Mary Elle Fanning (born April 9, 1998) is an American actress. As a child, she made her film debut as the younger version of her sister Dakota Fanning's character in the drama film I Am Sam (2001). She appeared in several other films as a child actress, including Daddy Day Care (2003), Babel (2006), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Phoebe in Wonderland (both 2008), and the miniseries The Lost Room (2006). She then had leading roles in Sofia Coppola's drama Somewhere (2010) and J. J. Abrams' science fiction film Super 8 (2011). Fanning played Princess Aurora in the fantasy films Maleficent (2014) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) while working in independent films such as Sally Potter's Ginger & Rosa (2012), Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon (2016), Mike Mills' 20th Century Women (2016), and Coppola's The Beguiled (2017). From 2020 to 2023, she starred as Catherine the Great in the Hulu period satire series The Great, for which she received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. She has since portrayed Michelle Carter in the Hulu limited series The Girl from Plainville (2022), made her Broadway debut in the play Appropriate (2023), and played a character based on Suze Rotolo in the biographical drama A Complete Unknown (2024).
61 movies · 28 shows
Rosebush Pruning
2026·6.8
Predator: Badlands
2025·7.8
Sentimental Value
2025·7.4
On the Red Carpet Presents: "A Complete Unknown"
2025·8.0
A Complete Unknown
2024·7.1
Penn & Teller: Try This at Home
2020·8.7
The Disney Family Singalong
2020·8.3
The Roads Not Taken
2020·5.5
All the Bright Places
2020·7.6
That Click
2019·8.8
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
2019·7.3
A Rainy Day in New York
2019·6.5
Camp! The Movie
2019·4.6
Teen Spirit
2019·6.0
Galveston
2018·6.1
I Think We're Alone Now
2018·5.8
The Vanishing of Sidney Hall
2018·6.7
How to Talk to Girls at Parties
2017·6.0
Mary Shelley
2017·7.0
The Beguiled
2017·5.9
Elle Fanning's Fan Fantasy
2017·0.0
20th Century Women
2016·7.3
Live by Night
2016·6.3
Ballerina
2016·7.2
3 Generations
2016·6.4
The Neon Demon
2016·6.5
Trumbo
2015·7.2
The Boxtrolls
2014·6.7
Young Ones
2014·5.7
Maleficent
2014·7.1
Low Down
2014·5.5
First Stars I See Tonight
2014·4.0
Twixt: A Documentary
2013·0.0
Likeness
2013·6.1
Sigur Rós: Valtari Film Experiment
2013·7.7
Wide-Awake
2012·5.8
Ginger & Rosa
2012·6.0
We Bought a Zoo
2011·6.8
Twixt
2011·5.1
Super 8
2011·6.8
Making Somewhere
2011·0.0
The Curve of Forgotten Things
2011·6.5
The Nutcracker
2010·5.0
Somewhere
2010·6.1
Astro Boy
2009·6.3
First the Egg
2009·0.0
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2008·7.6
Phoebe in Wonderland
2008·7.2
Common Ground: Under Construction Notes
2007·10.0
Reservation Road
2007·6.5
A Very Brave Witch
2007·0.0
Day 73 with Sarah
2007·6.7
The Nines
2007·6.0
Déjà Vu
2006·6.9
Babel
2006·7.2
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
2006·5.5
Because of Winn-Dixie
2005·6.5
P.N.O.K.
2005·0.0
The Door in the Floor
2004·6.1
Daddy Day Care
2003·5.9
I Am Sam
2001·7.6