Elle Fanning didn’t become an Oscar nominee overnight. No, the actor, now 27 and recognized in the best supporting actress category for her sensitive turn in Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, has actually—wait for it—already been working for a quarter of a century. She started out as a child actor, alongside her older sister, Dakota, and has gone from strength to strength ever since, darting between blockbusters and indie darlings, meaty thrillers and surreal comedies, ornate period pieces and contemporary dramas. In truth, it’s a wonder it’s taken the Academy this long.
Ahead of Oscar night on March 15, we present her 14 most memorable performances to date.
I Am Sam (2001)
Elle’s screen debut, at the tender age of three, was an auspicious one: opposite Sean Penn, she played the younger version of her sister Dakota’s character, Lucy, his buoyant baby daughter, in Jessie Nelson’s family drama. From the get go, she’s a darling.
Babel (2006)
Aged eight, she returned for Alejandro González Iñárritu’s kaleidoscopic Oscar winner, playing the delicate daughter of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, no less. Despite her youth, she’s a formidable screen partner.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
In this reunion with Pitt and Blanchett in David Fincher’s reverse-ageing romance, aged 10, she is the young girl who befriends him and eventually grows into her. We connect with little Daisy instantly, thanks to Elle’s enchanting turn.
Somewhere (2010)
Her major star-making moment then came at 12, in Sofia Coppola’s dreamy father-daughter dramedy. With her sweet, soft-spoken innocence, quiet despair, and pre-teen disappointment, she is more than a match for Stephen Dorff’s tormented movie star, landing Elle the first of her eventual three Critics’ Choice Award nods for best young performer.
Maleficent (2014)
Who else but Elle could play the ethereal, free-spirited Aurora, the antithesis of Angelina Jolie’s steely, blood-red-lipped Maleficent, in both Robert Stromberg’s fairy tale and Joachim Rønning’s 2019 sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil? Now 16, she has the presence of a full-fledged movie star.
Trumbo (2015)
At 17, she’s the electric, wise-beyond-her-years daughter of embattled screenwriter and Hollywood legend Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) in Jay Roach’s ’40s-set biopic. It rightfully secured her her first SAG nomination.
The Neon Demon (2016)
Finally taking center stage, Elle gobbles up much of the oxygen in Nicolas Winding Refn’s deeply divisive, head-spinning horror movie—a modeling-world parable that remains a testament to the then-18-year-old’s poise and fearlessness.
20th Century Women (2016)
Another Critics’ Choice Award nod followed for her assured take on a chain-smoking, street-smart teen in Mike Mills’s love letter to the ’70s. Beside a raucous ensemble that includes Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, and Billy Crudup, she holds her own with her signature ease.
The Beguiled (2017)
In this spine-chilling reunion with Coppola, a 19-year-old Elle—in ghostly white frocks and wispy up-dos—is the rebellious school girl who falls into bed with Colin Farrell’s doomed Civil War soldier, with predictably disastrous consequences. Alongside Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, et al, she forms quite the terrifying tableau.
Mary Shelley (2017)
Haifaa al-Mansour’s account of the titular Frankenstein author’s turbulent love affair with Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Booth) features a classic Elle performance—preternaturally wise, self-possessed, fragile, and then fiery.
The Great (2020-2023)
At 22, Elle made her first big splash on the small screen as the whip-smart, always extravagantly dressed Catherine the Great of Russia, in Tony McNamara’s bonkers satire. Across three madcap seasons, she proved her comedic chops, landing multiple SAG, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Critics’ Choice Award nominations.
The Girl from Plainville (2022)
A step away from the period romps and towards more serious fare, Elle’s fully-committed embodiment of Michelle Carter—the girlfriend of Conrad Roy, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter following his death by suicide—in Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus’s true-crime saga reveals exactly what she’s capable of. You underestimate her at your peril.
A Complete Unknown (2024)
For her turn as a fictionalized version of Suze Rotolo, the influential girlfriend of Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) in James Mangold’s reimagining of the music legend’s early years in New York, Elle received yet another SAG nod, and came very close indeed to clinching her first Oscar nomination.
Sentimental Value (2025)
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Then came Joachim Trier’s intimate Norwegian epic, in which Elle plays a version of herself—an industry stalwart who’s cast in an indie drama that, she hopes, will take her career in a new direction. It’s a nuanced, thoughtful, and quietly heartbreaking performance that finally got her on the Oscars shortlist, as well as earning her Critics’ Choice Award and Golden Globe nods.
