The Life and Times of Dakota Fanning
In a career spanning more than half her life, 14-year-old Dakota Fanning has racked up over 30 IMDB credits including starring roles opposite Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington and Robert De Niro. She has played young versions of both Reese Witherspoon and Ellen Degeneres and in 2002 she became the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. Being the youngest in something was not new to her, and she has been proclaimed the next Jodie Foster. Journey back with us over the illustrious career of the finest (and one of the only) actresses of her generation.
February 23, 1994: Hannah Dakota Fanning is born in Conyers, Georgia to Joy, a professional tennis player and Steve, a former professional ball player. (Rick Maiman / AP)
2002: The actress is nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for supporting performance for her work in I Am Sam. She doesnt win, but does win the Best Young Actor/Actress award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Because she is too short to reach the microphone, presenter Orlando Bloom holds her up for the duration of her acceptance speech. That same year she plays a young version of Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama and begins what will become a lifelong collaboration with Steven Spielberg with the science fiction mini-series Taken. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
2003: Fannings next film The Cat in the Hat is poorly reviewed, but her work as a spoiled brat in Uptown Girls is heralded. She also ventures into the world of voice over on shows like Kim Possible.
2004: Fanning delights audiences in Man on Fire with actor Denzel Washington, inspiring Roger Ebert to declare the actress is a pro at only 10 years old, and creates a heart-winning character.” (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
2006: Fanning becomes the youngest member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. She also stars in the live action film Charlottes Web as the character Fern. Because of her work in the film she lands a feature in Vanity Fair entitled Cinderella in Sneakers. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)
Present and beyond : Fanning is on the verge of being cast in the mega popular “Twilight” sequel “New Moon” as a vampire.
— Deborah Netburn and Jevon Phillips, Times staff writers
(Chris Pizzello / Associated Press) 
