Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#811
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Elle Fanning represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 26 years in, and Elle is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Elle Fanning appears in 44 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Elle. Predator: Badlands is the clearest case: a film rated 7.8 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for war, drama, history. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Michael Morris, Francis Lawrence, Dan Trachtenberg and others, Elle Fanning helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Predator: Badlands (2025) as Thia / Tessa · The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) as Daisy Age 7 · All the Bright Places (2020) as Violet
Career snapshot
Ranked #811 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
44
2001–2027
Career length
26 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
Predator: Badlands
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
The Disney Family Singalong
Most frequent director
Sofia Coppola
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Sofia Coppola
Most common genre
Drama
27 titles
Average runtime
1h 43m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.5
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2000s
6.8 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Astro Boy, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Phoebe in Wonderland — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.8
Across 11 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.7
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Astro Boy, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Phoebe in Wonderland.
Most productive era
2010s
24 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.88 films | 6.513 films | 5.76 films |
| Action | 6.82 films | 6.63 films | 3.92 films |
| Thriller | 6.63 films | 6.54 films | 6.41 film |
| Comedy | 6.32 films | 6.55 films | 6.41 film |
| Crime | 6.51 film | 6.41 film | — |
| Romance | 7.81 film | 6.75 films | 7.51 film |
| Horror | — | 6.12 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2001I Am Sam
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Lucy (2 Years Old).
Highest rated performance
2008The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
7.8 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2027The Nightingale
The current state of the argument, as Isabelle.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
44 of 44 films
as Thia / Tessa
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg
as Princess Aurora
Directed by Joachim Rønning
as Aurora
Directed by Robert Stromberg
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Thia / Tessa
Predator: Badlands (2025)
Performance score8.3
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Thia / Tessa gives Elle Fanning a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Violet
All the Bright Places (2020)
Performance score8.1
All the Bright Places asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Violet is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Felicie (voice)
Ballerina (2016)
Performance score7.8
Ballerina asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Felicie (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Princess Aurora
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)
Performance score7.7
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Princess Aurora is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Thia / Tessa
Start here. Predator: Badlands is the clearest statement of what Elle Fanning does — accessible, 107 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Elle at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Maleficent (2014)
Keeps the action register of Predator: Badlands but asks for a colder reading of it.
Ballerina (2016)
Keeps the adventure register of Maleficent but asks for a colder reading of it.
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)
Keeps the adventure register of Ballerina but asks for a colder reading of it.
All the Bright Places (2020)
A deliberate change of key after Maleficent: Mistress of Evil — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Sofia Coppola
Director
2 films together
Notably Somewhere
Jessie Nelson
Director
1 film together
Notably I Am Sam
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Déjà Vu
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Director
1 film together
Notably Babel
John August
Director
1 film together
Notably The Nines
Terry George
Director
1 film together
Notably Reservation Road
Daniel Barnz
Director
1 film together
Notably Phoebe in Wonderland
David Fincher
Director
1 film together
Notably The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Andrei Konchalovsky
Director
1 film together
Notably The Nutcracker
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
1 film together
Notably Twixt
Cameron Crowe
Director
1 film together
Notably We Bought a Zoo
J.J. Abrams
Director
1 film together
Notably Super 8
Jake Paltrow
Director
1 film together
Notably Young Ones
Robert Stromberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Maleficent
Jay Roach
Director
1 film together
Notably Trumbo
Gaby Dellal
Director
1 film together
Notably 3 Generations
Ben Affleck
Director
1 film together
Notably Live by Night
Nicolas Winding Refn
Director
1 film together
Notably The Neon Demon
John Cameron Mitchell
Director
1 film together
Notably How to Talk to Girls at Parties
Haifaa al-Mansour
Director
1 film together
Notably Mary Shelley
Mélanie Laurent
Director
1 film together
Notably Galveston
Reed Morano
Director
1 film together
Notably I Think We're Alone Now
Joachim Rønning
Director
1 film together
Notably Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably A Rainy Day in New York
Max Minghella
Director
1 film together
Notably Teen Spirit
Brett Haley
Director
1 film together
Notably All the Bright Places
James Mangold
Director
1 film together
Notably A Complete Unknown
Joachim Trier
Director
1 film together
Notably Sentimental Value
Dan Trachtenberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Predator: Badlands
Francis Lawrence
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Michael Morris
Director
1 film together
Notably The Nightingale
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Sofia Coppola
Director
2 films together · 6.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
SomewhereDan Trachtenberg
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Predator: BadlandsDavid Fincher
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonBrett Haley
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
All the Bright PlacesJessie Nelson
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I Am SamJoachim Rønning
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Maleficent: Mistress of EvilJoachim Trier
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sentimental ValueRobert Stromberg
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MaleficentAlejandro G. Iñárritu
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BabelJames Mangold
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Complete UnknownJay Roach
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TrumboTony Scott
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Déjà VuHaifaa al-Mansour
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mary ShelleyJ.J. Abrams
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Super 8Cameron Crowe
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
We Bought a ZooDaniel Barnz
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Phoebe in WonderlandNicolas Winding Refn
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Neon DemonWoody Allen
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Rainy Day in New YorkTerry George
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Reservation RoadBen Affleck
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Live by NightGaby Dellal
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
3 GenerationsMax Minghella
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Teen SpiritMélanie Laurent
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GalvestonJohn Cameron Mitchell
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
How to Talk to Girls at PartiesJohn August
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The NinesReed Morano
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I Think We're Alone NowJake Paltrow
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Young OnesFrancis Ford Coppola
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TwixtAndrei Konchalovsky
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The NutcrackerMichael Morris
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The NightingaleFrancis Lawrence
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the ReapingSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
0 wins · 1 nomination
No wins yet · 1 nomination
as Actor
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
I Am Sam
as Lucy (2 Years Old)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
as Daisy Age 7
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
as Daisy Age 7
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Disney Family Singalong
as Self
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Predator: Badlands
as Thia / Tessa
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Elle Fanning has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
26 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
27 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
as Daisy Age 7
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Predator: Badlands
as Thia / Tessa
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
A Complete Unknown
as Sylvie Russo
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Nines
as Noelle
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Predator: Badlands
as Thia / Tessa
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Predator: Badlands
as Thia / Tessa
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Maleficent
as Aurora
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Nutcracker
as Mary
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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