My dad named me Dakota and my mom came up with my first name Hannah. So it's Hannah Dakota Fanning.
Dakota Fanning
It's just such an honor to say that I was in something by Steven Spielberg. I feel so blessed I got to meet such great people, and I got to go to a beautiful place, Vancouver, and I had a great time.
If you don't love what you are doing, it could be misery.
I've always wanted to be an actress, ever since I was a little girl. I've always played the mom and I play my sister as the daughter. I wanted to be an actress on television and movies instead of just around the house.
It's rare to see women in a film who are not somehow validated by a male or discussing a male or heartbroken by a male,or end up being happy because of a male. It's interesting to think about, and it's very true.
If I see a movie on TV that I'm in, I usually will watch it for that reason: It's like I'm watching another person.
I played the young Reese Witherspoon in 'Sweet Home Alabama' when I was 7, and the boy who played the young Josh Lucas was 10.
When I'm working, even though it's sometimes challenging and difficult, there's still no place I would rather be.
I love the feeling I get when I'm on a set; I love reading the scripts, playing the characters, getting to be someone else.
I definitely think independent film is very exciting, and you get to sometimes take bigger risks. So that's always a challenge and something that I look forward to.
In New York, you walk everywhere, so you're amongst people all of the time, and everybody is in a hurry and going somewhere or has something on their minds. And in L.A., it's still much more of a laid-back life, at least in my experience.
As much as movies are about the words that you're saying, they're also about what's not said, the silent moments.
Acting is what I love to do. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I don't think of it as work. It's really fun for me.
When people say hello to me, I feel like maybe I know them from somewhere, because they say, like, 'Hi! How are you?' And I'm like, 'Oh, hi!' And then I realize, 'Oh, no, they just think they know me because they watched me in a movie.' Which is cool, but definitely not a normal thing.
I think I am the same kind of person I would have been if I wasn't an actor. I am not a robot.
My mom, she is the most unbelievable mom that you could ever have in your entire life and she's always with me on everything. The most I've ever been away from her is two days. I love her more than anybody could ever know.
I was raised by very traditional Southern parents with Southern manners. You don't air your dirty laundry to people that aren't your family or your friends. Why would I ever want to portray myself as anything other than together?
I would love to direct one day. I value the relationship that I have with a director so much, and I would be really excited to be on the other end of that relationship.
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.
Being a known person is pretty much all I've known. I don't remember much of a time when people didn't know who I was.
I never get scared making these kinds of movies because it's all make-believe, but I did cry when I saw the finished version of Man On Fire because it is so sad.
I'm home schooled, and I have a teacher that goes with me on all my movies.
I think what has helped me is that I've never thought of myself as a child star. If you think of yourself like that, you might have problems!
It's something that's always been there for me, that I have huge blue eyes - it's been something that people have always talked about.
There's a history where, when women get to a certain age in this industry, the roles become strictly the mother, the wife, or the older single woman. There should be more of a variety because there are so many different paths that humans take, and they should be given a platform to be seen.
It's hard to remember, when you look at a magazine or when you look at pictures of people, and you forget that those people are people like you. They have flaws and insecurities. That's so easy to forget, even for me, as somebody who's sometimes in those magazines.
When I go home, I play with my baby dolls and strollers and diaper bags, and play with my sisters.
I think my generation is obsessed with instant gratification. We want everything now, now, now.
I've been very lucky enough to do all kinds of movies. All the movies that I've done have been very different, and all the characters I've done have been very different. I feel very lucky to have been able to do the movies that I've done.
I love who I am and I love my life, but if I could be someone else, I'd be Beyonce in two seconds.
It was really really neat to make the movie because there were mentally challenged actors in the movie. So that was really really cool to work with them and they were always really happy, and they made everybody really happy on the set too.
Charlie Sheen gave me a signed headshot. I think it said, 'Keep it real.' But 'real' was spelled 'reel,' like a film reel.
I think I was a Japanese schoolgirl in another life. That's how much I love Hello Kitty.
The hardest thing is at the end you have to say bye to all these people who you have worked with for so many months. It was really sad not to see them anymore. But you have the parties that you go to and you get to see them, like the premieres and the screenings.
I have a weird vision of relationships because my parents have known each other since second grade, and they got married right out of college.
I've been a ballerina since I was two, but I've always wanted to be an actress.
I'm kind of a self-aware and confident person.
I'm the girl that's on the beach with a hat on, under an umbrella. Like, very shaded. But my weird thing is, I only tan my legs. My whole body's covered in the shade, and I tan my legs.
I learned to read at two. I was in a Montessori school and they teach you to read really, really young.
One of my favorite things about doing movies is that you get to do different things you'd never do in real life.
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.
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.
Courtney Love is really cool and funny. I would like to meet Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz. I think I could play their daughters.
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.
My favorite actresses are Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts and Julie Andrews.
I like everything perfect. Everything has to be neat. My sister is 5, and she's more messy than I am. I make my bed every morning, everything's perfect. My shoes are all arranged. It's sad. I'm a little like Ray, a little bit.
I think I really like psychology because my job is all about getting inside another person's mind and thoughts.
My mom played tennis for, like, six hours a day and went to college on a tennis scholarship, because that was the way she could go to school. So they instilled in me the idea that you have to work hard for the things you want in life and never complain.
I was always into fashion because my mom has always been interested in fashion. She majored in fashion merchandising in college, and it's always been something we have in common.
I always talk about my characters like they're real people.
