Where Is Dakota Fanning Now? Checking In With the Actress

The big blue eyes and wispy blond hair of Dakota Fanning captured the hearts of moviegoers across the world after her debut in 2001’s I Am Sam. Dakota was just 7 years old when she starred in the film, becoming the youngest actor nominated for a SAG Award at just 8 years old. After that, she continued her career as arguably the most famous child star.

However, Dakota fell into some less prestigious projects since her childhood acting days, such as The Twilight Saga and the TNT series The Alienist. And now that it’s 2024, Dakota is about to turn 30 years old. So what is Dakota up to now?

Although Dakota’s younger sister, Elle Fanning, has maintained her place in the spotlight thanks to playing Catherine in Hulu’s The Great, Dakota is still continuing to work in the industry. While she hasn’t taken on major blockbuster roles like she used to, Dakota likely has the luxury to pick and choose what she wants to work on, so she’s focused most of her time on indie passion projects.

In 2012, Dakota began this trajectory by starring in Night Moves alongside Jesse Eisenberg and Peter Sarsgaard. But in more recent years, Dakota has taken on a wide berth of projects. From 2019–2021, she voiced Miranda Worth in the Gen:Lock web series, and in 2022, she played Susan Ford Bales in The First Lady.

Now, Dakota’s coming off of starring in The Equalizer 3 as Emma Collins. She’s in two television series set to premiere in 2024 — she’ll play Marge Sherwood in Ripley and Abby Winbury in Netflix’s The Perfect Couple, an adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s mystery novel.

With almost 4 million followers, Dakota partners with Clé de Peau Beaute as an ambassador. However, she’s always come off as real and relatable, which is why so many people were charmed by her. She never had any major scandals common among child stars and she even went to a regular high school, where she was on the varsity cheerleading team and homecoming queen.