Kirsten Dunst

Early life

Dunst was born on April 30, 1982, at Point Pleasant Hospital in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Her father, Klaus Dunst, worked for Siemens as a medical services executive, and her mother, Inez (née Rupprecht) worked for Lufthansa as a flight attendant. Inez was also an artist and a one-time gallery owner. Dunst's father is German, originally from Hamburg, and her American mother is of German and Swedish descent. Dunst has a younger brother. Until the age of eleven, Dunst lived in Brick Township, New Jersey, and attended Ranney School in Tinton Falls.

In 1993, Dunst moved to Los Angeles with her mother and brother, after her parents separated. In her teens, she found it difficult to cope with her rising fame, and for a period she blamed her mother for pushing her into acting as a child. When asked in 2005 if she had any regrets about her childhood, Dunst said, "Well, it's not a natural way to grow up, but it's the way I grew up and I wouldn't change it."

Acting career

1988–1993: Early work

Dunst began her career at age three as a child fashion model in television commercials. She was signed with Ford Models and Elite Model Management. In 1988, she appeared on Saturday Night Live as the granddaughter of George H. W. Bush. Later that year, she made her feature film debut with a minor role in Woody Allen's short film Oedipus Wrecks, which was released as one-third of the anthology film New York Stories (1989). Soon after, Dunst performed in the comedy-drama The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), based on Tom Wolfe's novel The Bonfire of the Vanities, in which she played the daughter of Tom Hanks' character. In 1993, Dunst made a guest appearance in an episode of the science fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

1994–2001: Career breakthrough

Dunst's breakthrough role came in 1994, in the horror drama Interview with the Vampire, based on Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire. She plays Claudia, a child vampire who is a surrogate daughter to the characters played by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The film included a scene in which the 10-year-old Dunst shared her first onscreen kiss with Pitt, who is two decades her senior. She later said that kissing him had made her feel uncomfortable. Roger Ebert considered her portrayal of Claudia to be one of the "creepier" aspects of the film, and praised her portrayal of great age inside apparent youth. Janet Maslin of The New York Times described Dunst as "scarily effective" in her role. For her performance, Dunst won the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and the Saturn Award for Best Young Actress, in addition to receiving a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Interview with the Vampire received mixed reviews. Later in 1994, Dunst co-starred in the drama film Little Women. It received positive reviews, with Maslin calling Dunst's performance "scene-stealing".

In 1995, Dunst starred in the fantasy adventure film Jumanji, a loose adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's 1981 children's book Jumanji. The story is about a supernatural board game which makes real animals and jungle hazards appear with each roll of the dice. Dunst was part of an ensemble cast that included Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt and David Alan Grier. The film was a financial success and grossed $262 million worldwide. In that year, and again in 2002, Dunst was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.

In 1996–1997, Dunst had a recurring role in season three of the NBC medical drama series ER. She plays Charlie Chemingo, a child prostitute who is being cared for by the pediatrician Dr. Doug Ross, played by George Clooney. In 1997, Dunst voiced Young Anastasia in the animated musical film Anastasia and appeared in the black comedy film Wag the Dog with Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman. The following year she starred in Small Soldiers and voiced Kiki in the English Disney/GKIDS dub of Studio Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service. She also starred in Sarah Kernochan's period comedy All I Wanna Do (1998), playing a student at an all girls' boarding school in the 1960s, alongside Gaby Hoffmann, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Lynn Redgrave. Writing for The New York Times, A. O. Scott called Dunst's performance "smart" and "unstereotyped".

Dunst turned down the role of Angela Hayes in American Beauty (1999) because, at 15 years old, she did not want to appear in the film's sexual scenes, and she did not fully understand the mature themes of the script. In 1999, she starred in Drop Dead Gorgeous, a mockumentary film about a small town beauty pageant; co-starred in the comedy Dick, a parody which retells the events of the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of U.S. president Richard Nixon; and played the troubled teenager Lux Lisbon in Sofia Coppola's drama The Virgin Suicides, based on Jeffrey Eugenides' 1993 novel The Virgin Suicides. The film received generally favorable reviews, with Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle writing that Dunst "beautifully balances innocence and wantonness". The same year, Dunst appeared in Savage Garden's music video "I Knew I Loved You", the first single from their second and final album Affirmation (1999).

2002–2009: Stardom with Spider-Man

In 2002, Dunst starred opposite Tobey Maguire in the superhero film Spider-Man, the most financially successful film of her career as of this date. She played Mary Jane Watson, the love interest of Peter Parker (Maguire). The film was directed by Sam Raimi. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly noted Dunst's ability to "lend even the smallest line a tickle of flirtatious music". Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan reviewed that Dunst and Maguire made a real connection onscreen, concluding that their relationship "involved audiences to an extent rarely seen in films". Spider-Man was a critical and commercial success. The film grossed $114 million during its opening weekend in North America and earned $822 million worldwide.

