1988–1993: Early work Dunst began her career at age three as a child
fashion model in television commercials. She was signed with
Ford Models and
Elite Model Management. Later that year, she made her feature film debut with a minor role in
Woody Allen's short film
Oedipus Wrecks; it was released as one-third of the anthology film
New York Stories (1989). Soon after, Dunst performed in the comedy-drama
The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), based on
Tom Wolfe's
novel of the same name, in which she played the daughter of
Tom Hanks' character.
1994–2001: Career breakthrough Dunst's breakthrough role came in 1994, in the horror drama
Interview with the Vampire opposite
Tom Cruise and
Brad Pitt, based on
Anne Rice's
novel of the same name. She played
Claudia, the child vampire who is a
surrogate daughter to Cruise's and Pitt's characters. The film included a scene in which Dunst shared her first onscreen kiss with Pitt, who is two decades her senior. She stated that kissing him had made her feel uncomfortable: "I thought it was gross, that Brad had
cooties. I mean, I was 10," she recalled. While the film overall received mixed reviews, many critics singled out Dunst's performance for acclaim.
Roger Ebert considered her portrayal of Claudia to be one of the "creepier" aspects of the film, and took note of how well she had conveyed the impression of great age inside apparent youth.
Todd McCarthy of
Variety stated that Dunst was "just right" for the family. For her performance, she won the
MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and the
Saturn Award for Best Young Actress, in addition to receiving a
Golden Globe Award nomination for
Best Supporting Actress. Later in 1994, Dunst co-starred in the drama film
Little Women alongside
Winona Ryder and
Claire Danes.
Janet Maslin of
The New York Times hailed it as the greatest adaptation of
Louisa May Alcott's
novel of the same name and wrote of Dunst's performance: In 1995, Dunst starred in the fantasy adventure film
Jumanji, a loose adaptation of
Chris Van Allsburg's 1981 children's
book of the same name. The story is about a supernatural and ominous board game in which animals and other jungle hazards appear with each roll of the
dice. She was part of an
ensemble cast that included
Robin Williams,
Bonnie Hunt and
David Alan Grier. The film was a financial success and grossed worldwide. In that year, and again in 2002, Dunst was named one of
People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. Also in 1997, Dunst appeared in the black comedy film
Wag the Dog, opposite
Robert De Niro and
Dustin Hoffman. The following year she starred in
Small Soldiers and voiced the title character in the English
Disney/
GKIDS dub of
Studio Ghibli's ''
Kiki's Delivery Service''. She also starred in
Sarah Kernochan's period comedy
All I Wanna Do (1998), playing a student at an all girls' boarding school in the 1960s, opposite
Gaby Hoffmann,
Rachael Leigh Cook, and
Lynn Redgrave. Writing for
The New York Times,
A. O. Scott opined that "the film is surprisingly pleasant, thanks to smart, unstereotyped performances—especially by Hoffmann and Dunst—and the filmmaker's evident respect and affection for her characters". Dunst starred in
Drop Dead Gorgeous, a 1999 American satirical black comedy mockumentary film about a small town beauty pageant with
Ellen Barkin and
Allison Janney. She turned down the role of Angela Hayes (played by
Mena Suvari) in
American Beauty (1999), because she did not want to appear in the film's sexual scenes or kiss the lead character, played by
Kevin Spacey. She later explained: "When I read it, I was 15 and I don't think I was mature enough to understand the script's material." Her next film was
Sofia Coppola's drama
The Virgin Suicides (1999), based on
Jeffrey Eugenides'
novel of the same name. She played Lux Lisbon, one of the troubled teenage daughters of Ronald Lisbon (
James Woods). The film was screened as a special presentation at the 43rd
San Francisco International Film Festival in 2000. According to
Metacritic, the film received generally favorable reviews.
San Francisco Chronicle critic Peter Stack noted in his review that Dunst "beautifully balances innocence and wantonness". Dunst also appeared in
Savage Garden's music video "
I Knew I Loved You", the first single from their second and final album
Affirmation (1999). In 2000, Dunst starred in the comedy
Bring It On as Torrance Shipman, the captain of a cheerleading squad. The film garnered mostly positive reviews, with many critics reserving praise for her performance. In his review, A. O. Scott called her "a terrific comic actress, largely because of her great expressive range, and the nimbleness with which she can shift from anxiety to aggression to genuine hurt". Charles Taylor of
Salon noted that "among contemporary teenage actresses, Dunst has become the sunniest imaginable parodist", even though he thought the film had failed to provide her with as good a role as she had in either
Dick or in
The Virgin Suicides. Jessica Winter of
The Village Voice praised Dunst, stating that her performance was "as sprightly and knowingly daft as her turn in
Dick" adding that "[Dunst] provides the only major element of
Bring It On that plays as tweaking parody rather than slick, strident, body-slam churlishness." Peter Stack of the
San Francisco Chronicle, despite giving the film an unfavorable review, commended Dunst for her willingness "to be as silly and cloyingly agreeable as it takes to get through a slapdash film". In 2001, Dunst starred in the comedy film
Get Over It. She later explained that she took the role for the opportunity to showcase her singing. Dunst then co-starred with
Jay Hernandez in the coming of age teen romance film
Crazy/Beautiful.
