Mary Elle Fanning is an American actress who was born on April 9, 1998. In the drama film I Am Sam (2001), she made her acting debut as the younger version of her sister Dakota Fanning's role. She performed in a number of movies as a young actress, including Babel (2006), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), and Phoebe in Wonderland (2008). She received a nomination for Best Young Performer at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards in 2010 for her work in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere. She attracted recognition in 2011 for her lead part in the science fiction thriller Super 8, which earned her a Spotlight Award at the Hollywood thriller Festival. She then played the title character in the comedies We Bought a Zoo (2011) and Ginger & Rosa (2012) as well as the role of Princess Aurora in the fantasy movie Maleficent (2014) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019).
The Neon Demon (2016), Mike Mills' 20th Century Women (2016), Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled (2017), John Cameron Mitchell's How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017), Woody Allen's A Rainy Day in New York (2019), and Sally Potter's The Roads Not Taken (2020) are just a few of the independent movies in which Fanning has worked with auteurs in lead and supporting roles since Maleficent. She was the youngest jury member for the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 at the age of 21. She portrays Empress Catherine II in the Hulu series The Great (2020–present), for which she was nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy, and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She appeared in the Hulu limited series The Girl from Plainville in 2022 as Michelle Carter.
Fanning's parents, Heather Joy (née Arrington), a college tennis player, and Steven J. Fanning, a minor league baseball player for teams connected to the St. Louis Cardinals, welcomed him to the world in Conyers, Georgia.
American football player Rick Arrington was her maternal grandfather, and ESPN reporter Jill Arrington is her aunt. Farmer gentleman William Farrar is one of the Arrington family's most renowned ancestors. Dakota Fanning's younger sister, Fanning, is also an actor. Both individuals were raised as Southern Baptists.
Career
2001–2013: Breakthrough as a young actress
Before the age of three, Fanning began acting. She debuted in the miniseries Taken and the movie I Am Sam as the younger version of the roles played by her elder sister Dakota. Fanning landed her first job without the help of her sister in the comedy Daddy Day Care in 2002 when she was four years old. In The Door in the Floor (2004), she was chosen to play Ruth opposite Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger. For the demanding shooting schedule, the film's producers had originally intended to hire identical twins, but they ended up using only Fanning. Fanning played the minor part of Sweetie Pie Thomas in the 2003 film Because of Winn-Dixie. She provided voices in the English-dubbed version of the animated picture by Hayao Miyazaki in 2004. Dakota, who provided the voice of Satsuki, the elder sister of Elle's character, is paired up with My Neighbor Totoro, who plays Mei. She shot I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With later that same year.
Fanning acted in Charlotte's Web as Fern Arable's "future granddaughter" in early 2005. Dakota played Fern Arable. The scenes were cut from the finished product. She appeared in the 2005 movie Babel as Debbie, the child of Richard and Susan Jones (played by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett). Fanning shot scenes for The Nines and Déjà Vu in the beginning of 2006. She filmed The Lost Room, a science fiction TV miniseries, in the middle of 2006. She also had an appearance on the House: MD episode "Need to Know" in 2006, as the patient's daughter. In "The Boogeyman," a 2006 Criminal Minds episode, she played Tracey, a supporting character. Fanning started to secure leading parts before the end of 2006. The first of these was taken by Emma Learner, the heartbroken daughter of Grace and Ethan Learner, in Reservation Road. The aftermath of a fatal vehicle accident involving Emma's brother is the subject of the movie.
As the younger version of Cate Blanchett's character in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fanning reconnected with her Babel co-stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in early 2007. Felicity Huffman and Fanning co-starred in the 2009 film Phoebe in Wonderland, which was shot in the middle of 2007. Fanning played Mary from July through October 2007 in The Nutcracker in 3D. In late 2010, it was made available. Dakota and Fanning were slated to star in My Sister's Keeper in March 2008, but the project was scrapped when Dakota heard she would have to shave her head. Sofia Vassilieva and Abigail Breslin took the role of the sisters.
Fanning would play the lead role in author Sofia Coppola's 2010 movie Somewhere, according to a Variety article from April 2009. The story revolves around a "bad-boy" actor who must reconsider his life after receiving a surprise visit from his daughter, played by Fanning. During the 2010 awards season, the movie was released. It won the Golden Lion at its debut film festival, the 67th Venice Film Festival. Fanning started working on Francis Ford Coppola's 2011 movie Twixt, which Coppola based on a dream, in the latter part of 2010. She was a youthful ghost named "V" in the play. In the science fiction drama Super 8 directed by J. J. Abrams in 2011, Fanning played Alice Dainard. The movie, which debuted on June 10, 2011, is about a group of kids who must deal with unexpected events in their little village. Fanning was recognized with a Spotlight Award at the Hollywood Film Festival and was listed by The Telegraph as one of the movie's top features.
Fanning made an appearance in Cameron Crowe's We Bought a Zoo in December 2011. She portrayed Lily, a 13-year-old who works at the zoo's café and resides on the grounds with Kelly (Scarlett Johansson), her lone parent. In the drama movie Ginger & Rosa, which was released in September 2012, Fanning played Ginger and Alice Englert played Rosa. The story takes place in London in 1962. Sally Potter served as the director, and the movie debuted on October 19, 2012. A. O. Scott of The New York Times noted that Fanning "shows a nearly Streepian mixture of poise, intensity, and technical precision" in his review of her performance. She is so talented that it is difficult to fathom anything she cannot accomplish. Ty Burr, a critic for The Boston Globe, lauded her "luminous naturalism that seems to be the opposite of performance" and said that "Fanning easily convinces you of Ginger's emotional reality."
2014 to the present: Global recognition
In Robert Stromberg's 2014 Walt Disney movie Maleficent, Fanning featured with Angelina Jolie. Fanning was Princess Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty, while Jolie was Maleficent. She starred in the biographical film Low Down about jazz pianist Joe Albany's life the same year, in which she played the character of Amy-Jo, the pianist's daughter, from whose perspective the tale is portrayed. Both films were independent science fiction Westerns. In 2015, Fanning co-starred in Jay Roach's Trumbo as Nikola Trumbo, the daughter of Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston), and she also appeared in 3 Generations (formerly known as About Ray) as a young transgender male opposite Naomi Watts and Susan Sarandon.
She portrayed Jesse in Nicolas Winding Refn's 2016 psychological suspense film The Neon Demon. The movie made its world premiere in May 2016 at the Cannes Film Festival. On June 24, 2016, it was made available, and the box office performance was terrible. She starred alongside Greta Gerwig and Annette Bening in Mike Mills' 20th Century Women the same year. On October 8, 2016, the movie made its global premiere at the New York Film Festival. On December 28, 2016, a limited distribution of the movie started. Then, on December 25, 2016, she debuted alongside Ben Affleck in the historical drama Live by Night, set during Prohibition.
2017 saw Fanning take part in Shawn Christensen's epic drama The Vanishing of Sidney Hall, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25. In the same year, Fanning made appearances in the British-American science fiction romantic comedy How to Talk to Girls at Parties (based on a short story by Neil Gaiman), The Beguiled, a reunion with Sofia Coppola, the Irish-American romance Mary Shelley, directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, and the music video for Grouplove's "Good Morning" single.
I Think We're Alone Now, which was directed by Reed Morano and starring Fanning and Peter Dinklage, was released in 2018. On January 21, 2018, it had its global premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Momentum Pictures then released it on September 14, 2018. Alongside Ben Foster, she also starred in Mélanie Laurent's film Galveston, which had its world premiere on March 10 at South by Southwest. Fanning had the lead role in Max Minghella's Teen Spirit, which had its international premiere in September 2018 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It became available on April 5, 2019.
The 72nd Cannes Film Festival's international competition jury appointed Fanning in May 2019, becoming him the festival's youngest judge in history. Fanning starred in Woody Allen's A Rainy Day in New York the same year. Fanning portrayed Aurora once more in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in October 2019. The Roads Not Taken, directed by Sally Potter, starred Javier Bardem and Salma Hayek, and All the Bright Places, opposite Justice Smith, was directed by Brett Haley and based on the Jennifer Niven novel of the same name. In the same year, Fanning co-starred with Nicholas Hoult as Catherine the Great in the historical comedy series The Great, which she also executive produced. On Hulu, the series made its debut in May 2020. For the part, Fanning won praise from the critics and garnered a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2021. She received a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards for the first time because to her performance.
