Dakota Fanning is an American actress who has a net worth of $12 million. Dakota Fanning established herself as one of Hollywood's most accomplished child actors before successfully transitioning to adult roles. Beginning her career at age 5, she gained widespread recognition for her powerful performance opposite Sean Penn in "I Am Sam" (2001), becoming the youngest actress to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. Her mature emotional depth and professional demeanor led Steven Spielberg to call her "the most gifted actress I've ever worked with."

Throughout the 2000s, Fanning starred in numerous high-profile films, including "War of the Worlds" (2005) with Tom Cruise, "Charlotte's Web" (2006), and "Push" (2009). She skillfully managed the transition to more mature roles, appearing in "The Runaways" (2010) as Cherie Currie and joining the "Twilight Saga" as the vampire Jane in "New Moon" (2009) and subsequent installments.

In her adult career, Fanning has focused primarily on independent films and complex character studies, including roles in "Night Moves" (2013), "Every Secret Thing" (2014), and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" (2019). She also found success in television, starring in TNT's period drama The Alienist and the true-crime series The First Lady. Her career trajectory from child prodigy to respected adult actress serves as a model for young performers in Hollywood.

Fanning was born in Conyers, Georgia. She attended a Montessori School in Covington. Her mother, Heather Joy (née Arrington), played tennis professionally and her father, Steven J. Fanning, played minor league baseball and later worked as an electronics salesman in Los Angeles. Her maternal grandfather was former American football player Rick Arrington, and her aunt is former ESPN reporter Jill Arrington. Her ancestors include William Farrar. Dakota is the elder sister of actress Elle Fanning; both of them use their middle names as their given names due to family tradition. They grew up as Southern Baptists.

Dakota Fanning began on the stage, performing in small plays at a very young age. Soon enough, she was auditioning for television commercials, and at the age of five, she appeared in an advertisement for Tide. She then booked her first real acting role in an episode of "ER," playing a car crash victim. She followed up with guest roles in television series such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "The Practice," "Spin City," "Ally McBeal," and "The Ellen Show."

In terms of film, Dakota's breakthrough came in 2001, when she starred alongside Sean Penn in "I Am Sam." At the age of seven, she was already attracting significant praise from critics for her performance in this film. Next year, Steven Spielberg personally cast Dakota in the sci-fi miniseries "Taken." This role further convinced critics that she was the real deal, and roles in movies like "Trapped," "Sweet Home Alabama," and "Hansel and Gretel" soon followed.

2003 saw Dakota continue her upward spiral, and she booked central roles in major films such as "Uptown Girls" and "Cat in the Hat." During this year, she also established herself as a voice actor, voicing the character of Satsuki in the English dub of the Studio Ghibli animated film "My Neighbor Totoro." In addition, she joined the cast of the animated film "Coraline," although it wouldn't be released until 2009.  She also lent her voice to animated television series such as "Family Guy" and "Justice League Unlimited." Speaking of television, she made a memorable guest appearance in an episode of "Friends" in 2004.