Kirsten Dunst

Kirsten Caroline Dunst ( KEER-stən; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the anthology film New York Stories (1989) and has since starred in many film and television productions. She has received several awards including nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four Golden Globe Awards. Dunst first gained recognition for her role as child vampire Claudia in the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also had roles in her youth in Little Women (1994) and Jumanji (1995). Dunst moved into leading roles in teen films of 1999, the satires Dick and Drop Dead Gorgeous, as well as the drama The Virgin Suicides, the first of her collaborations with filmmaker Sofia Coppola. After the leading role in the cheerleading film Bring It On (2000), she gained wider attention for her role as Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007). Her career progressed with a supporting role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), followed by a lead role in Cameron Crowe's tragicomedy Elizabethtown (2005), and as Marie Antoinette in Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006). In 2011, Dunst starred as a depressed newlywed in Lars von Trier's drama Melancholia, which earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award For Best Actress. In 2015, she played hairdresser Peggy Blumquist in the second season of the FX series Fargo, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the role. Dunst had a supporting role in the film Hidden Figures (2016), and leading roles in Coppola's The Beguiled (2017) and in the dark comedy series On Becoming a God in Central Florida (2019), for which she received a third Golden Globe nomination. Dunst earned her fourth Golden Globe nomination and first Academy Award nomination for her performance as a troubled wife in the psychological drama The Power of the Dog (2021). In 2024, following a two-year hiatus, she led the dystopian thriller film Civil War, and costarred with Channing Tatum in the true-crime drama Roofman (2025). She is married to actor Jesse Plemons and they have two sons.