Elle Fanning

Key Facts About Elle Fanning

Full Name: Mary Elle Fanning.
Born: April 9, 1998, in Conyers, Georgia, U.S.
Family: She is the younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning.
Parents: Her mother, Heather Joy Arrington, was a professional tennis player, and her father, Steven J. Fanning, played minor league baseball.
Grandfather: Her maternal grandfather, Rick Arrington, was a former American football player.
Education: She graduated from Campbell Hall School in 2016.

Debut: She began her acting career before she was three years old.
First Role: Her film debut was in I Am Sam (2001), where she played the younger version of her sister Dakota Fanning’s character.
First Independent Role: Her first major role independent of her sister was in Daddy Day Care (2003) at age four.
Breakthrough Film: She gained significant recognition for her starring role in J.J. Abrams’ science fiction film, Super 8 (2011).
Major Blockbusters: She is widely known for playing Princess Aurora in the Disney fantasy films Maleficent (2014) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019).
Notable Collaborations: She has worked with acclaimed directors like Sofia Coppola (Somewhere, The Beguiled) and Nicolas Winding Refn (The Neon Demon).

The Great: She starred as Empress Catherine the Great in the Hulu period satire series The Great (2020–2023).
Accolades for The Great: Her performance in the series earned her nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
The Girl from Plainville: She also starred as Michelle Carter in the 2022 Hulu limited series.
Producer: She and her sister Dakota Fanning started a production company called Lewellen Pictures.

Cannes Juror: In 2019, she was selected as a jury member for the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, becoming the youngest Cannes juror ever at the time.