Kirsten Caroline Dunst (born April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey) is an American actress. Her name is pronounced "KEER-sten" not "KUR-sten".
Career
She began her acting career at the age of three by appearing in television commercials. She also appeared as George H.W. Bush (Dana Carvey)'s granddaughter on one episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live in 1988 (which she would guest host years later).
She later made the transition to the big screen in her first film appearance, New York Stories, in 1989 and soon after landed a small part playing the daughter of Tom Hanks's character in The Bonfire of the Vanities, which also starred Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and Kim Cattrall.
Her breakthrough was in Interview with the Vampire, the 1994 film based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name and directed by Neil Jordan. This movie features a somewhat controversial scene in which Dunst, then aged eleven, had to kiss Brad Pitt, who was 29 at the time. Her most well-known performances to date have been in The Virgin Suicides, the cult hit Bring It On, and as Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man (which she reprised in Spider-Man 2).
She won the 2002 Best Actress Silver Ombú at the Mar de Plata Film Festival for her performance as Marion Davies in Peter Bogdanovich's The Cat's Meow .
She made her singing debut in the 2001 film Get Over It, in which she performed two songs written by Marc Shaiman. She also lent her musical voice to the end credits of The Cat's Meow by singing the old standard "After You've Gone".
More recently, Dunst has committed to playing the role of doomed 18th-century royal, Queen Marie Antoinette. The forthcoming motion picture, scheduled for 2006, is to be directed by Sofia Coppola and is based on the biography of Marie-Antoinette by British historian Lady Antonia Fraser. Filming of "Marie-Antoinette" is due to commence in February 2005.
In 2005, Dunst was arrested for drunk driving but was tricked by Ashton Kutcher on the MTV series Punk'd.
She and actor Jake Gyllenhaal recently broke up after dating for two years.
Filmography
External links
Last updated: 05-07-2005 12:49:40
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
