapped nine-year-old who wins over the heart of a retired assassin (played by Denzel Washington). Fanning also won raves from critics: Roger Ebert wrote that Fanning "is a pro at only 10 years old, and creates a heart-winning character." 3 More critical praise followed Hide and Seek, her first release in 2005, opposite Robert De Niro. Though the film was panned, critic Chuck Wilson called it "a fascinating meeting of equals?if the child star [Fanning] challenged the master [De Niro] to a game of stare-down, the legend might very well blink first." 4 She also had a small part in the Rodrigo Garcia film Nine Lives, in which she shared a nine-minute unbroken scene with Glenn Close, who had her own praise for Fanning: "She's definitely an old soul. She's one of those gifted people that come along every now and then."

Fanning completed filming on Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (with Kurt Russell) in late October 2004, from which she then went directly to the set of War of the Worlds, starring alongside Tom Cruise. Released in reverse order, both films were critical successes. Of Fanning's performance in War of the Worlds, critic Kenneth Turan calls her "as good an actress as we have today. Fanning has a gift for naturalness and empathy that makes her the perfect audience surrogate." 5.

Again, she moved straight to another film without a break: In May 2005, she finished filming Charlotte's Web with Julia Roberts in Australia. The film is slated for release in December 2006.

As of mid-December 2005, Dakota was listed in the credits of three films: Coraline, The Secret Life of Bees, and Hounddog. She is rumored to be starring in a remake of the classic novel Alice In Wonderland, as well as auditioning for the part of Susie from Peter Jackson's film version of Alice Sebold's book The Lovely Bones. 6

Voice work

Fanning has done voice-over work for five animated projects: As Satsuki in Disney's English-language release of My Neighbor Totoro; as Lilo (succeeding Daveigh Chase) in the direct-to-video film, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch; as Kim Possible in preschool in the Disney Channel series, Kim Possible; as a little girl in the Fox series, Family Guy; and, as young Wonder Woman in Cartoon Network's Justice League.

Trivia

Dakota Fanning's sister, Elle Fanning, is a budding actress. Elle began her career by playing younger versions of Dakota's characters in I am Sam and Taken.

At age five, Dakota appeared with legendary musician Ray Charles in a television commercial for the Georgia State Lottery. 7

Dakota appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on November 10 2003, where she declared that she and her sister shared a room, and described The Cat in the Hat co-star Mike Myers as "very funny". In a subsequent Tonight Show interview on July 12 2005, she revealed that she received a cell phone from War of the Worlds co-star Tom Cruise for her birthday, much to her parents' chagrin. She made a third appearance on The Tonight Show on October 19 2005, in which she demonstrated her technique for selling Girl Scout cookies.

Tony Scott, director of Man on Fire, and Steven Spielberg, director of War of the Worlds, had very similar things to say about Fanning. Says Scott: "The kid is extraordinary?not just in terms of her acting ability, just her instincts about moments in time." Spielberg marveled at "how quickly she understands the situation in a sequence, how quickly she sizes it up, measures it up and how she would really react in a real situation ... pure, unadulterated honesty."

When Dreamer opened in October 2005, critics were not only impressed with her performance, but with the ability to headline her own film when it debuted at #2 at the box office.

Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2007 | Coraline | Coraline | Pre-production |
| rowspan="3"|2006 | Hounddog | Character name unknown | Pre-production |
| The Secret Life of Bees | Lily Melissa Owens | Principal photography |
| Charlotte's Web | Fern | Post-production |
| rowspan="6"|2005 | Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story | Cale Crane |
| War of the Worlds | Rachel Ferrier |
| Nine Lives | Maria |
| Hide and Seek | Emily Callaway |
| Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch | Lilo | Direct-to-video |
| My Neighbor Totoro | Satsuki Kusakabe | English-language re-release |
| 2004 | Man on Fire | Pita Ramos |
| rowspan="2"|2003 | The Cat in the Hat | Sally |
| Uptown Girls | Lorraine "Ray" Schleine |
| 2002 | Taken (TV) | Allison "Allie" Clarke/Keys | Miniseries |
| rowspan="3"|2002 | Hansel & Gretel | Katie |
| Sweet Home Alabama | Melanie (as a child) |
| Trapped | Abigail Jennings |
| rowspan="3"|2001 | I am Sam | Lucy Diamond Dawson |
| Tomcats | Little girl in park |
| Father Xmas | Clairee | 20-minute short subject |
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Awards

Fanning has won and been nominated for numerous awards; an updated list is here.

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* List of fan sites at Yahoo! Directory

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The Wikipedia article is licensed under http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html and uses material from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Fanning. A preview of this article is available at http://www.blinkbits.com/en_wikifeeds/Dakota_Fanning.