Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, who also holds German
citizenship. She was born on April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New
Jersey, to parents Inez (née Rupprecht), who owned an art gallery, and
Klaus Dunst, a medical services executive. She has a younger brother
named Christian Dunst, born in 1987. Her
father is German, from Hamburg, and her mother, who is American, is of
German and Swedish descent.
Her career began at the age of 3 when she started modeling and
appearing in commercials. She made her feature film debut with an
uncredited role at age 6 in the
'Oedipus Wrecks' segment of Woody Allen's
1989 film
New Yorker Geschichten (1989). She
received her first film credit in
Fegefeuer der Eitelkeiten (1990).
Her family moved to Los Angeles in 1993, where her film career took
off.
In 1994, she made her breakthrough performance in
Interview mit einem Vampir (1994),
alongside such stars as Brad Pitt and
Tom Cruise. Her performance earned her a
Golden Globe nomination, the MTV Award for Best Breakthrough
Performance and the Saturn Award for Best Young Actress. In 1995, she
was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. Over the
next few years, she made a string of hit movies including
Betty und ihre Schwestern (1994),
Jumanji (1995) and
Small Soldiers (1998).
In 2000, she received rave reviews for her role as "Lux Lisbon" in
Sofia Coppola's independent film,
The Virgin Suicides - Verlorene Jugend (1999)
and proved her status as a leading actress in the comedy hit,
Girls United (2000). She also
graduated from Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles in June of that
year.
In 2002, she landed one of her best known roles as Peter Parker's love
interest, Mary Jane Watson, in
Spider-Man (2002). She continued her
role in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and
Spider-Man 3 (2007).
She went on to land roles in such films as
Vergiss mein nicht (2004),
the romantic comedy Wimbledon - Spiel, Satz und... Liebe (2004),
and in
Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown (2005). She also played the
title character in Sofia Coppola's
Marie Antoinette (2006).
Dunst won the Best Actress Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival for
her performance as Justine in Lars von Trier's
Melancholia (2011). In 2012, she
appeared in Walter Salles' film adaptation
of On the Road - Unterwegs (2012) and the
independent comedy
Die Hochzeit unserer dicksten Freundin (2012). She also has
several films in production, including
Die zwei Gesichter des Januars (2014).
Her charity work includes designing a necklace to raise funds for the
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation as well as supporting
various cancer charities.
