Successful child actors strike me as enigmas. First of all, I am initially amazed at the parental commitment required once they decide to submit their offspring to such a lucrative yet slightly exploitative career.
Nevertheless, without these bold parents, we would not get to appreciate actor prodigies such as Dakota Fanning, who made her first very dramatic appearance in I Am Sam, wherein she appeared to have an adult’s persona and maturity shrunken into the waif-like body of an eight-year-old.
She then appeared in notable films like Uptown Girls, The Cat in the Hat, Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, Dreamer and Charlotte’s Web. Here’s a nice little recap of all her best work so far:
Kris Kristofferson referred to Fanning as an “old soul” much like a Bette Davis reincarnate. Acting has not been enough for the little blonde who has grown into an older version of her model-perfect features; she has also completed modeling jobs and many voice-over performances.
Of English, French, German and Irish descent, this Georgia peach’s blue eyes may just mimic those of Bette Davis, although they have bewitched theater and television screens for only 23 years thus far.