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DAKOTA FANNING: A HOLLYWOOD FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH AT AGE 11
from Yahoo!News, August 7, 2005
by Tangi Quemener
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - At the tender age of 11, child star Dakota Fanning is a cinematic force to be reckoned with, prompting one US show business magazine to crown her Hollywood's most powerful actress.
While Tinseltown's leading ladies live in terror of being dismissed by producers as being over the hill, Fanning, who co-stars opposite Tom Cruise in Steve Spielberg's epic movie "War of the Worlds," is in no such danger.
The golden-haired girl has taken leading roles in as many as 12 films since 2001, playing opposite Oscar-winning screen legends including Robert De Niro, Sean Penn and Denzel Washington.
Still more impressive is that the diminutive star, who measures just under 1.5 meters (five feet) tall, has bettered the box office returns generated by Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock over the past four years.
According to Entertainment Weekly magazine, Fanning's films have grossed 647 million dollars since 2001, compared with the 586 million notched up by Roberts, 497 million by Kidman, 338 million by Reese Witherspoon and 295 million dollars for "Miss Congeniality" Bullock over the same period.
"She's the most powerful actress in Hollywood -- no kidding!" the magazine proclaimed in its July 29 edition, adding that the Oscar buzz was swirling around Fanning for her role as Cruise's daughter in "War of the Worlds."
The pint-size star, whose very grown-up demeanour stuns television talk show viewers, was born into a non-show business family in the southern US state of Georgia in 1994 and began acting in commercials when she was five.
Her cute appearance and precocious professionalism saw her career soar, and her parents moved the family to Los Angeles to pursue fame and fortune.
By 2001, she was playing Penn's daughter in the Oscar-nominated "I Am Sam," after appearing in television series, including "Ally McBeal," "ER" and CSI."
"She is the most talented actress I have ever seen, and I'm not talking just about child actresses, but about all of them -- from the oldest to the youngest," Marcela Miranda, who runs a fan website devoted to the tiny star, told AFP.
"She's only little in terms of age, because she has the biggest heart and soul and she is one of the biggest stars at the moment," said Miranda, 20, who runs the three-year-old www.dakota-fanning.org from her home in Brazil.
Fanning has become so popular that she receives about 200 fan letters a day, said her agent of five years, Cindy Osbrink, who helps the young actress choose roles from scripts submitted for her consideration.
"She can act in whatever," Osbrink told AFP.
"But she's also a very neat person" who remains a down-to-earth child as well as a movie star, Osbrink said of the child, who is home-schooled by her parents.
Fanning's screen partners seem to agree with the praise heaped on her at a young age.
She's "a combination of Judy Garland and Meryl Streep," gushed "Austin Powers" star and funnyman Mike Myers, who played opposite her in 2003's "The Cat in the Hat."
Washington, who won a best actor Oscar for 2001's "Training Day" and a best supporting actor statuette for 1989's "Glory," said he was stunned by the angelic-looking Fanning's screen presence.
"Twice in my career, I can remember doing a scene and finding myself just watching the other actor. Once was with Gene Hackman, and once with Dakota," he told a television interviewer.
Fanning is turning her popularity into hard cash, commanding around three million dollars per film.
That may pale in comparison to the 20 million per picture earned by Kidman or Cameron Diaz, but Osbrink points out that the pre-teen has not yet played a leading role in a movie.
That will change in the children's film "Charlotte's Web," which is due for release in 2006.

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