How old was Dakota Fanning when she started acting? Actress shares advice for child actors

Dakota Fanning began her acting career at the age of five with a Tide commercial. While speaking to People, Dakota, at the New York premiere of her new thriller, The Watchers, on June 2, shared advice with child actors based on her experience and said,

"As long as you love it, you're in the right place. Sometimes you're working in a cold, wet forest, and if you can still have fun there, then you're on the right track."

At 6, she played the role of a car accident victim in the NBC prime-time drama ER. Fanning went on to play roles in multiple TV shows and movies such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, I Am Sam, Taken, and others.

Her new movie, The Watchers, is set in Ireland, where Fanning plays 28-year-old artist Mina, who gets stranded in an untouched forest and is trapped along with three strangers.

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Dakota Fanning on being a child actor

With an acting career spanning more than two decades, Dakota Fanning has spent the majority of her early life in front of the screen. She has played notable young characters in award-winning films.

Her advice to child actors on the New York premiere of The Watchers isn't the first time the actor has commented on child actors. In 2018, during a conversation with Variety, the actor was asked about her childhood and upbringing, to which she said,

"I feel like I have to defend my life, and then it's like when oyu hear someone like overcompensating for something. So you're walking this line of defending yourself, but not too much, because I don't have anything to defend."

Dakota Fanning also looked back at the experiences her career has given her and said,

"I just don't know a lot of people our age who have been to the places we've been and met all different kinds of people and the friendships. It's added so much to my life and it does kind of hurt me a little bit when people try and somehow turn it into a negative and I don't like it."

Ishana Night Shyamalan with Dakota Fanning (Image via Getty)

Ishana Night Shyamalan, director of Fanning's new movie, was also present at the premiere. While talking about Dakota Fanning, Ishana said she was "blown away by working with her."

Fanning's co-star Georgina Campbell said, "It was really fun watching her work," while Oliver Finnegan said the actress is "incredibly focused" and that it was a pleasure to work with her and figure out how she does it.

The Watchers is set to hit the U.S. theatres on June 7.