We rate Dakota Fanning most highly when she is allowed to be impatient or suspicious. Her restraint can make a small part unsettling, though The Equalizer 3 shows how easily a script can leave her with little to do.
Fi1m perspective
Listen to the annoyance in Dakota Fanning's voice in Coraline (2009): she does not soften every complaint into something charming. Henry Selick's screenplay lets Coraline Jones be dissatisfied without first proving how sweet she is, and Fanning makes good use of that permission. We can recognise the child without agreeing with her. Her resolve matters when the fantasy becomes threatening because it belongs to the same stubborn person who was complaining earlier.
That willingness to risk being difficult is more interesting than the familiar description of her as precocious. Her breakthrough as Lucy in I Am Sam (2001) was followed by child roles in Man on Fire (2004) and War of the Worlds (2005). The move towards adult work included Jane in the Twilight films (2009–2012) and Cherie Currie in The Runaways (2010). Her later work has often favoured quieter, watchful characters, for whom that composure can suggest something less reassuring than a child holding her own among adults.
In Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019), her Squeaky needs little display to be threatening. We were frightened during the ranch sequence, where her resistance makes a simple visit feel dangerous. Editor Fred Raskin's slow cutting helps: the unease has time to develop around her. There is no need for a louder performance.
The Equalizer 3 (2023) offers the less satisfying version of a small part. Reunited with Denzel Washington after Man on Fire, she plays CIA analyst Emma Collins, but Richard Wenk's script largely confines her to a laptop, a phone and a hospital corridor. The part is underwritten, rather than badly played. An actor can only do so much with administrative duties.
Television has given her more room, with Ripley (2024) followed by All Her Fault (2025). As Jenny Kaminski opposite Sarah Snook, she becomes the latter series' most surprising presence. Their developing friendship is its strongest addition to the kidnap mystery, even as the plot grows too dependent on coincidence. Start with Coraline, then try All Her Fault if a contrived mystery will not spoil good company.
Biography
Dakota Fanning is an American actress. She was born Hannah Dakota Fanning on 23 February 1994 in Conyers, Georgia.
Fanning began her career as a child actor. She received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination at the age of seven for her role in I Am Sam (2001). She appeared in Man on Fire (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), the Twilight film series (2009–2012), Ocean's Eight (2018), Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) as Squeaky Fromme, and The Equalizer 3 (2023) as Emma Collins.
On television, she has starred in The Alienist (2018), The First Lady (2022), The Perfect Couple (2024), the miniseries Ripley (2024), and All Her Fault (2025) as Jenny Kaminski. She has received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