Roger Ebert of the
Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "
Crazy/Beautiful […] is an unusually observant film about adolescence," and "because of the real conviction that Dunst and Hernandez bring to the roles, we care about them as people, not case studies." She also starred in the historical drama ''
The Cat's Meow, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, as actress Marion Davies. Derek Elley of Variety'' described the film as "playful and sporty", deeming this Dunst's best performance to date: "Believable as both a spoiled ingenue and a lover to two very different men, Dunst endows a potentially lightweight character with considerable depth and sympathy". For her performance, she won the Best Actress Silver Ombú award at the 2002
Mar del Plata International Film Festival.
2002–2009: Stardom with Spider-Man In 2002, Dunst starred opposite
Tobey Maguire in the superhero film
Spider-Man, the most financially successful film of her career as of this date. She played
Mary Jane Watson, the love interest of
Peter Parker (Maguire). The film was directed by
Sam Raimi.
Owen Gleiberman of
Entertainment Weekly noted Dunst's ability to "lend even the smallest line a tickle of flirtatious music". Writing for the
Los Angeles Times,
Kenneth Turan reviewed that Dunst and Maguire made a real connection onscreen, concluding that their relationship "involved audiences to an extent rarely seen in films".
Spider-Man was a critical and commercial success. The film grossed during its opening weekend in North America and earned worldwide. That same year, she co-starred opposite
Julia Roberts,
Maggie Gyllenhaal and
Julia Stiles in the drama
Mona Lisa Smile (2003). The film received mostly negative reviews, with
Manohla Dargis of the
Los Angeles Times describing it as "smug and reductive". Dunst co-starred as Mary Svevo opposite
Jim Carrey,
Kate Winslet and
Tom Wilkinson in
Michel Gondry's science fiction romantic comedy-drama
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). The latter film was critically acclaimed, with
Entertainment Weekly describing Dunst's subplot as "nifty and clever". The film grossed worldwide. The film was acclaimed by critics and a commercial success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America. With box office revenues of worldwide, it was the second highest-grossing film in 2004. but many critics enjoyed Dunst's performance.
Claudia Puig of
USA Today observed that the chemistry between Dunst and Bettany was potent, with Dunst doing a "fine job as a sassy and self-assured player". In Dunst's sole project of 2005, she co-starred opposite
Orlando Bloom in
Cameron Crowe's romantic tragicomedy
Elizabethtown as
flight attendant Claire Colburn. The film premiered at the
2005 Toronto International Film Festival. Dunst revealed that working with Crowe was enjoyable, but more demanding than she had expected. with the
Chicago Tribune rating it 1 out of 4 stars and describing Dunst's portrayal of a flight attendant as "cloying". It was also a box office disappointment. After
Elizabethtown, Dunst collaborated with Sofia Coppola again and starred as
Marie Antoinette in the historical drama
Marie Antoinette (2006), based on
Antonia Fraser's book
Marie Antoinette: The Journey. The film was screened at a special presentation at the
2006 Cannes Film Festival, and was reviewed favorably. The film grossed at the box office from a budget of . '' in 2007 In 2007, Dunst reprised the role of Mary Jane Watson in
Spider-Man 3. In contrast to its predecessors' rave reviews, Ryan Gilbey of the
New Statesman was critical of Dunst's character, remarking that "the film-makers couldn't come up with much for Mary Jane to do other than scream a lot". Nevertheless, with a worldwide gross of , it stands as the most commercially successful
film in the series and Dunst's highest-grossing film to the end of 2008. Dunst's next role was in 2008, in which she co-starred opposite
Simon Pegg in the comedy
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, based on former
Vanity Fair contributing editor
Toby Young's
memoir of the same name.
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 37%, with the film gaining mostly negative reviews.
