Elle Fanning, a critically acclaimed American actress who transitioned from a child star to a leading talented artist and known for her versatility, was born as Mary Elle Fanning, on the 9th of April 1998 in Conyers, Georgia, USA, to Heather Joy, née Arringtonn, a former professional tennis player, and Steven J. Fanning, an electronics salesman, who played minor league baseball. She is the younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning, and both the sisters use their middle names as given names per family tradition. She graduated in 2016 from Campbell Hall School, an independent, coeducational school located in the Studio City neighbourhood of the city of Los Angeles, but she began her acting career at 3 years old, when she played the younger version of her sister, Dakota Fanning’s character Lucy in the drama film I Am Sam (2001), and the next tear played younger Dakota again in the television miniseries Taken (2002) as Allie.

But her first big independent movie without her sister was in the comedy Daddy Day Care (2003), playing the role of Jamie, a hell-raising toddler, and then after appearing on a number of hard-hitting TV shows, landed on the role of Ruth Cole in the American psychological drama film The Door in the Floor (2004), opposite Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger. The next year, Elle Fanning played Debbie, the daughter of Richard and Susan Jones, played by Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the critically and financially successful psychological drama film Babel (2005), followed by playing the role of Sweetie Thomas in Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), Penelope in I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006), Abbey in Déjà vu (2006), Noelle in The Nines (2006), and also the role of Emma Learner, the grieving daughter of Grace and Ethan Learner, in Reservation Road (2007), dealing with the aftermath of a tragic car accident in which Emma's brother was killed.

Elle Fanning reunited with her Babel co-stars, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, appearing in the small role of Daisy, the younger version of the character played by Blanchett, in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), and also played the role of little Phoebe Lichten in Phobe in Wonderland (2008), which follows the troubled young girl with OCD and Tourette syndrome, involving distressing, intrusive thoughts and involuntary, repetitive motor or vocal tics, struggling to connect her parents, but finds surprising solace when she lands the lead role in the school's production of Alice in Wonderland, with the theatre teacher Miss Dodger, portrayed by Patricia Clarkson., helping Phoebe feel normal. Elle Fanning unveiled her exceptional range as an actress in the film, a mere glimpse at what was to come in her future career, stunning the critics and the audience alike.

Having stepped out of her sister's shadow and established her own career, Fanning had in a short time become a fast-rising star with a bright future. In Sofia Coppola's poignant drama, Somewhere (2010), depicting the powerful bond between a father and his daughter, she appeared as Cleo, the 11-year-old daughter of Johnny Marco, played by Stephen Dorff, who despite finally achieving fame and fortune, finds himself experiencing a debilitating existential crisis that only recedes after he is tasked with caring his daughter, spending their time at the Château Marmont, and finding a new meaning in his life as he bonds with Cleo, and she helps bring out the best in him. Notably, the film was premiered at the Venice Inter National, and earned the Golden Lion Award for Best Picture.

The next year, Elle Fanning played the role of a young ghost named "V". In Twixt (2011), an American horror film written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, depicting a struggling novelist who stumbles upon a murder mystery in a small town, and in the process entering an alternative, dream world. The same year, she also appeared as Alice Dainard .in the science fiction film Super 8 (2011), set in the late seventies, and follows a group of children who are forced to face typically strange happenings in their small town. The film proved to be a smash hit, and it brought Elle Fanning into the mainstream consciousness. The Daily Telegraph described her as one of the best aspects of the film and she received a Spotlight Award at the Hollywood Film Festival for her performance in the film.

In 2012, Elle Fanning portrayed Ginger, and Alice Englert played Rosa, the two inseparable teenage friends in the coming-of-age drama film Ginger & Rosa (2012), set in London in 1962, following their strong bond of friendship that faces a major challenge when Ginger learns that Rosa is in a romantic relationship with her father. While the film received mostly positive reviews from critics, Elle Fanning’s performance in the film was widely praised, noted for its combination of grace, emotional depth, and technical precision. In 2014, she appeared in the Walt Disney fantasy film Maleficent (2014), playing Princess Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty, alongside Angelina Jolie, playing the title role of Maleficent, a fierce and vindictive protector of the Moors. The same year, she also acted in Young Ones (2014), an independent science-fiction Western, and in a biographical film about the life of the jazz pianist Joe Albany Low Down, in which she played the role of Albany's daughter, Amy-Jo. Her films in the next year included the star-studded movie 3 Generations (2015), in which she played Ray, a young transgendered man, alongside Naomi Watts and Susan Sarandon.

The next year, Elle appeared as Jesse in the psychological thriller The Neon Demon (2016), playing Jesse, a sixteen-year-old aspiring model whose ethereal look and aggressive youth generated intense fascination and jealousy within the fashion industry. However, although her performance in the film was acclaimed, the film, seductive in its visuals, and exploring the dark side of the fashion industry, vanity, and the marketing of feminine beauty, failed to captivate the critics and the audience, due to a lacklustre storyline and execution.

Her other important films during the decade include Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled (2017), in which a wounded Union soldier stumbles upon Amy, the youngest student of a school for girls in Virginia during the Civil War, followed by the Irish-American romantic film Mary Shelley (2017), a biopic about the writer Mary Shelley, played by Elle Fanning, that tracks her tumultuous relationship with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, played by Douglas Booth. After that, she appeared in Galveston (2018) as Rocky, a young escort, rescued by a hard-drinking contract killer from the criminals during the double-cross scheme, and starred as Ashleigh in Woody Allen’s romantic film A Rainy Day in New York (2019), in which her character is depicted as an airhead and is sexualised and demeaned by the surrounding men, including her boyfriend, Gatsby. However, although her character is particularly unlikeable throughout the movie and set up to fail in the viewer’s eye, she performed well in portraying the role.

In her personal life, Elle Fanning was in a relationship with British actor and director Max Minghella from 2018 to 2023, and is reported to be in a relationship with an American magazine executive and Rolling Stone CEO Gus Wenner. The two have been spotted at multiple events, and made their red carpet debut at the Golden Globe Awards in January 2024.