- Born
- Birth nameMary Elle Fanning
- Nickname
- Elbow
- Height5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
- Mary Elle Fanning was born on the 9th of April 1998 in Conyers, Georgia, USA, to Heather Joy (Arrington) and Steven J. Fanning. Her mother played professional tennis, and her father, now an electronics salesman, played minor league baseball. She is of German, Irish, English, French, and Channel Islander descent.
Elle's ascent into stardom began when she was almost three years old, when she played the younger version of her sister, Dakota Fanning's, character Lucy in the drama film I Am Sam (2001). She then played younger Dakota again in Taken (2002) as Allie, age 3. But her first big independent movie without her sister was in 2003's Daddy Day Care (2003) as Jamie. She then had two guest appearances on Judging Amy (1999) and CSI: Miami (2002).
Elle was becoming more successful and she got another role, in 2004's The Door in the Floor (2004) with Kim Basinger. Her career kept improving, as she had two movies in 2005, Because of Winn-Dixie (2005) and I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006).
She has since starred in a number of prominent films, including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Super 8 (2011), We Bought a Zoo (2011), and Maleficent (2014).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Rachel Green
- ChildrenNo Children
- Parents
- RelativesDakota Fanning(Sibling)Jill Arrington(Aunt or Uncle)Presley Panaro(Cousin)Mary Jane Arrington(Grandparent)Rick Arrington(Grandparent)
- Often plays more thoughtful characters, but with a great emotional range
- Frequently played older characters in her pre-teen and early teenage years, because of her tall stature
- Often works with Sofia Coppola
- At ages 11-12 she had an intense growth spurt, where she grew seven inches in a year and a half.
- She was only three and a half years old when she attended her first Hollywood premiere.
- She is the only actress to play a leading role in films by Francis Ford Coppola and his daughter Sofia Coppola.
- Is near-sighted and uses contact lenses most of the time. But she loves collecting "nerdy" looking glasses.
- Her mom named her Mary and her dad named her Elle, so her name is Mary Elle Fanning. Like her older sister, Dakota Fanning, she uses her middle name instead of her first name.
- Dakota [Fanning, her sister] is my favorite actress.
- [on acting] "I love it. I just love how you get to be different people and have different names."
- On being cast in The Door in the Floor (2004): "I'm glad they picked me to be Ruth."
- On what her favorite scene in Daddy Day Care (2003) is: "Oh I guess jumping in the flowers, and the water scenes, 'cause we got to be in bathing suits and swim in the water, and in the water fountain."
- On acting: "What's the best part of a movie? I love to know what my name is. It's just so fun. That's the first thing I ask. It's just fun because you have a different name in every movie."
- Live by Night (2017) - $250,000
- 3 Generations (2016) - $65,000
- Super 8 (2011) - $1,500,000
- Somewhere (2011) - $125,000
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