Age 7

"I have always wanted to act ever since I was a little girl. I would put a blanket under my shirt and pretend that I was pregnant. Then, I would go through childbirth." [On when she knew she wanted to act]

"I got with a playhouse and did a play where you have to study [the part] for a week, then you have to do the play. They said, "You should get her with an agency!" I got with an agency in Georgia, and they said they thought that I should go out to L.A. for six weeks ... we have been here ever since. That was last year, I think." [On the begining of her career]

"I got a Tide commercial and that was my first time on a plane -- I had to go to Florida. My first TV show was 'ER', and the first feature film I got was 'I Am Sam'." [On her first works]

"We had such a small apartment that there wasn't anywhere to run around, so I jumped up and down on the bed! And then I called my grandmother." [On her reaction when she found out she would be on 'I am Sam']

"I wanted to be a cheerleader and a Browniepast ambitions, but when I grow up, I'd probably like to be a director." [On her ambitions]

"I like seeing the scripts, and the wardrobe, and the makeup and the hair. And seeing what the plot has to offer and what the whole story is about." [On what she likes best about acting]

"ER was one of my favourites. I played a car accident victim who has leukemia. I got to wear a neck brace and nose tubes for the two days I worked." [On her role in 'ER']

"Courtney Love is really cool and funny. I would like to meet Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz. I think I could play their daughters."[On another Hollywood stars]

"It did make me very sad, but I would just think about really sad things like my goldfish dying. But then the material was so sad itself, it was easy for me to play that." [On the emotionals scenes from 'I am Sam']

"Oh, in the happy scenes there were really fun times. Sean would say really funny stuff because he likes to improv. I would want to laugh, but you are not allowed to do that during the take. So like the scene at Bob's Big Boy, he goes (to the waiter), "Go get Bob. Go get Bob." I'm thinking, "Why is he doing this to me? He's gonna ruin the take." I'm about to burst my head off laughing. Then when we were done, everyone laughed." [On the fun she had shooting 'I am Sam']

"Doing the movies and meeting the people, and I like the stories of the movies. I like names a lot, too. When I do an audition, there is a script and it has a first page that has the names of all the characters. I'm like, "Let me see that real quick, I wanna see what my name is gonna be."[On what she likes better about making movies]

 

Age 8

"That was really cool. I got to kiss a little boy. I was 7 and he was 10, and 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." [On her role in 'Sweet Home Alabama']

""I think the idea is that aliens really aren't as different as you might think." [On her role in 'Taken']

"We're actually out in Simi Valley [Calif.] right now, and they've built this set with 24 purple houses with blue roofs, orange chimneys and green and yellow cars. It's just amazing. My costume is a green corduroy jumper with a purple gingham top and a purple eyelet skirt." [On her role in 'The Cat in the Hat']

"I'm home schooled, and I have a teacher that goes with me on all my movies, she's taught me a lot 'cause I've had her since I was in second grade, and I'm in fourth grade right now." [On studding]

"My favorite actresses are Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts and Julie Andrews. My favorite movie? I love "My Best Friend's Wedding", which is Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz. And I read all four of the Harry Potter books, there are actually seven in all - but they haven't come out with those yet. And I saw the second Harry Potter Movie yesterday with my friend Jill. I loved those. I saw the first one two times. I'll probably see this one again with my sister or something. " [On her favorite actresses and movies]

 

Age 9

"Well, my dad just always just liked that name. He liked it. And then, um, my mom came up with my first name, which is Hannah. And I'm Hannah Dakota Fanning." [About her name]

"Well, we became a vegetarian. But that didn't last very long, because, um, I don't like vegetables. Or salad, nothing like that!" [On becoming a vegetarian]

"Brittany is like my best friend. As you saw when you met her, she's so fun and nice and special and every day she would get on the set and say 'hello" to everybody. The first day, she introduced herself to practically everybody and she's nice and fun to be around. She's full of life. Every day to be on the set with her and see her was really energizing." [On 'Uptown Girls' co-star, Brittany Murphy]

"What was fun in this movie and movies in general, is that you get to do things you never get to do in real life like be bragging [about yourself] to people. You would never get to do that. That's what I like about doing movies. I love to pretend to be other people and other things and that's what I love about acting." [On acting]

