Big in 2011

Elle Fanning:

Recognise the surname? That's because the little girl on the right is the younger sister of Dakota Fanning, who at 12 years old makes Dakota look like an OAP at the ripe old age of 16.

So what is it about these Fannings? Hard work is a big factor. In a recent interview with Interview magazine Elle discusses her already established career including her first film I am Sam (2001) in which Elle, then three years old, played a young Dakota. Ten years on Elle is working with big names, starring in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere (2010) a semi-autobiographic film where she plays the daughter of Stephen Dorrf's bad boy character. The film has already won the Golden Lion award (the highest accolade at the Venice Film Festival) and was released in Britain on limited screens last December.

This lovable gap toothed gal has also begun forging a name for her in the fashion world as well. Dressed in a Marc Jacobs suit (left) and wearing one of his dresses to the Venice Somewhere premier, she is already a fan of his designs, explaining ' I wore the Marc Jacobs dress, so I love Marc Jacobs. He has a vintage flair.'

Elle can also list Valentino as another designer in her wardrobe wearing an amazing pair of vintage mules to the Hollywood premier. Admittedly this will be down to a stylist, but the fact she can pull these pieces off at such a young age and look relaxed on the red carpet shows she is a designers dream for the years to come.


Looking at images and her catalogue of films it is easy to forget that this girl is only 12 years old, but it's reassuring that she is still down to earth and a typical tween who worries about the normal things such as school and boys to quote Interview magazine again, Elle explains

'I just started seventh grade, so, I'm like, "Oh, my god!" I was really nervous at first about the whole thing with getting to your class on time, because now we have so many different classes-that freaked me out.'

With three more films in the pipeline for 2011, I'm sure this is only the beginning of Elle Fanning's time in the spotlight and she is firmly tipped to be a future 'it' girl of not just 2011 but the whole decade.