Elle Fanning just set the bar for sibling love sky-high. The ‘Sentimental Value’ actress celebrated her elder sister Dakota Fanning’s birthday, while dishing out major sibling goals!
Dakota Fanning’s birthday celebration
On Dakota Fanning’s 32nd birthday on February 23, Elle jumped onto Instagram and called her big sister “the coolest person anyone will ever meet.” It was one of those celebratory posts that instantly makes people smile. Elle shared a beautiful video, where it’s just the two of them, dancing and hugging at what looked like a birthday party, and the sisters looked genuinely content and happy. “Our song. Your birthday. My sister,” Elle wrote, tossing in a couple of party emojis. Then she added, “She is the coolest person anyone will ever meet and I’m the lucky one who gets to call her mine! I love you @dakotafanning.”Dakota didn’t hold back either. She jumped in the comments with, “Love you the most!!!!!” And on her own feed, Dakota posted a throwback baby photo: her tiny self in front of a birthday cake, wishing for something special. Elle slid into the comments with, “Love you more than anything.”Seeing these photos, videos, and comments, anyone could just feel the love between them. And in fact, it’s not the first time they’ve gone public with it. When Elle turned 27 last year in April, Dakota posted a hospital photo from the day Elle was born: their “first photo together.”
Fanning sisters thriving in Hollywood
For the unversed, Dakota Fanning, born in 1994 in Georgia, became a star as a kid with movies like ‘I Am Sam’, picking up major award nominations before she was even a teenager. She’s built a career that swings from blockbusters to indie films, earning respect and recognition along the way.Meanwhile, Elle, born four years later, jumped into acting as a kid too, and now she’s one of Hollywood’s most interesting young stars. She’s taken on every kind of role: from sci-fi adventures like ‘Super 8’ to emotional dramas.Dakota and Elle have been in each other’s corners from the start. Dakota, the older sister, broke into acting first. She started with commercials and TV before landing roles in movies like ‘I Am Sam’ and ‘Man on Fire’. Elle wasn’t far behind. She actually played the younger version of Dakota’s character in ‘I Am Sam’, then carved out her own path, showing up in everything from big-budget fantasies to indie dramas. Both of them grew up under the Hollywood spotlight, and they’ve always talked about how much they rely on each other to stay grounded.This year, their birthday posts mean even more because they’re about to work together, really together, for the first time. The sisters are set to co-star in ‘The Nightingale’, a historical drama adapted from Kristin Hannah’s novel. At the 2026 Golden Globes, Elle even joked that Dakota “promised not to boss me around” on set. It’s the kind of teasing you’d expect from sisters — and actors who know each other inside out.As for Elle herself, she landed her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in ‘Sentimental Value’, capping off years of hard work and growth.
