Elle Fanning made her debut in the 2001 American drama/melodrama film ‘I Am Sam,’ directed by Jessie Nelson. Despite opening to unfavorable reviews, the film was a commercial success. The following year, she made her first television appearance in the "Charlie and Lisa" episode of the science fiction miniseries ‘Taken.’ She made a return to the big screen with the 2003 family comedy film ‘Daddy Day Care.’ The film was panned by critics but managed to achieve success at the box office and grossed over $164.4 million against a budget of $60 million. She next appeared in ‘The Door in the Floor’ (2004), ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’ (2005), ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ (2005), ‘Déjà Vu’ (2006), ‘I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With’ (2006), ‘Reservation Road’ (2007), ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (2008), ‘Astro Boy’ (2009), and ‘The Nutcracker in 3D’ (2010).
In 2011, she starred as ‘Alice Dainard’ in the monster thriller film ‘Super 8’ directed by J. J. Abrams. The film opened to a positive reception and went on to become a major box office success. Fanning earned several award nominations for her performance in the film, including 2 ‘Teen Choice Award’ and ‘Satellite Award’ nominations. The following year, she appeared in the drama film ‘Ginger & Rosa,’ directed by Sally Potter. The film received positive reviews upon release with critics praising the performance of Fanning. Her major breakthrough role came in the 2014 dark fantasy adventure film ‘Maleficent’ where she portrayed ‘Aurora.’ The film opened to mostly positive reviews and was a massive box office success, grossing over $758.5 million against a budget of $180–263 million.
She next appeared in ‘Trumbo’ (2015), ‘3 Generations’ (2015), ‘The Neon Demon’ (2016), ‘Live by Night’ (2016), ‘The Vanishing of Sidney Hall’ (2017), ‘How to Talk to Girls at Parties’ (2017), ‘I Think We're Alone Now’ (2018), ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ (2019), and ‘All the Bright Places’ (2020). In 2020, she joined the main cast of the British-American-Australian comedy-drama streaming television series ‘The Great.’ In January 2022, the series was renewed for a third season. She is all set to appear in the upcoming drama film ‘The Nightingale’ directed by Mélanie Laurent.