"Me and my sister share a room, and my sister is like Molly, and I'm like Ray," she said. "Because my side of the room is like perfect, and everything's is in a basket all arranged perfectly, and then her room — she's 5 — her side of the room, it's like there's Care Bears everywhere. There's stuffed animals all over her bed." [About her organization]

"Yeah but when I go home I play with my baby dolls and strollers and stuffed animals, pretend like they're real dogs. I really do. I do all that stuff so I sort of just think of myself as 9 years old and do stuff that I really love to do." [On being a kid]

"My dad was a baseball player and my mom played tennis so they thought we were going to be sports people and we're doing acting. But, my sister likes soccer." [About her family]

"I loved the pigs. They were soooo cute. There were two that played the same part. They were Springer and Softie and they were twins and the only way to tell them apart was Springer had a freckle on its bottom. They looked exactly alike, yeah, yeah. So every day you had to look on its bottom to see which one it was. Giving the pig a bath was a really fun day. There were bubbles everywhere. But they were so cute and they would lick you all the time. They were baby pot-bellied pigs." [About the pigs from 'Uptown Girls']

"On Uptown Girls I was on summer vacation but when I'm doing school I have a teacher that goes with me on all my movies and during breaks, we go and do our school, I'm with a home study program. When I'm not working, I go to my teacher's house and do it." [On studying]

"My favorite subject is history. I just love it. I finished American History this year and I'm starting World History this next year. I don't really know why I like it. I just love doing it and that's the first subject I do in school." [On her favorite subject in school]

"Yeah, ever since I could write and read, always for my birthday and Christmas, I always sent thank you notes to everybody that gave me something because they didn't have to give me anything and they took the time to pick you out something. I just thank them for doing that." [About her thank you notes]

"You know, I don't because I go home and I play with my sister and we have a great time. I think of myself as 9 years old. I have my ballet lessons. I have my three best friends that I hang out with. I just do something that I love to do." [On being a kid]

"No, I had to make room for my permanent teeth because I’m nine and I’ve never lost any teeth without them like being pulled, so I had to pull them and I got five dollars for each tooth. But I got gold dollar coins." [On her teeth]

"I met Cameron Diaz at the SAG awards for, like, 10 minutes. It was so exciting. And they were telling people to sit down and she really talked to me. It was really nice." [On meeting Cameron Diaz]

"I went to the re-release of E.T. It's one of my favorite movies. I love it. It was great. and I went back to l.A., so I met him then. But, he hasn't actually come to the set yet. So, I haven't met him on the set." [On meeting Steven Spielberg]

"Yes, it is. I learned to read at two. I was in a Montessori school and they teach you to read really, really young." [About learning to read at age two]

"I learned something different on all my movies. I learned from Sean Penn, he taught me how to adlib. Then I learned from Denzel Washington, he's just so focused on his work and he puts his whole thoughts into it. And then Mike [Myers], he's just so hilarious. He's just so fun to be around. Brittany, she's so nice to everybody and she's just hilarious and funny, but then also she's very dedicated to her work and just does a fantastic job." [About what she learned with her co-stars]

"It was such an experience. There are New York paparazzi and they can take pictures whenever they want. [When we were] not rolling, when you're rolling, so you hear in the middle of a take, "Brittany, chikachikachikachikachika." "Marley, chikachikachika," "Dakota, Chikachikachika." On my first day we were doing a scene and then we hear, "Brittany, Dakota, chikachikachika." And we didn't know what it was.We thought, "That sounds like cameras but no, nobody's taking any pictures. It's not Boaz, it's not the director." And then we found it was a camera, but it was fun. Brittany posed for the cameras and stuff." [About working in New York City]

"Yes, I do. It's weird to think that your nose if 15 feet across on the screen. I like watching myself because then it brings back all the memories. You go, “Oh, I remember when we filmed that.”." [When asked if she watch her movies]

"Oh very excited. Yes, what I want, I want clip-on earrings because I don't have my ears pierced and i can't get my ears pierced until I'm 13." [On being excited about the holidays]

