MEDIA > ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS > 2003

LIFE STORY
Dakota Fanning and Elle article from LifeStory Magazine
from Lifestory Magazine, 2003
She may only be nine years old, but Georgia- born Dakota fanning has packed in a whole lot of living already! She started her acting career at the age of five, when she was slected to do a national Tide commercial and it's been straight to the top ever since. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress has snagged roles in the films, I am sam, trapped, sweet home alabama, uptown girls and the upcoming Cat in the hat and man on fire. She also starred on the Steven Spielberg-produced TV miniseries Taken, in which she played an alien.
The amazing thing is that she's not the only little Fanning gracing the movie and TV screens. She's got a little sister, five year old Elle, who's following in big sis's still small footsteps. She actually got her start playing the younger versions of Dakota's charracters in Taken and I am sam! Here's your chance to get to know the fabulous Fanning girls!
(I'm not sure where this interview came from, I think it might've been from a talk show she was on cuz I'm pretty sure the magazine didn't interview her)
Dakota Q&A
Question: Did you always know that you wanted to act?
Dakota Fanning: Well, I've always love to, like, pretend around the house and play with my sister. We pretend we're cooks and all that stuff. We started [studying at] this playhouse where you study the play and ten you do the play at the end of the week. Someone there told my mom, "You should ger with an agency." My mom did and we went out to L.A for six weeks for pilot season and now, we've been herer for three years!
Q: What did you do before you started acting?
DF: Ballet. I've been a ballerina since I was two...but I've always wanted to be an actress. I didn't really think about being a ballerina. I thought it was something I liked to do for fun and stuff. When I'm at home, I take ballet lessons on Saturdays for an hour...um, two hours actually.
Q: Did you ever want to be anything but an actress?
DF: I always thought I wanted to be a vet. It sort of changed every year. I was gonna be a doctor then I was gong to be a ver, then I was going to be an actor, then I was going to be a model, so I reall didn't know what I wanted to do. My sister Elle wants to be a Barbie.
Q: You wanted to be a vet so you must really like animals. Do you have any pets?
DF: No, but I want a dog really really bad. I want a Maltese real bad. I love them so much beacause I'd want to do its hair and put clothes on it and all that stuff. And you can really do that with a Maltese. I want to paint its nails!
Q: When you wre eight years old, you were nominated for a SAG award for I am sam. You are the youngest person ever nominated. How did that feel?
DF: It was such an honor for me to be there with all those people, and to know that I was the youngest one ever nominated was such an honor, I just really appreciated that a lot.
Q: Tell us about your character Rae in Uptown Girls.
DF: She's sort of an adult in an eight-year-old body. She sort of cleans everything obsessilvely and she's very neat and she sprays Lysol everywhere. She's a hypochondriac.
Q: What was it like working with Brittany Murphy?
DF: Brittany Murphy - it was just so wonderful to meet her. We had so much fun on the set and when we were at Coney Island, we went on this ride at the end of the day and i was so fun. We love each other so much and it was really good because in the acting we really balanced back and forth, We did improv and stuff.
Q: Descibe Brittany's character, Molly
DF: Moll is the daughter of rock stars who died in a plane crash when she was eight, Then she loses all her money when she turns 21 - she loses everything. So she has to get a job. Her manager took all his clients' money and fled to South America. So Molly has nothing at all. She's never worked in her life at all; she's always been waited on hand and foot. So she has to get a job as a nanny to this rich, bratty girl , Rae. They just sort of show how Molly needs to be a little more adult0like and Rae needs to be a little more child-like.
Q: Did you have a good time making Uptown Girls?
DF: I had a great time! Ballet was actually in the movie also, so it was really fun to do those scenes.
Q: You have worked with great stars - Sean Penn in I am sam, Brittany Murphy in Putown Girls, Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabalama, Mike Myers in Cat in the Hat and Denzel Washington in Man on Fire. Is there anyone else you would like to work with?
DF: Cameron Diaz - I would love to! She's one of my favorites, yes. I would love to work with her.
Q: Is ther anything that made you blush about a scene in one of your movies?
DF: In Sweet home alabama, I had to kiss a little boy. I was seven and he was ten. His name is Thomas Curtis. He was the first boy I've ever kissed in my entire life and he was three years older than me.
Q: What's your favorite subject in school?
DF: Probably rading. Well, history is my favorite. I love remembering facts and memorizing things, because that's what you do in acting - memorize lines.
Q: When is your favorite time to read?
DF: I like reading in the car.
Q: It doesn't give you a headache?
DF: No, I knit too, so reading and knitting are my car hobbies. I've read all the Harry Potter books and the Lemony Snicket books. Those are my favorites in the world. And Nancy Drew.
Q: Who's your favorite child actor?
DF: I would really have to say probably Tatum O'neal. I watched Paper Moon while I was in New York actually filming Uptown Girls because the director told me to watch it. It was great. I have so much respect for Tatum O'Neal and waht she did at a young age. She's probably the best child actor and my favorite child actor.
Q: You also really like Lucille Ball.
DF: I love Lucille Ball. I watch Nick at Nite, all the old shows - I love her. We went to Universal City Walk and there was a Lucille Ball store that was ALL Lucille Ball. I swear I bought everything in there. And the museum - I bought the lunchbox, the videos, the cand, everything! The T-shirts, purses, everything.
Q: Have you ever worked with your sister, Elle?
DF: Um, not like in a scene. She's played me at a younger age in a couple of the movies I've done - I am sam and Taken. I would love to do a movie with her like she was my sister and have scenes with her.

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