Elle Fanning

Profile Overview

Mary Elle Fanning (born April 9, 1998) is an American actress. Her accolades include nominations for an Academy Award, four Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards.
Fanning made her film debut at the age of three, as the younger version of her sister Dakota Fanning's character in I Am Sam (2001). A prolific child actress, she went on to appear in films such as Daddy Day Care (2003), Babel (2006), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), and Phoebe in Wonderland (2008). She gained further recognition for her leading roles in Sofia Coppola's drama Somewhere (2010), J. J. Abrams' science fiction film Super 8 (2011), Sally Potter's Ginger & Rosa (2012), and the Disney fantasy film Maleficent (2014).
As an adult, Fanning's career progressed with performances in acclaimed independent films such as Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon (2016), Mike Mills' 20th Century Women (2016), Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled (2017) and Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025); the latter earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She returned to mainstream films with the sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), James Mangold's A Complete Unknown (2024) and Dan Trachtenberg's Predator: Badlands (2025).
On television, she starred as Catherine the Great in the period satire series The Great (2020–2023) and as Michelle Carter in the miniseries The Girl from Plainville (2022), earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the former. She earned further Primetime Emmy Award nominations for producing and starring in the Apple TV comedy series Margo's Got Money Troubles (2026–present). On stage, she made her Broadway debut in the Branden Jacobs-Jenkins play Appropriate (2023).