"I had to be on a thirty foot roof, but I had like a harness on. I threw up three times that day. I was really really really sick, and then I got bitten by the parrot in the movie, still have a scar." [On being involved in dangerous stunts]

"You get to know everybody for so long, for two months, and then you have to say goodbye and then you're like "NO!" That's the hardest part." [On the saddest part about making movies]

"I always thought I wanted to be a vet. It sort of changed every year. I was gonna be a doctor then I was gong to be a ver, then I was going to be an actor, then I was going to be a model, so I reall didn't know what I wanted to do. My sister Elle wants to be a Barbie." [On wanting to be anything but an actress]

 

Age 10

"I knew how to swim, but I had to learn how to do the dives and the flip turns. So I had to do training, yes. I could swim, but I wasn't very good at competitive swimming. I wasn't very fast, but I did all the swimming [myself]." [About the swimming scenes in 'Man on Fire']

"I loved being there. I had such a fun time. We went to the pyramids. We climbed the pyramids. We went to the little street bazaars and stuff. It was really fun because they made all the stuff with their hands." [ On being in Mexico City]

"I have been knitting for about a year. I love it. I love getting all the different yarns and different size needles. I can't wait to start something else. But after a while you get sick of seeing the same yarns over and over and over again. When I knitted for Denzel's wife Paulette, I did hers in two days so I didn't get sick of it. But normally if it is a thinner yarn it takes a really long time." [On knitting]

"Working with him, I loved every minute of it. I couldn’t wait to see him everyday. He’s one of the best actors in the world and I loved observing him." [About working with Denzel Washington]

"When I went to school, I had this boy named Matt. He was very nice. He was cute but then he got a bowl haircut. *gasps* I was horrified!" [On having a crush]

"I like Panda Express! You can’t get it in New York. You can only get it in New Jersey. And I also like Del Taco." [On favorite foods]

"What I would do is make a dog appear whenever I wanted because my mom doesn’t like dogs. Well, she likes dogs but she doesn’t want me to get one yet." [When asked if she could have a superhero power, what would it be?]

"I had tutors for everything, so that really is me swimming and diving, playing the piano and speaking Spanish." [On learning to play the piano, speaking Spanish and diving for 'Man on Fire' scenes]

"No, it was a coincidence. When I saw it, I was like, yes! I'm doing it. I loved that book. It's so sad, I cry every time I read it." [On geting the role in 'Charlotte's Web]

"He was very kind and generous to me and my birthday was on the set and he actually gave me a doll that looked my character, with the brown hair and blue eyes. [On the gift she got from Robert DeNiro]

"I've been lucky enough to get a taste of different kinds, the sci-fi, the comedy, drama, the thriller type. I love doing all of them. I've never really picked one because I've gotten the chance to do all sorts of different characters and I've heard it just grows, as you get older and older. It's exciting for me to get to see what comes on next." [On the different genres of her movies]

"Well I only went to school when I was like to about five and so now I've been at home school since I was six, by my teacher, and school's very important to me and I just love it. " [About school]

"I would love to go to Paris. It's one of my dream vacations." [On traveling to Paris]

"I've seen a couple of them, those are so nice, that people take the time to do that, I'm so honored that they would do that for me and that's great." [On seeing pages on the Internet that are devoted to her]

"They were named, like, Cobb, Tube, Bop, Jesse, Pappy; like, really strange names. I'd make up these things like, 'Pappy stole my necklace, mom,' and my mom would be, like, 'Okay, great. Hmmm.' But I don't know how I came up with these names. I mean, at least try to come up with a normal name!" [On having imaginary friends]

"It was exciting. It was a wig and we put it on every day. The makeup was exciting because I had to look really tired, and as the movie went on, [I look more] tired and tired and tired. When I first put it on it was very different. It was really dark and my eyes really popped out, so it was exciting." [On becoming a brunette for 'Hide and Seek]

"I just put myself in her position when we're filming. She's kind of walking the line between the good child and the bad child. She's trying to cope with the losses in her life and all the different things going on are very troubling for her." [On her character Emily, in 'Hide and Seek']

