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Early Life

Kirsten Caroline Dunst was born on April 30th, 1982, Point Pleasant, New Jersey, United States. Her father, Klaus, was a medical services executive and her mother, Inez, was an artist and former gallery owner. She is of German descent on her father's side, and Swedish on her mother's. Dunst lived in New Jersey until the age of six, where she attended Ranney School, before she moved with her mother and younger brother, Christian, to Los Angeles, California in 1991 following the separation of her parents. In 1996, she began attending Notre Dame, a private Catholic high school in Sherman Oaks, California where she graduated from in 2000.

Dunst began her acting career at the age of three as a child fashion model in television commercials. She was signed with Ford Models and Elite Model Management and appeared in over 70 commercials as a child. At the age of eight she made her film debut in Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks, a short film that was released as one-third of the anthology New York Stories. The following year she landed a small part in The Bonfire of the Vanities as Tom Hanks' daughter.

The breakthrough role in Dust’s career came in 1994 when she was cast as young Amy March in Gillian Armstrong’s film adaptation of Little Women. Both the film and Dunst received favourable reviews from the critics. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and Dunst won the Young Artist Award. The same year she also starred in Interview with the Vampire, a 1994 film based on Anne Rice's novel, in which she played the child vampire Claudia, a surrogate daughter to Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt's characters in the film. Her performance earned her the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, the Saturn Award for Best Young Actress, and her first Golden Globe Award nomination.

In 1995 she appeared in the fantasy film Jumanji, based on Chris Van Allsburg's 1981 book of the same name. She was part of an ensemble cast that included Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, and David Alan Grier. The movie grossed over $200 million worldwide and earned Dunst a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor. Her next big hit came in 1999 when she landed the role of troubled adolescent Lux Lisbon in Sofia Coppola's independent film The Virgin Suicides. Although the film only enjoyed moderate success at the box office Dunst was again singled for praise by the critics and was nominated for Teen Choice Award in 2000.

In the 2002 film Spider-Man, the most successful film of her career to date, she played Mary Jane Watson, the best friend and love interest of the title character, played by Tobey Maguire. Directed by Sam Raimi the movie was nominated for two Academy Awards and currently ranks eighth in the all-time U.S. box office. The film also grossed $821,708,551 worldwide, currently placing it #18 in worldwide box office rankings, and earned Dunst a Empire Movie Award for Best Actress and a MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance. Following the success of Spider-Man, she starred in Mona Lisa Smile (2003) part of an ensemble cast that included Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles.

In 2004, she appeared in the romantic comedy Wimbledon a film in which she plays a rising tennis player in the Wimbledon Tennis Championships opposite Paul Bettany, who plays a fading former tennis star. Dunst also had a supporting role in Michel Gondry’s Academy Award-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. However her biggest movie of the year would see her reprise her role of Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man 2. In its first six days the film grossed over $180 million at the US Box Office and eventually went on to gross $373.5 million, becoming the second-highest grossing film of 2004, behind Shrek 2. Worldwide, the film grossed $783.8 million, the 24^th most successful of all time, and earned Dunst her second Empire Movie Award for Best Actress.

Dunst appeared in two relatively low key films over the next two years, Elizabethtown (2005) with Orlando Bloom and Marie Antoinette (2006) before the release of the third film in the Spider-Man film franchise in 2007. Although the film received generally mixed reviews from the critics, in contrast to the previous two films highly positive reviews, it stands as the most successful film in the series grossing $890,871,626 worldwide making it the 13^th all-time highest grossing film.

Dunst was next seen in her only film of 2008 the British comedy How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, opposite Simon Pegg. The movie is an adaptation of the memoir of the same name by former Vanity Fair contributing editor Toby Young.

1989 - New York Stories - Lisa's daughter

1990 - The Bonfire of the Vanities - Campbell McCoy

1994 - Little Women - Young Amy March

1994 - Interview with the Vampire - Claudia

1994 - Greedy - Jolene

1995 - Jumanji - Judy Shepherd

1996 - Mother Night - Young Resi Noth

1997 - Wag the Dog - Tracy Limes

1997 - Tower of Terror - Anna Petterson

1997 - True Heart - Bonnie

1998 - The Hairy Bird - Verena von Stefan

1998 - Small Soldiers - Christy Fimple

1999 - Dick - Betsy Jobs

1999 - Drop Dead Gorgeous - Amber Atkins

1999 - The Virgin Suicides - Lux Lisbon

2000 - Deeply - Silly

2000 - Bring It On - Torrance Shipman

2000 - Luckytown - Lidda Doyles

2000 - The Crow: Salvation - Erin Randall

2000 - Lover's Prayer - Zinaida

2001 - The Cat's Meow - Marion Davies

2001 - Crazy/Beautiful - Nicole Oakley

2001 - Get Over It - Kelly Woods/Helena

2002 - Spider-Man - Mary Jane Watson

2003 - Mona Lisa Smile - Betty Warren

2003 - Levity - Sofia Mellinger

2004 - Wimbledon - Lizzie Bradbury

2004 - Spider-Man 2 - Mary Jane Watson

2004 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Mary Svevo

2005 - Elizabethtown - Claire Colburn

2006 - Marie Antoinette - Marie Antoinette

2007 - Spider-Man 3 - Mary Jane Watson

2008 - How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - Alison Olsen

• Dunst has expressed interest in playing the role of Blondie front woman Debbie Harry in Michel Gondry's upcoming biopic.
• She is currently working on setting up her own production company with her mother called "Wooden Spoon Productions".
• In 1993, Dunst played Hedril in the "Dark Page" episode of the seventh season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• Voted the 2nd Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.
• She has dated playwright Jeff Smeenge, actor Jake Gyllenhaal and Razorlight front man Johnny Borrell.
• In 2000 Dunst appeared in the music video for Savage Garden's "I Knew I Loved You" where she plays the object of singer Darren Hayes’s affections on a New York City Subway.