Elle Fanning Biography

Mary Elle Fanning (born April 9, 1998) is an American actress. She is the younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning and mainly known for her starring roles in Phoebe in Wonderland, Somewhere, We Bought a Zoo, and as Aurora in 2014's Maleficent.

In 2011, Fanning starred in her breakout role as Alice Dainard in J. J. Abrams' sci-fi-drama, Super 8. For this role she received positive reviews and was often cited as one of the film's best aspects.

She received nominations for a Saturn Award, a Young Artist Award, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, a Teen Choice Award, a Scream Award, an MTV Movie Award, and more including a special Spotlight Award at the Hollywood Film Festival.

Early life

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

Career

Fanning started acting before turning three years old. 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 (2004) 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. 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 did not 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 film Babel. In early 2006, Fanning filmed scenes in both The Nines and Dj 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. In early 2007, Fanning reunited with her Babel co-stars, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, in a small part in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as the younger version of Blanchett's character. Mid-year 2007, Fanning filmed the title role Phoebe of Phoebe in Wonderland. 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. 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.

Variety reported in April 2009 that Fanning would be starring in Academy Award-winning screenwriter Sofia Coppola's 2010 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. 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. In late 2010, Fanning began working on Francis Ford Coppola's 2011 film Twixt, which Coppola based on a dream. 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 film 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.

In December 2011, Fanning appeared in Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo. 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). In 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. Fanning has received widespread acclaim for her performance, with A. O. Scott of 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." 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."

Fanning also starred alongside Angelina Jolie in the 2014 Walt Disney film, Maleficent, directed by Robert Stromberg. Jolie played Maleficent, while Fanning played Princess Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty. She will co-star in Ben Affleck's Live by Night, scheduled for release in October 2017.

In April 2016, Fanning was cast in Shawn Christensen's feature length drama, Sidney Hall.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	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 Kusakabe (voice)	English dub
2005	P.N.O.K.	Rebecca Bullard	Short film
2005	Because of Winn-Dixie	Sweetie Pie Thomas
2006	Dj Vu	Abbey
2006	Babel	Debbie Jones
2006	I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With	Penelope
2007	The Nines	Noelle
2007	Reservation Road	Emma Learner
2007	Day 73 with Sarah	Sarah	Short film
2008	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Daisy, Age 6
2008	Phoebe in Wonderland	Phoebe Lichten
2009	Astro Boy	Grace	Voice
2010	The Nutcracker in 3D	Mary
2010	Somewhere	Cleo
2011	Super 8	Alice Dainard
2011	The Curve of Forgotten Things	Girl	Short film
2011	Twixt	V
2011	We Bought a Zoo	Lily Miska
2012	Ginger & Rosa	Ginger
2012	Leaning Toward Solace	Sara	Short film
2014	Low Down	Amy-Jo Albany
2014	Young Ones	Mary Holms
2014	Maleficent	Princess Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty
2014	The Boxtrolls	Winnie	Voice
2015	Trumbo	Nikola Trumbo
2015	About Ray	Ray
2016	The Neon Demon	Jesse
2016	20th Century Women	Julie	In post-production
2016	How to Talk to Girls at Parties	Zan	In post-production
2017	Live by Night	Loretta Figgis	In post-production
2017	A Storm in the Stars	Mary Shelley	In post-production
2017	Sidney Hall		In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Taken	Allie Keys - Age 3	Episode: "Charlie and Lisa"
2003	Judging Amy	Rochelle Cobbs	Episode: "Maxine Interrupted"
2003	CSI: Miami	Molly Walker	Episode: "Death Grip"
2004	CSI: NY	Jenny Como	Episode: "Officer Blue"
2006	House M.D.	Stella Dalton	Episode: "Need to Know"
2006	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Eden	Episode: "Cage"
2006	The Lost Room	Anna Miller	3 episodes
2006-2007	Criminal Minds	Tracy Belle	2 episodes
2007	Dirty Sexy Money	Kiki George	Episode: "Pilot
2015	Descendants: Wicked World	Aurora	Voice

Awards and nominations

Year	Title	Award	Category	Result
2004	Daddy Day Care	Young Artist Award	Best Young Ensemble in a Feature Film
2007	The Lost Room	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special (Comedy or Drama): Supporting Young Actress
	Babel		Best Performance in a Feature Film: Young Actress Age Ten or Younger
2011	Somewhere	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Young Actor/Actress
		Young Hollywood Award	Actress of the Year Award
		International Cinephile Society Awards	Best Supporting Actress
	The Nutcracker in 3D	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress
	Super 8	Hollywood Film Festival	Spotlight Award
		Satellite Award	Best Actress in a Supporting Role
		Scream Award	Breakout Performance: Female
		Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
			Choice Movie Chemistry
		Phoenix Film Critics Society	Best Ensemble Acting
			Breakthrough Performance on Camera
			Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role: Female
2012		Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Young Actress
		Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress
			Best Performance in a Feature Film "? Young Ensemble Cast
		MTV Movie Award	Best Breakthrough Performance
	Ginger & Rosa	British Independent Film Award	Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film
2013		Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Young Actress
2014	Maleficent	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Action
2015		Saturn Award	Best Performance by a Younger Actor
		Kids' Choice Award	Favorite Movie Actress
2016	Trumbo	Critics' Choice Movie Award	Best Acting Ensemble
		Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture