Dakota Fanning Net Worth And Biography

Hannah Dakota Fanning is an American actress who first rose to prominence following her role as Lucy Dawson in I Am Sam at the age of seven. In other words, she first became famous at the age of seven. Her role in the movie earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination the following year (at the age of eight). And according to history, she was the youngest nominee in the history of SAG. However, in this article, RNN details Dakota Fanning’s net worth, biography, and career, with some pieces of information from celebrity net worth and Wikipedia.

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Bio-Data

Biography

Dakota Fanning was born in Conyers, Georgia on the 23rd of February. She attended a Montessori School in Covington. Her mother, Heather Joy was a professional tennis player, and her father, Steven J. Fanning was a minor league baseball player and later on worked as an electronics salesman in Los Angeles, California. Her maternal grandfather is former American footballer, Rick Arrington and her aunt, Jill Arrington is a former ESPN reporter. Dakota Fanning is the elder sister of American actress, Elle Fanning.

In June 2011, Dakota Fanning graduated from Campbell Hall School in Studio City, California. There, she took part in the Varsity spirit cheerleading squad and was twice voted as homecoming queen. From 2011 to 2014, she attended the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. She majored in women’s studies, with a focus on the portrayal of women in film and culture.

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Early Career

As a child, Dakota Fanning was a young actress at the Towne Lake Arts Center in Woodstock, Georgia, starring in small plays. In 1999 when she was five years old, she began her acting career professionally and appeared in a Tide tv commercial. She subsequently had several guest roles in tv series including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Practice, and Spin City. 

In 2001, Dakota Fanning starred in the movie, I Am Sam which was the story of a mentally challenged man who fights for the custody of his daughter (daughter played by Dakota Fanning). As earlier stated, her role in the movie earned her a nomination for a Screen Actor Guild Award, making her the youngest person ever to be nominated. She went ahead to win the Best Young Actor/ Actress Award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association also for her performance. And her performance would later be incorporated into the music video for Rufus Wainwright’s cover of The Beatles’ titled “Across the Universe”; the song itself was included in the movie I Am Sam.

In 2002, Director Steven Spielberg cast Dakota Fanning in the lead child role of Allison “Allie” Clarke/Keys in Taken. And at the time, Dakota Fanning had started receiving several positive notices from film critics such as Tom Shales of the Washington Post. In the same year, she further appeared in three films; Trapped, Sweet Home Alabama, Hansel and Gretel.

The following year, she starred in two renowned films; Uptown Girls and The Cat in the Hat. Also in the same year, she did a voice-over for four animated projects including voicing Satsuki in My Neighbour Totoro, a little girl in Family Guy, and so on.

Career Breakthrough

In 2004, Dakota Fanning appeared in Man on Fire as Pita. In the same year, she made an appearance on the tenth season of Friends and played the role of Mackenzie. She also completed filming on Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story in late October 2004. And while promoting her role in Dreamer, she became a registered member of Girl Scouts of the USA at a special ceremony, then followed by a screening of the film by members of the Girl Scouts of the San Fernando Valley Council.

In 2005, she had her first release, Hide and Seek.  The film was generally panned. She voiced Lilo Pelekai in Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (taking over from Daveigh Chase). During this time, she also had a small part in the Rodrigo García film, Nine Lives released in October 2005 and she recorded her lead role in Coraline.

Dakota Fanning starred in War of the Worlds also starring Tom Cruise, and it was a critical success alongside Dreamer. Later on, she moved on to star in Charlotte’s Web and finished filming in May 2005 in Australia; the movie premiered on December 15, 2006.

During the summer of 2006, Dakota Fanning worked on the film, Hounddog which led to her parents being criticized for allowing her to film a scene in which her character was raped. However, she defended the movie in an interview where she stated that “It’s not really happening; It’s a movie, and it’s called acting.” Although the film was a critical and box office failure, Dakota Fanning’s performance was praised.

Career Success

Also in 2006, at the age of twelve, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and made history as the youngest member. Later on, in the same year, she was ranked 4th on Forbes’ list of Top Earning Stars Aged Under 21 following her earnings of approximately $4 million in 2006.

In 2007, she filmed Fragments – Winged Creatures and played Anne Hagen; a girl who witnessed her father’s murder and turns to religion in the backwash. Then in July, Dakota Fanning appeared in Cutlass, a short film directed by Kate Hudson. Then from September to the end of the year, she filmed Push and played Cassie Holmes, a 13-year-old psychic.

In January 2008, Dakota Fanning began filming The Secret Life of Bees, a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Come March of the same year, she was cast alongside her sister, Elle Fanning to play Kate and Anna respectively in the film, My Sister’s Keeper. Dakota Fanning and her sister later dropped out of the project upon the requirement to have her hair shaved, then they were replaced with Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva.

Dakota Fanning played Jane in New Moon and repeated the role in Eclipse based on the novels by Stephenie Meyer. New Moon was released on November 20, 2009, with Eclipse following in June the next year. In March 2009, she was ranked number 3 on Forbes’ list of the Most Valuable Young Stars after earning an estimated amount of $14 million.

2010

In 2010, she starred in The Runaways where she played Cherie Currie, who is a band’s lead singer. Then from the end of the year until early 2011, Dakota Fanning filmed Breaking Dawn, repeating the role of Jane in New Moon and Eclipse.

2011

Dakota Fanning’s voice was heard in Rise, a documentary film commissioned by U.S. Figure Skating to mark the 15th anniversary of the crash of Sabena Flight 548. She read a poem written by the U.S. national champion, Laurence Owen (part of the ones who died in the crash) said to be an eerie premonition of the afterlife.

During the summer of 2011, she played Tessa in Now is Good. Then, she became the face of Marc Jacobs’ Oh, Lola! perfume campaign. Unfortunately, the ad was banned in the UK as the Advertising Standards Authority judges that “the ad could be seen to sexualize a child”.

In 2011, Dakota Fanning played Annie James in The Motel Life released on November 8, 2013. Also in 2011, she played the starring role in Effie Gray.

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2012-Present

In August 2012, Dakota Fanning played the lead role in Night Moves directed by Kelly Reichardt. She was cast as Beverly Aadland in The Last of Robin Hood in January 2013. Later that year (September), she was cast as Olivia in Franny. Then in November, she was cast in Viena and the Fantomes as Viena.

In February 2014, she recorded a voice role for the animated movie, Yellowbird. Based on the novel by Laura Lippman, she starred in Every Secret Thing in 2015. Also in 2015 (June), The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Dakota Fanning and Kit Harington had replaced Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson in the film, Brimstone. 

In July 2016, Dakota Fanning was announced to be cast in the film adaptation, of The Bell Jar as Esther Greenwood. She then starred in Zygote as part of Blomkamp’s series of experimental short films released through Oats Studios in 2017.

In 2018, Dakota Fanning had a cameo role in Ocean’s 8 and also starred as Sara Howard in the TNT tv series, The Alienist based on the novel of the same name. In August of the same year, TNT ordered a sequel series based on the follow-up novel, The Angel of Darkness and she returned to repeat her role as Sara Howard.

In 2019, Dakota Fanning played Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme in Quentin Tarantino’s comedy-drama, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Her role in the comedy-drama earned her likewise other casts a nomination for the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In December 2019, it was announced that Dakota Fanning and her sister, Elle Fanning would star together in The Nightingale, set to be directed by Mélanie Laurent. Come March 2021, the sisters announced the formation of a production company, Lewellen Pictures. Their company has a first-look deal with MRC Television/Civic Center Media.

Dakota Fanning’s Net Worth

As of 2022, Dakota Fanning’s net worth is estimated at $12 million. She was one of the highest-earning and most critically praised child actors. Considering this, Dakota Fanning’s net worth has been thriving since she was a child and since her career is still on, her net worth is bound to either rise or depreciate.

Notable Awards

• 2001: Broadcast Film Critics Association,
• 2002: Las Vegas Film Critics Society, Screen Actors Guild, Satellite Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association, & Young Artists Awards,
• 2003: Young Artists Awards,
• 2005: Locarno International Film Festival, MTV Movie Awards, & Broadcast Film Critics Association,
• 2006: Saturn Awards, National Association of Theatre Owners, & Young Artists Awards,
• 2007: Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards,
• 2008: Hollywood Film Festival,
• 2009: Young Artists Awards, & Palm Springs International Film Festival,
• 2013: National Arts Awards.

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