Mary Elle Fanning was born on the 9th of April 1998 in Conyers, Georgia, USA, to Heather Joy (Arrington) and Steven J. Fanning. Her mother played professional tennis, and her father, now an electronics salesman, played minor league baseball. She is of German, Irish, English, French, and Channel Islander descent.
Elle's ascent into stardom began when she was almost three years old, when she played the younger version of her sister, Dakota Fanning's, character Lucy in the drama film Sam je suis Sam (2001). She then played younger Dakota again in Disparition (2002) as Allie, age 3. But her first big independent movie without her sister was in 2003's École paternelle (2003) as Jamie. She then had two guest appearances on Amy (1999) and Les experts: Miami (2002).
Elle was becoming more successful and she got another role, in 2004's Lignes de vie (2004) with Kim Basinger. Her career kept improving, as she had two movies in 2005, Winn-Dixie mon meilleur ami (2005) and I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006).
She has since starred in a number of prominent films, including L'étrange histoire de Benjamin Button (2008), Super 8 (2011), Nouveau départ (2011), and Maléfique (2014).
