Dakota Fanning

How Dakota Fanning
Balances Hollywood and
High School
She may have started out a child actress, but Dakota Fanning hasn't given up one quintessential part of her teenage years: the prom.

"[I went with] a group of friends," the actress told PEOPLE while hosting the UCLA 5K Run/Walk on May 23 benefiting the Child Life/Child Development program at Mattel Children's Hospital. "I think you put more effort into getting ready before than actually you spend at the place. But it was so much fun."

Fanning, 16, currently a junior and a varsity cheerleader at an L.A. high school, says she's "lucky" to be able to have a movie career while going to school – where she isn't treated differently because of her Hollywood status.

"I've been able to have a really great experience and it's almost over. I can't believe it!" she says.

Outside of school, Fanning's enjoyed another kind of experience: Being part of the Twilight worldwide phenomenon as the villainous Volturi Jane.

"It's so fun," says Fanning about filming with the cast in Vancouver. "I've done a few movies with Kristen Stewart now, and she's become one of my best friends, so it's always fun to be with her. The cast is also fun and so nice and [we] have really become very close."

Working with Stewart on another film, The Runaways, in which the two stars shared a kiss, also brought them close, says Fanning.

"We have a really close bond in the film so it allowed us to have a really close bond in real life as well," she says.

As for whether she's Team Edward or Team Jacob, Fanning is playing it neutral and staying tight-lipped.

"I will get in trouble if I [picked] one," she says.


Doe-eyed Dakota Fanning has been charming audiences since she was a little girl, but after darker roles in The Twilight Saga and The Runaways, the teen star is breaking through the child star mold.

At age 7, Fanning scored her big break opposite Sean Penn in I Am Sam, becoming the youngest performer ever to be nominated for an individual SAG Award. She then spent her childhood building a résumé most actresses spend decades accomplishing – working with heavy hitters like Denzel Washington, Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts.

With an already impressive body of work and the Twilight series under her belt, Fanning manages to maintain a "normal life" away from Hollywood at a private school in Los Angeles, where she's on the varsity cheering squad.