She played Michelle Carter in the 2022 Hulu miniseries The Girl from Plainville, which was based on the passing of Conrad Roy.
The Nightingale, which is based on the same-named novel, will feature Dakota and Fanning in a reunion with Laurent. Lewellen Pictures was founded more recently by Elle and Dakota with a first look agreement at MRC.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
2001 | I Am Sam | Young Lucy Dawson | Jessie Nelson | |
2003 | Daddy Day Care | Jamie | Steve Carr | |
2004 | The Door in the Floor | Ruth Cole | Tod Williams | |
2005 | Because of Winn-Dixie | Sweetie Pie Thomas | Wayne Wang | |
My Neighbor Totoro | Mei Kusakabe (voice) | Hayao Miyazaki | Disney English dub | |
P.N.O.K. | Rebecca Bullard | Carolyn McDonald | Short film | |
2006 | Déjà Vu | Abbey | Tony Scott | |
Babel | Debbie Jones | Alejandro González Iñárritu | ||
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With | Penelope | Jeff Garlin | ||
2007 | Day 73 with Sarah | Sarah | Brent Hanley | Short film |
The Nines | Noelle | John August | ||
Reservation Road | Emma Learner | Terry George | ||
2008 | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Daisy Fuller (Age 7) | David Fincher | |
Phoebe in Wonderland | Phoebe Lichten | Daniel Barnz | ||
2009 | Astro Boy | Grace (voice) | David Bowers | |
2010 | The Nutcracker in 3D | Mary | Andrei Konchalovsky | |
Somewhere | Cleo | Sofia Coppola | ||
2011 | The Curve of Forgotten Things | Girl | Todd Cole | Short film |
Super 8 | Alice Dainard | J. J. Abrams | ||
Twixt | V | Francis Ford Coppola | ||
We Bought a Zoo | Lily Miska | Cameron Crowe | ||
2012 | Ginger & Rosa | Ginger | Sally Potter | |
Leaning Toward Solace | Sara | FloriaSigismondi | Short film | |
2014 | Young Ones | Mary Holms | Jake Paltrow | |
Low Down | Amy-Jo Albany | Jeff Preiss | ||
Maleficent | Aurora | Robert Stromberg | ||
The Boxtrolls | Winnie (voice) | Graham Annable | ||
2015 | Trumbo | Nikola Trumbo | Jay Roach | |
3 Generations | Ray | Gaby Dellal | ||
2016 | The Neon Demon | Jesse | Nicolas Winding Refn | |
20th Century Women | Julie Hamlin | Mike Mills | ||
Ballerina | Félicie Le Bras (voice) | Éric Summer | ||
Live by Night | Loretta Figgis | Ben Affleck | ||
2017 | The Vanishing of Sidney Hall | Melody Jameson | Shawn Christensen | |
How to Talk to Girls at Parties | Zan | John Cameron Mitchell | ||
The Beguiled | Alicia | Sofia Coppola | ||
Mary Shelley | Mary Shelley | Haifaa al-Mansour | ||
2018 | I Think We're Alone Now | Grace | Reed Morano | |
Galveston | Rocky | Mélanie Laurent | ||
Teen Spirit | Violet | Max Minghella | ||
2019 | A Rainy Day in New York | Ashleigh Enright | Woody Allen | |
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil | Aurora | Joachim Rønning | ||
2020 | The Roads Not Taken | Molly | Sally Potter | |
All the Bright Places | Violet Markey | Brett Haley | Also producer |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
2002 | Taken | Allie Keys (Age 3) | Episode: "Charlie and Lisa" |
2003 | Judging Amy | Rochelle Cobbs | Episode: "Maxine Interrupted" |
CSI: Miami | Molly Walker | Episode: "Death Grip" | |
2004 | CSI: NY | Jenny Como | Episode: "Officer Blue" |
2006 | House | Stella Dalton | Episode: "Need to Know" |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Eden | Episode: "Cage" | |
The Lost Room | Anna Miller | 3 episodes; mini series | |
2006–2007 | Criminal Minds | Tracy Belle | 2 episodes |
2007 | Dirty Sexy Money | Kiki George | Episode: "Pilot" |
2014 | HitRecord on TV | Daughter | Episode: "RE: The Number One” |
2020 | The Disney Family Singalong | Herself | Television special |
2020–present | The Great | Catherine the Great | Lead role; 20 episodes and also executive producer |
2021 | Robot Chicken | Sarah, Logan’s Friend, Nerd’s Wife (voices) | Episode: “May Cause the Need for Speed” |
2022 | The Girl from Plainville | Michelle Carter | Lead role; also executive producer |
Video games
Year | Title | Role |
