When Dakota Fanning learned she'd be playing Sean Penn's daughter in I Am Sam- Opening December 28- she reacted like any seven year old would. "We had such a small apartment that there wasn't anywhere to run around," she recalls, "so I jumped up and down on the bed! And then I called my grandmother."

If Fanning keeps snapping up plum parts- she just wrapped up Kevin Bacon's 24 Hours and is now shooting Sweet Home Alabama with Reese Witherspoon- the tyke will need a good long-distance plan! Of course, her thespian ambitions are no surprise to Granny. "Ive been a ballerina since I was two," she smiles, "but I've always wanted to be an actress." Sometimes, though, she's taken her make-believe games to dramatic extremes! "I would go through 'childbirth' all the time," she says. "I'd put a pillow up my skirt and pretend that I'm pregnant." Yikes! Fortunately for her, Mommy opted to take little Dakota to see a talent agent rather than a child psychiatrist. That wise judgement call paid off. The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) has nominated Fanning- along with A-I's Haley Joel Osment and Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe for best child performer.

She's taking her early success in stride however, and is far more impressed by her newfound Penn pal. "[Sean] is very, very niceto me," she enthuses. "He took me to the Santa Monica Pier and lunch at The Ivy." While dining at the posh L.A. eatery, by the by . Fanning wasn't too shy to hit Penn up for a little career advice. "I wanted to be a cheerleader and a Brownie," she says of her past ambitions, "but when I grow up, I'd probably like to be a director."-
Adrienne Stone with Daniel R. Coleridge.