Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress of German and Swedish descent.
Dunst was born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to Klaus and Inez Dunst. Dunst's parents are separated; her father, Klaus Dunst, a German medical services executive, remained in New Jersey. Her mother, Inez Dunst, a Swedish former art gallery owner, moved to California. Dunst has a younger brother, Christian, born in 1986.
Dunst graduated from Notre Dame High School, a private Catholic high school in Sherman Oaks, in 2000, but attended the Ranney School during her elementary years.
Dunst started dating fellow actor Jake Gyllenhaal in September 2002, after meeting him through his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal (her co-star in Mona Lisa Smile). They broke up in July 2004 and have been on-again, off-again since.
Dunst began acting at the age of three in television commercials. In a 1988 episode of Saturday Night Live, she played the role of President George H.W. Bush's granddaughter, in a sketch in which Dana Carvey acted as President Bush. Years later, Dunst brought this to light when she hosted the show.
Dunst moved to the big screen in 1989's New York Stories. Soon after, she landed a small part in The Bonfire of the Vanities as Tom Hanks's daughter.
In 1993, Dunst played Hedril in the seventh season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "Dark Page".
Her breakthrough came in Interview with the Vampire, a 1994 film based on Anne Rice's novel starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, and Christian Slater, 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. Her most well-known performances to date have been in Jumanji, The Virgin Suicides, Bring It On, and as Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2.
Dunst won the 2002 Best Actress Silver Omb? at the Mar de Plata Film Festival for her performance as Charlie Chaplin's love interest Marion Davies in Peter Bogdanovich's The Cat's Meow.
Dunst made her singing debut in the 2001 film, Get Over It, performing 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 played the role of doomed 18th-century royal, Queen Marie Antoinette, in the forthcoming motion picture, titled Marie-Antoinette, which is scheduled for release in Autumn 2006. It is the third film directed by Sofia Coppola (the second to feature Dunst), and is based on British historian Lady Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie-Antoinette.
Dunst is slated to portray peace activist Marla Ruzicka in a film scripted by Lorene Scafaria for Warner Independent Pictures in late 2006.