TBA | Death Stranding 2 (working title) | TBA |
Awards and nominations
Solo awards
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
2021 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy | The Great | Nominated |
2022 | Critics' Choice Television Awards | Best Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | |
Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy | Nominated | ||
Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series | Nominated |
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
2007 | Young Artist Award | Best Supporting Young Actress | The Lost Room | Nominated |
Best Young Actress Age Ten or Younger - Film | Babel | Nominated | ||
2011 | Critics' Choice Movie Award | Best Young Actor/Actress | Somewhere | Nominated |
Young Hollywood Award | Actress of the Year Award | Won | ||
International Cinephile Society | Best Supporting Actress | Runner-up | ||
Young Artist Award | Best Leading Young Actress - Feature Film | The Nutcracker in 3D | Nominated | |
Hollywood Film Festival | Spotlight Award | Super 8 | 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 | Breakthrough Performance on Camera | Nominated | ||
Best Female Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role | Nominated | |||
2012 | Critics' Choice Movie Award | Best Young Actor/Actress | Nominated | |
Young Artist Award | Best Leading Young Actress - Feature Film | Nominated | ||
MTV Movie Award | Best Breakthrough Performance | Nominated | ||
British Independent Film Award | Best Actress in a British Independent Film | Ginger & Rosa | Nominated | |
2013 | Critics' Choice Movie Award | Best Young Actor/Actress | Nominated | |
2014 | Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actress: Action | Maleficent | Nominated |
2015 | Saturn Award | Best Performance by a Younger Actor | Nominated | |
Kids' Choice Award | Favorite Movie Actress | Nominated | ||
2016 | Detroit Film Critics Society | Best Supporting Actress | 20th Century Women | Nominated |
2020 | International Online Cinema Awards | Best Actress in a Comedy Series | The Great | Nominated |
Online Film & Television Association | Best Actress in a Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
TCA Award | Individual Achievement in Comedy | Nominated | ||
2021 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series | Nominated | |
Satellite Awards | Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series | Won |
Ensemble Awards
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
2004 | Young Artist Award | Best Young Ensemble in a Feature Film | Daddy Day Care | Nominated |
2011 | Phoenix Film Critics Society | Best Ensemble Acting | Super 8 | Won |
2012 | Young Artist Award | Best Young Ensemble Cast - Feature Film | Nominated | |
2016 | Critics' Choice Movie Award | Best Acting Ensemble | Trumbo | Nominated |
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Cast Ensemble in a Motion Picture | Nominated | ||
Critics' Choice Movie Award | Best Acting Ensemble | 20th Century Women | Nominated | |
2021 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series | The Great | Nominated |
2022 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Nominated |
Quick Bio
Nickname | Elbow |
Gender | Female |
Age | 25 years old (in 2023) |
Date of Birth | April 9, 1998 |
Full Name | Mary Elle Fanning |
Profession | Actress |
Nationality | American |
Birthplace | Conyers, Georgia, United States |
Religion | Baptist |
Zodiac Sign | Aries |
School | Campbell Hall School |
Profession | Actress |
Net Worth | $5 million |
Height, Weight & Physical Stats
Body Measurements | 34-25-35 |
Bodytype | Slim |
Height | 5 ft 9 inches (1.75 m) |
Weight | 58 kg (128 lbs) |
Waist | 25 inches |
Hair Color | Blonde |
Eye Color | Blue |
Shoe Size | 9 (US) |
Dress Size | 4 (US) |
Father | Steven Fanning |
Mother | Heather Joy Arring |
Sister | Dakota Fanning |
Marital Status | Single |
Facts
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