Dunst next co-starred with Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman and Holly Hunter in the drama Levity (2003), a story of a man who is released on parole and returns to his hometown seeking redemption. That same year, she co-starred opposite Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Julia Stiles in the drama Mona Lisa Smile (2003). The film received mostly negative reviews, with Manohla Dargis of the Los Angeles Times describing it as "smug and reductive". Dunst co-starred as Mary Svevo opposite Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet and Tom Wilkinson in Michel Gondry's science fiction romantic comedy-drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). The latter film was critically acclaimed, with Entertainment Weekly describing Dunst's subplot as "nifty and clever". The film grossed $72 million worldwide.

The success of the first Spider-Man led Dunst to reprise her role as Mary Jane Watson in 2004 in Spider-Man 2. The film was acclaimed by critics and a commercial success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With box office revenues of $783 million worldwide, it was the second highest-grossing film in 2004. Also in 2004, Dunst co-starred opposite Paul Bettany in the romantic comedy Wimbledon in which she portrayed a rising tennis player in the Wimbledon Championships, while Bettany portrayed a fading former tennis star. The film received mixed reviews, but many critics enjoyed Dunst's performance. Claudia Puig of USA Today observed that the chemistry between Dunst and Bettany was potent, with Dunst doing a "fine job as a sassy and self-assured player".

In Dunst's sole project of 2005, she co-starred opposite Orlando Bloom in Cameron Crowe's romantic tragicomedy Elizabethtown as flight attendant Claire Colburn. The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. Dunst revealed that working with Crowe was enjoyable, but more demanding than she had expected. The film garnered mixed reviews, with the Chicago Tribune rating it 1 out of 4 stars and describing Dunst's portrayal of a flight attendant as "cloying". It was also a box office disappointment. After Elizabethtown, Dunst collaborated with Sofia Coppola again and starred as Marie Antoinette in the historical drama Marie Antoinette (2006), based on Antonia Fraser's book Marie Antoinette: The Journey. The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and was reviewed favorably. The film grossed $60 million at the box office from a budget of $40 million.

2010–2016: Independent films

Dunst made her screenwriting and directorial debut with the short film Bastard, which she co-wrote with Sasha Sagan. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010 and was later featured at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. She co-starred opposite Ryan Gosling in the mystery drama All Good Things (2010), based on the true story of New York real estate developer Robert Durst, whose wife disappeared in 1982. The film received fair reviews, but was a commercial failure, earning only $640,000 worldwide. The critic Roger Ebert praised Dunst for her ability to capture "a woman at a loss to understand who her husband really is, and what the true nature of his family involves". The San Francisco Chronicle complimented her performance as "the only one worth watching", despite the film's "slow crawl" and lack of suspense. Also in 2010, Dunst co-starred with Brian Geraghty in Carlos Cuarón's short film The Second Bakery Attack, based on Haruki Murakami's short story.

In 2011, Dunst co-starred opposite Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland and Charlotte Rampling in Lars von Trier's drama film Melancholia as a woman suffering depression as the world ends. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and received positive reviews, in particular for Dunst's performance. Steven Loeb of Southampton Patch wrote "This film has brought the best out of von Trier, as well as his star. Dunst is so good in this film, playing a character unlike any other she has ever attempted... Even if the film itself were not the incredible work of art that it is, Dunst's performance alone would be incentive enough to recommend it". Sukhdev Sandhu of The Daily Telegraph wrote: "Dunst is exceptional, so utterly convincing in the lead role—trouble, serene, a fierce savant—that it feels like a career breakthrough. Dunst won several awards for her performance, including the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the Best Actress Award from the U.S. National Society of Film Critics.

Dunst made a cameo in Beastie Boys' 2011 music video "Fight For Your Right Revisited", which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. A year later, she starred in Juan Diego Solanas' science fiction romance Upside Down with Jim Sturgess. Described as a Romeo and Juliet story, Peter Howell of the Toronto Star opined that there was no character development and Dunst "brings competence but no passion to her underwritten roles". The film's consensus on Rotten Tomatoes was also negative, with a 28% approval rating. Next, she had a role in Leslye Headland's romantic comedy Bachelorette (2012), starring Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson and Lizzy Caplan; the film was produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Dunst plays Regan Crawford, one of three women who reunite for the wedding of a friend who was ridiculed in high school. Dunst appeared in the drama On the Road (2012), an adaptation of Jack Kerouac's novel of the same name, in which she plays Camille Moriarty. Dunst was first approached for the role by director Walter Salles several years prior. The film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, and was released in the United States on December 21, 2012. On the Road gained mixed reviews and under-performed at the box office. Writing for Time magazine, Richard Corliss compared On the Road to "a diorama in a Kerouac museum ... [the film] lacks the novel's exuberant syncopation", but praises Dunst's performance. Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips was more positive, giving the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising the cinematic quality, and actors for their "kind of fluid motion and freedom that periodically makes On the Road make sense and makes it feel alive".

