She may be only nine years old, but Georgia-born Dakota Fanning has packed in a whole lot of living already! She started her acting career at the age of five, when she was selected to do a national Tide commercial, and it's been straight to the top ever since. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress has snagged roles in the films I Am Sam, Trapped, Sweet Home Alabama, Hansel and Gretel, this summer's Uptown Girls and the upcoming Cat in The Hat and Man on Fire. She also starred on the Steven Spielberg produced TV miniseries Taken, in which she played an alien.
The amazing thing is that she's not the only little Fanning gracing the movie and TV screens. She's got a little sister, five-year-old Elle, who's following in big sis' still small footprints. She acutally got her start playing the younger versions of Dakota;s characters in Taken and I Am Sam. Here's your chance to get to know the fabulous Fanning girls!

DAKOTA Q&A
QUESTION: Did you always know you wanted to act.
DAKOTA FANNING: Well, I've always loved to, like, pretend around and play with my sister. We pretend we're cooks and all that stuff. We started [studying at] this playhouse where you study for the play and then you do the play at the end of the week. Someone told my mom, "You should get her with an agency." My mom and we went out to L.A. for six weeks for pilot season, and now, we've been here for three years!
QUESTION: Did you ever want to be anything but an actress?
DAKOTA: I always thought I wanted to be a veternarian. It sort of changed every year I was gonna be a doctor, then I was going to be a veterinarian, then I was going to be an actor, then I was going to be a model, so I really didin't know what I wanted to do. My sister Elle wants to be a Barbie.
QUESTION: You wanted to be a vererinarian, so you must really like animals. Do you have any pets?
DAKOTA: No, but I want a dog really, really bad. I want a Maltese real bad. I love them so much because I'd want to do its hair and put clothes on it aand all that stuff. And you can really do that with a Maltese. I want to paint its nails!
QUESTION: When you were eight years old, you were nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for I Am Sam. You are the youngest one ever nominated. How did that feel?
DAKOTA: It was such an honor for me to be there with all those people, and to know that I was the youngest one ever nominated was such an honor. I just really appreciated that a lot.
QUESTION: Tell us about your character Rae in Uptown Girls.
DAKOTA: She's sort of an adult in an eight-year-old body. She sort of cleans everything obsessively and she's very neat and she sprays Lysol everywhere. She's a hypochondriac.
QUESTION: What was it like working with Brittany Murphy?
DAKOTA: Brittany Murphy- it was just so wonderful to meet her. We had so much fun on the set, and when we were at Coney Island, we went on this ride at the end of day and it was so fun. We love each other so much and it was really good because in the acting we really balanced back and forth. We did improv and stuff like that.
QUESTION: Describe Britanny's character Molly.
DAKOTA: Molly is the daughter of rock stars who died in a plane crash when she was eight. The she loses all her money when she turns 21- she loses everything. So she has to get a job. Her manager took all his clients' money and fled to South America. So Molly has nothing at all, she's always been waited on hand and food. So she has to get a job as a nanny to this rich, bratty girl, Rae. They just sort of show how Molly needs to be a little more child-like.
QUESTION: Did you have a good time making Uptown Girls?
DAKOTA: I had a great time. Ballet was actually in the move also, so it was really fun to do those scenes.
QUESTION: You have worked with great stars- Sean Penn in I Am Sam, Brittany Murphy in Uptown Girls, Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama, Mike Myers in The Cat in the Hat and Denzel Washington in Man on Fire. Is there anyone else you would like to work with?
DAKOTA: Cameron Diaz- I would love to work to! She's one of my favorites, yes I would love to work with her.
QUESTION: Is there anything that made you blush about a scene in one of your movies?
DAKOTA: In Sweet Home Alabama- I got to kiss a little boy. I was seven and he was ten. His name is Thomas Curtis. He was the first boy I've ever kissed in my entire life and he was three years older than me.
QUESTION: What's your favortie subject in school?
DAKOTA: Probably reading. Well history is my favorite. I love remembering facts and memorizing things because that's what you do in acting- you memorize lines.
QUESTION: When is your favorite time to read?
DAKOTA: I like reading in the car.
QUESTION: It doesn't give you a headache?
DAKOTA: No, I knit too, so reading and knitting are my car hobbies. I've read all the Harry Potter books and the Lemony Snicket books. Those are my favorites in the world. And Nancy Drew.
QUESTION: Who's your favorite child actor?
DAKOTA: I would really have to say probably Tatum O'Neal. I watch Paper Moon while I was in New York actually filming Uptown Girl because the director told me to watch it. It was great. I have so much respect for Tatum O'Neal and what she did at a young age. She's probably the best child actor and my favorite child actor.
QUESTION: You also really like Lucille Ball.
DAKOTA: I love Lucille Ball. I watch Nick at Nite, all the old shows- and I love her. We went to Universal City Walk and there was a Lucille Ball store that was all Lucille Ball. I swear I bought everything in there And the museum- I bought the lunchbox, the videos, the candy, everything! The T-shirts, purses, everything.
QUESTION: Have you ever worked with your sister Elle?
DAKOTA: Um, no in like a scene. She's played me at a younger age in a couple of movies I've done- I Am Sam and Taken. I would love to do a movie with her like she was my sister and have scenes with her.

Dakota Data
Birthday: Februay 23, 1994
Birthplace: Conyers, Georgia
Hair: Strawberry blonde
Eyes: Blue
Fave Food: Italian
Fave Restaurant: Taco Bell
Fave TV Show: I Love Lucy

Spotlight on Elle Fanning
Birthday: May 24, 1998
Birthplace: Conyers, Georgia
Hair Strawberry blonde
Eyes: Bkue
Filmography
. I Am Sam [2001]- plays Dakota's character Lucy at two years old.
. Taken [2002]- plays Dakota's characher Allie at three years old.
. Daddy's Day Care [2003]- plays Jamie
. Door in the Floor [tentatively- 2003]- plays Ruth

The article is accompanied by a small insert color photo of Elle & Dakota on the cover of the magazine- ELLE & DAKOTA- Uptown Girl & Her Sis'; A two-thirds page color photo of Dakota with arm around Elle, both smiling, both with thumbs up- Elle Fanning, five and her big sister Dakota give the Santa Clause 2 a thumbs-up at the movie's October 2002 premiere; A smalll color photo from Uptown Girls of Rae walking with Molly- "It was just so wonderful to work with her." Dakota says of her Uptown Girls co-star Brittany Murphy. "We had so much fun on the set."; Another scene color photo from Uptown Girls - Dakota hangs out on the New York set of Uptown Girls, which co-stars L-R Heather Lockyear and Donald Faison; A half page color photo of Dakota talking to Jay Leno- Rising star Dakota Fanning's January, 2002 Jay Leno appearance probably won't be her last; A small color photo of Dakota in a pink dress- Dakota hams it up fo rthe press at the New York premiere of Steven Spielberg's Taken in November, 2002; Small color photos of Elle, and Dakota with Michelle Pfeiffer and Sean Penn- Adorable Elle (left), five, recently appeared with Eddie Murphy in Daddy Day Care and will return to the big screen in 2004's Door in the Floor. Dakota (right) with her I Am Sam co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Sean Penn; A half page color photo of Dakota's head and shoulders with the Hollywood hills sign as a background- With memorable performances in the films I Am Sam and Uptown Girls, Dakota is establishing herself as a permanent - and adorable- Hollywood fixture.