Kirsten Caroline Dunst (born April 30, 1982) is an American actress and singer. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories (1989). At the age of 12, Dunst gained widespread recognition playing the role of vampire Claudia in Interview with the Vampire (1994). She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for this performance. That same year she appeared in Little Women, to further acclaim.

Dunst achieved international fame as a result of her portrayal of Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-Man trilogy. Since then her films have included the romantic comedy Wimbledon (2004), the science fiction drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Cameron Crowe's tragicomedy Elizabethtown (2005). She played the title role in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006), and she starred in the comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008).

In 2001, Dunst made her singing debut in the film Get Over It, in which she performed two songs. She also sang the jazz song "After You've Gone" for the end credits of the film The Cat's Meow (2001). In early 2008 Dunst confirmed she was suffering from depression, checking into a treatment center before discharging herself in March and resuming her career.

Early life

Dunst was born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey to Klaus and Inez Dunst. She has a younger brother, Christian (born 1987). Her father worked as a medical services executive, and her mother was an artist and one-time gallery owner. Dunst is of German descent on her father's side, and Swedish on her mother's.

Until the age of six Dunst lived in New Jersey, where she attended Ranney School before moving with her mother and younger brother to Los Angeles, California in 1991. In 1995, her mother filed for divorce. The following year Dunst began attending Notre Dame, a private Catholic high school in Los Angeles. After graduating from Notre Dame she continued the acting career that she had begun at the age of eight. As a teenager, Dunst found it difficult to deal with her rising fame, and for a period blamed her mother for pushing her into acting as a child. However, she later expressed that "her mother always had the best intentions". When asked if she had any regrets about the way she spent her childhood, Dunst said: "Well, it's not a natural way to grow up, but it's the way I grew up and I wouldn't change it. I have my stuff to work out 1 I don't think anybody can sit around and say: 'My life is more screwed up than yours.' Everybody has their issues."

Early work

Dunst began her career when she was three years old as a child fashion model in television commercials. She was signed with Ford Models and Elite Model Management. At the age of eight she made her film debut in a minor role in Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks, a short film that was released as one-third of the anthology New York Stories (1989). Soon after, she landed a small part in The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), as Tom Hanks's daughter. In 1993, Dunst played Hedril in "Dark Page", the seventh episode of the seventh season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.