2017–present: Award nominations and upcoming projects

Dunst had two film releases in 2017. She starred alongside Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning in the drama The Beguiled, a remake of Don Siegel's 1971 film The Beguiled, about a wounded Union soldier who seeks shelter at an all-girls' school in the Confederate States of America. It was her third collaboration with Sofia Coppola, who wrote and directed the film. The Beguiled received generally favorable reviews, with Matthew Norman of the Evening Standard writing that Dunst "lends the ideal measure of coiled physical longing to her prim spinster". Dunst then starred in the psychological thriller Woodshock, written and directed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy. The film is about a woman who falls into deep paranoia after taking a deadly drug. The Mulleavys, who were friends of Dunst, personally approached her for the role. Dunst prepared for the part over the course of a year, undertaking dream experiments to try to inhabit the character's state of mind. Guy Lodge of Variety wrote that Dunst portrayed "irretrievably inverted depression to riveting effect" in the film.

In 2019, Dunst starred in the Showtime dark comedy television series On Becoming a God in Central Florida, which premiered in August of that year. For her role, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and a Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. In September 2019, Showtime renewed the series for a second season, but ultimately canceled it the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Dunst co-starred with her then-fiancé Jesse Plemons in Jane Campion's film The Power of the Dog, which was distributed by Netflix and given a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 17, 2021. Dunst received Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress along with two Critics' Choice Award nominations—Best Supporting Actress and Best Acting Ensemble. Following the film's release, Dunst took a two-year hiatus from acting due to only being offered the role of “the sad mom,” saying that it was harder to find roles that resonated with her as she aged.

Dunst was approached by director Alex Garland to star in his dystopian thriller film Civil War, and signed on to the role in 2022. She eagerly agreed to play the role of the world-weary photojournalist Lee Smith because she had “never done anything like [it]” before. The film, which was released in 2024, was a critical and commercial success. In 2025, Dunst starred opposite Channing Tatum in Derek Cianfrance's true-crime drama Roofman, a film about the criminal Jeffrey Manchester, who hid inside a Toys "R" Us store for six months after escaping prison. She played Leigh Wainscott, a divorced mother who falls in love with Manchester. The film premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Mark Hughes of Forbes called Dunst's performance the best of her career, writing that her "charm and charisma [are] mixed perfectly with a naturalist realism and skepticism lurking beneath the surface."

Music career

In 2001, Dunst made her singing debut in the comedy film Get Over It, performing two songs written by Marc Shaiman. She recorded Henry Creamer and Turner Layton's jazz standard "After You've Gone" that was used in the end credits of The Cat's Meow. In Spider-Man 3, she sang two songs as Mary Jane Watson, one during a Broadway performance, and one as a singing waitress in a jazz club. Dunst recorded the songs earlier and lip-synced while filming. She appeared in the music videos for Savage Garden's "I Knew I Loved You", Beastie Boys' "Make Some Noise" and R.E.M.'s "We All Go Back to Where We Belong" and she sang two tracks, "This Old Machine" and "Summer Day", on Jason Schwartzman's 2007 solo album Nighttiming. In 2007, Dunst said she had no intention to release albums, saying, "It worked when Barbra Streisand was doing it, but now it's a little cheesy, I think. It works better when singers are in movies".

Dunst starred as the magical princess Majokko in the Takashi Murakami-and-McG-directed short Akihabara Majokko Princess singing a cover of The Vapors' 1980 song "Turning Japanese". This was shown at the "Pop Life" exhibition in London's Tate Modern gallery from October 1, 2009, to January 17, 2010. It shows Dunst dancing around Akihabara, a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan.

Acting credits and awards

Dunst's most acclaimed films according to the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes include Little Women (1994), Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Melancholia (2011), The Two Faces of January (2014), Hidden Figures (2017), and The Power of the Dog (2021).

Dunst has been nominated for four Golden Globe awards: Best Supporting Actress for Interview with the Vampire (1994) and The Power of the Dog, Best Actress for Miniseries or Television Film for Fargo (2015), and Best Actress for Television Series Musical or Comedy for On Becoming a God in Central Florida (2019). In August 2019, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dunst was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Power of the Dog at the 2022 Academy Awards.

Other activities

In 2002, Dunst helped design and promote a necklace that was sold to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. In 2008, she participated in the Stand Up to Cancer telethon to raise funds for cancer research. The following year, she participated in the Teletón in Mexico to raise awareness about cancer treatment and children's rehabilitation.

Dunst endorsed John Kerry in the 2004 U.S. presidential election and supported Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election. She directed and narrated the documentary Why Tuesday about the tradition of voting on Tuesdays in the United States and the country's low voter turnout. She endorsed Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential election.

Personal life

In 2001, Dunst dated her Spider-Man co-star Tobey Maguire; they separated the next year but remained friends and co-stars. Dunst was in a relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal from 2002 to 2004, and with her On the Road co-star Garrett Hedlund from 2012 to 2016. Dunst and Hedlund were briefly engaged before eventually separating.

Dunst began a relationship with her Fargo co-star Jesse Plemons in 2016, and they became engaged in 2017. They have two sons, born in 2018 and 2021. Dunst and Plemons were married in July 2022 at a resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. As of 2021, they were living in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California. Dunst is a Christian and had both of her children baptized. In 2011, she acquired German citizenship to allow her to film in Europe more easily.

In early 2008, Dunst was treated for depression at the Cirque Lodge treatment center in Utah. In late March, she left the treatment center and began filming All Good Things. Two months later, she went public with this information to dispel rumors that she was being treated for substance abuse.