"Yes. When I first read it, I had to go downstairs where everyone else was and read it with them! But watching it was worse." [About geting scared while readin 'Hide and Seek's script]

 

Age 11

"I love to ride horses and read books. I learned how to play the piano for Man On Fire so I continued with that. I'm just like any other kid but I love to do movies." [On what she enjoys]

"Oh yeah. I'm with her all the time. The most that I've never seen her was three days. She had to go back to Georgia for three days once, a long time ago, and that's the only time I've been separated from her. She's a great Mom. I have the best little sister too. She's the perfect little sister." [About her mom and Elle]

"I try to challenge myself all the time, playing varied characters who may be going through different stages in their life." [On working]

"It's fun to know what I want to do — you know, 'When I grow up,' I have friends who say, 'Oh, maybe I'll be an astronaut or whatever.' But it's cool to want to do this forever." [About knowing what she wants to be]

"It's not bad when you have Tom Cruise carrying you around. It started one day when Steven said, 'Tom, I think you should be carrying her.' Every day after that Tom joked to me, 'You feel a little heavier than yesterday.'" [On being carred by Tom Cruise in the set of 'War of the Worlds']

"I just love being an actress. I want to do it forever. Right now, I'm just having fun running from aliens. Who wouldn't want to have that kind of pretend world?" [On working]

"Steven [Spielberg] and Tom [Cruise], they would just make it feel so real. So even when the stuff wasn't there, just like the little explosions that we had, it would just kind of feel like it was really happening." [On working in 'War of the Worlds']

"Well, I just got my braces." [On getting her braces]

"Well it’s something that it’s, it’s, cemented to the top of my mouth, and then it expands all my teeth…and you have to crank it every night." [On the expander]

"Tom Cruise gave me a cell phone. And so, that was really cool." [On the birthday present Tom Cruise got for her]

"Well it’s really funny cause on my cell phone I pretend that I’m on the phone when I’m not, and I’ll pretend that I have messages, and you know when I’m out, sitting I’ll just be like “Oh!”. And I’ll pretend that people are calling me, I’ll be like “Oh yeah, oh, bye!”, I really do, I really do that. [About pretending to be on the cell phone]

"I couldn't wait to work with the horses. It wasn't scary; I had lots of great teachers who made me feel really comfortable. I spent about 10 weeks riding horses." [On working with the horses in 'Dreamer']

"I have one! Kurt Russell, who plays my father in the movie, gave me a horse! I see him every weekend and sometimes during the week. I give him maple cookies, carrots and apples. He's very pampered." [On the horse she got from Kurt Russell]

"My biggest dream is to be an actresss and try to better myself with every movie that I do. When I watch my first movie (I Am Sam) I realize how much I've learned since then and how fortunate I am to do what I love to do." [On her biggest dream]

"Jodie Foster ... she was my age when started out and as an adult she was acting and now she kind of directs. I would love to be like her." [On beeing like Jodie Foster]

"Kurt [Russell] and I would always count down the minutes until I was done with school and then I'd run out of the trailer and we'd be like going crazy” [On being on the set of 'Dreamer']

"I think getting to work with all these other wonderful people I just got to learn so much and it helps me in lots of different ways” [On her costars]

"Paris is my favorite city! We climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe! And the chocolate crepes! Lots of chocolate crepes! Did I mention I'm learning French?" [On Paris]

"Gwen Stefani. But I haven't seen her in concert — I've never been to a concert.” [On her favorite singer]

 

Age 12

"I have a great time with my friends and we love just hanging out. They don't treat me differently at all. I'm just Dakota." [About her friends]

"We'd always joke around and our favorite movie is Napoleon Dynamite, so we'd take quotes from that movie all the time. And he gave me an iPod after we worked on War of the Worlds." [On Tom Cruise]

"Anything and everything! There are a lot of Britney Spears' songs on it." [On the musics she has on her iPod]

"Yes, he's a palomino and he's blonde so I called him Goldie. I love riding because it's so exciting. I guess every girl wants a pony, don't they? Goldie is on a ranch near my home so I go and see him all the time." [On the horse Kurt Russell gave her]

"After I'm done working, I leave my character there and go home. I like to hang out with my friends or my sister." [On what she likes to do when she's done working for the day]

