Autobiography

Kirsten Caroline Dunst or Kirsten Dunst was born on April 30, 1982 in Pleasant Point, New Jersey. Both of her parents are of European nationality who immigrated to the United States where they met, got married and settled in California and brought up the soon-to-be Hollywood actress. Her father, Klaus Dunst is a German medical services executive from Hamburg while her mother, Inez Dunst, was a former art gallery owner in Sweden. Dunst also has a younger brother named Christian. She had her primary education at the Ranney School and attended high school at the Notre Dame in New Jersey before she decided to leave and pursue a career in acting.

It was at the tender age of three when Dunst began to do some modelling for television commercials and eventually she was spotted by a talent scout and had her signed with Ford Models and Elite Model Management. The bubbly and charming young lady made her mark in American television when she appeared in a 1988 episode of Saturday Night Live where she played the role of George H.W. Bush’s granddaughter. Hollywood stardom was definitely in her genes and it didn’t take long before actor and famous director Woody Allen saw her potentials and decided to cast her in a short film entitled Oedipus Wrecks that came out in 1989 as part of Allen’s anthology film New York Stories. This was Kirsten’s first film debut for which she later landed another small role in the movie Bonfire of the Vanities as she played the role of Tom Hanks’ daughter. She returned to television making guest appearances for such shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation where she played the part of Hedril during the show’s seventh season episode. 1994 gave the budding actress a string of memorable roles for such big Hollywood movies as Little Women, a film adaptation of the novel by Louisa May Alcott where she played the part of young Amy March which was followed by her major feature film breakthrough in Anne Rice’s Interview with The Vampire co-starring with two of the hottest hunks in Hollywood Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. She was only eleven at the time she made this film and this is where she also got her very first onscreen kiss with Brad Pitt. Her performance as the little girl who will never grow up earned her a nomination at the Golden Globe Awards and bagged an award from MTV for Best Breakthrough Performance and the Saturn Award for Best Young Actress.

Dunst was definitely making waves in and around the Hollywood circle when she was included in People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful people in 1995 and starred opposite Robin Williams in the fantasy-adventure movie Jumanji also from that year. In 1997 she had a recurring role as a child prostitute in the TV medical drama ER and at the same time Dunst’s voice was used in two full-length animated films, one was with FOX Animation Studios’ Anastasia where she voiced for the character of Young Anastasia and the other was a 1989 anime film called Kiki’s Delivery Service where she got to use her voice for the main character of Kiki. It was in 1999 that Dunst was first offered the role of Angela in the Academy Award-winning film American Beauty but she eventually backed out and told that she did not want to appear in the film due to its suggestive and somehow graphic nature where she had to get herself almost naked in some of the scenes that even included a kissing scene with actor Kevin Spacey. The role of Angela was eventually given to another budding actress named Mena Suvari. Also from that same year, director Sofia Coppola was filming an independent movie called The Virgin Suicides where she played a troubled adolescent.

In 2000, she landed in a role playing the captain of a cheerleading squad in the movie Bring It On and appeared on Savage Garden’s music video I Knew I Loved You as the girl whom Darren Hayes met inside a subway station. But in 2002, she had the biggest acting break in her Hollywood career when she got the part to play the role of Mary Jane Watson in the movie adaptation based on the famous Marvel comic book character Spider-Man starring opposite Tobey Maguire who played the role of mild-mannered Peter Parker and his web-swinging alter ego. The movie was a huge success and that it later spawned into two more sequels which came out in 2004 and 2007 respectively. It was until recently that she announced that she won’t appear anymore on the fourth instalment of the Spider-Man series if director Sam Raimi decides to pack-up his things and leave his directorial job for the said movie.

It is rumoured recently that Dunst checked herself inside rehab and sources have been telling the Press that she was not doing well and has been partying hard for a while. But the news of getting herself some immediate medical attention came after Heath Ledger’s sudden demise that shook the Hollywood scene. Neither Dunst nor her representative have not confirmed if the reports were true and the director of operations for the said clinic where she allegedly checked in firmly denied that the actress was there.