"I want to go to college, but I'd have to go to college and act at the same time because I think I'd be bored if I just went to college and couldn't act!" [On her plans for the future]

"Oh, lots of things. I get to meet all these unbelievable people. And visit beautiful places that I probably would never have gone to if I wasn't doing movies." [On what's the best thing of being Dakota Fanning]

"When I'm on the set, I still feel like I'm being a kid. I do everything the other kids do - I just act, too." [On being a kid]

"Sometimes they're real nervous and I'm like, 'Don't be nervous,' but they're always so nice. I like it when people come up to me because that means they enjoy the movies that I've done." [On her fans]

"I am excited about Christmas! Christmas is really all, at my house, it's just about being at home, and you know, we have our tree, and our tree ornaments are all candy themed, so we have a candy tree." [About Christmas]

"Christmas Eve we have a tradition that we always get pajamas. We get a new pair of pajamas to wear on Christmas Day, that's our tradition. We get pajamas to wear, so on Christmas Eve, and then my dad's family lives in Georgia so we open those." [About Christmas tradition]

"I've been through a lot with my teeth here. My orthodontist, Dr Jacobson, I go to him every two weeks, because I had surgery on my mouth to put a chain on a tooth that's like, up here to pull it down and so every two weeks I have to go to get the chain pulled!" [On her teeth]

"About five months ago I got my first dog, which I've always, always wanted so I have a schnoodle ... It's just white and fluffy, and she has a blonde, some blonde highlights that go down her back." [On her dog]

"Right. So, I want a dog stroller." [On what she wanted for Christmas]

"Yeah, exactly! The big thing now, this year, is because we have to have a Christmas tree and we're afraid that our dog's gonna get the Christmas tree, and eat all the ornaments and stuff... Well she tore up the Vanity Fair that had Suri and Tom and Katie on it. I came home and I found, like, Suri's nose by the front door - (laughter) - I was like "Nooo! My Suri!" [On Christmas and her dog]

"My sister Elle is my best friend. She stayed in Australia with me the whole time, so I was very happy about that. My mum is also my best friend. She's the best mother in the whole world! She's always with me, which is great." [On her friends]

"You know, I am not as good as I should be, about vegetables. But I'm trying, I'm doing a lot better. A lot better with vegetables. But I like potatoes... French fries... Ketchup! That's tomato! Oh right, that's a fruit. " [On eating vegetables]

"I'm always here for Christmas and Christmas is my favorite holiday." [About Christmas]

"I love making scarves for people because it's a very personal gift. You can pick the colour that would look best with somebody's eyes or something, so that's why I do that." [On giving scarves for her costars]

"It was a wonderful film to be a part of. I hope that people learn things from it and I hope that it touches people. I'm really proud of it and I can't wait for it to come out in Sundance (Film Festival) in January." [On Hounddog]

"She isn't in the business. She's just my mom. She's my best friend, my biggest role model. She's done so much for me." [On her mom]

"Last year my sister and I sold 750 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, so we were pretty excited about that. At $4 a box, baby, it was, like, $3,000. We did it door-to-door in Los Angeles in my aunt's neighborhood. It's getting to be that time of year again, so my sister and I will be out there soon. People didn't really notice it was us last year. When I knocked on one door, one person said, "Who is it?" I said, "Girl Scouts." They said, "We're not home." I didn't push it--I was like, no Thin Mints for you!" [On being a girl scout]

"I haven’t seen a lot of movies this year, but I like all kinds. I like comedies and dramas, I like action movies. I think probably my favorite is dramedies, where it’s kind of funny and serious at the same time." [On the kind of movies she likes to watch]

"Really there’s nothing I want to watch that I can’t watch. Desperate Housewives is one of my favourites. I’ve watched that from the beginning. I love Teri Hatcher. She’s my favourite. I recently did an animated movie with her." [On watching Tv]

"I’ve always loved fashion. I wear a lot of Juicy Couture, True Religion and Seven jeans. It’s natural for girls to want designer labels but that’s not the most important thing, of course." [On her interest in fashion]

QUelle: Dakota-Fanning.Org