Robert Wilonsky of
The Village Voice was critical of Dunst's performance, writing she "seems to be speaking in four different accents at once, none of them quite of the English variety". He added that the film "plays like a made-for-
CBS redo of
The Devil Wears Prada"
. 2010–2016: Independent films Dunst made her screenwriting and directorial debut with the short film
Bastard, which she co-wrote with
Sasha Sagan. The film premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival in 2010 and was later featured at the
2010 Cannes Film Festival. She co-starred opposite
Ryan Gosling in the mystery drama
All Good Things (2010), based on the true story of New York
real estate developer
Robert Durst, whose wife disappeared in 1982. The film received fair reviews, but was a commercial failure, earning only worldwide. The
San Francisco Chronicle complimented her performance as "the only one worth watching", despite the film's "slow crawl" and lack of suspense. Also in 2010, Dunst co-starred with
Brian Geraghty in
Carlos Cuarón's short film
The Second Bakery Attack, based on
Haruki Murakami's short story. |alt=Dunst at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. In 2011, Dunst co-starred opposite
Charlotte Gainsbourg,
Kiefer Sutherland and
Charlotte Rampling in
Lars von Trier's drama film
Melancholia as a woman suffering
depression as the world ends. It premiered at the
2011 Cannes Film Festival and received positive reviews, in particular for Dunst's performance. Steven Loeb of
Southampton Patch wrote "This film has brought the best out of von Trier, as well as his star. Dunst is so good in this film, playing a character unlike any other she has ever attempted... Even if the film itself were not the incredible work of art that it is, Dunst's performance alone would be incentive enough to recommend it". Sukhdev Sandhu of
The Daily Telegraph wrote: "Dunst is exceptional, so utterly convincing in the lead role—trouble, serene, a fierce savant—that it feels like a career breakthrough. Dunst won several awards for her performance, including the
Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the Best Actress Award from the U.S.
National Society of Film Critics. Dunst made a cameo in
Beastie Boys' 2011 music video "
Fight For Your Right Revisited", which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival. A year later, she starred in
Juan Diego Solanas' science fiction romance
Upside Down with
Jim Sturgess. Described as a
Romeo and Juliet story, Peter Howell of the
Toronto Star opined that there was no character development and Dunst "brings competence but no passion to her underwritten roles". The film's consensus on Rotten Tomatoes was also negative, with a 28% approval rating. Next, she had a role in
Leslye Headland's romantic comedy
Bachelorette (2012), starring
Isla Fisher,
Rebel Wilson and
Lizzy Caplan; the film was produced by
Will Ferrell and
Adam McKay. Dunst plays Regan Crawford, one of three women who reunite for the wedding of a friend who was ridiculed in high school. Dunst appeared in the drama
On the Road (2012), an adaptation of
Jack Kerouac's
novel of the same name, in which she plays Camille Moriarty. Dunst was first approached for the role by director
Walter Salles several years prior. The film premiered at the
2012 Cannes Film Festival, and was released in the United States on December 21, 2012.
On the Road gained mixed reviews and under-performed at the box office. Writing for
Time magazine,
Richard Corliss compared
On the Road to "a
diorama in a Kerouac museum ... [the film] lacks the novel's exuberant syncopation", but praises Dunst's performance.
Chicago Tribunes
Michael Phillips was more positive, giving the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising the
cinematic quality, and actors for their "kind of fluid motion and freedom that periodically makes
On the Road make sense and makes it feel alive". Jake Wilson of
The Sydney Morning Herald praised the script for "condensing the book's plot while retaining its spirit", although he thought there was some uneven editing. Of Dunst's performance, he called her "typically teasing yet sympathetic". Finally in 2014, Dunst voiced a character in the eighth episode of
Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, and made a guest appearance in an episode of
Portlandia. Throughout 2015, Dunst focused solely on television work. She was cast as hairdresser Peggy Blumquist in the
second season of the critically acclaimed
FX crime dark comedy-drama
Fargo, which earned her nominations for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. In 2016, Dunst co-starred in
Jeff Nichols' science fiction drama
Midnight Special with
Michael Shannon and
Joel Edgerton. The story is about a father and his eight-year-old son who go on the run upon discovering that the boy possesses mysterious powers. The film opened to mostly positive reviews; Tim Grierson of
The New Republic was impressed by
Midnight Specials special effects which imitated a late 20th century
retro style. However, he questioned the purpose of Dunst's character which "simply has nothing to do". Dunst had a supporting role in the biographical drama
Hidden Figures (2016), a loose adaptation of the book
of the same name, about African-American
mathematicians who worked at the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the
Space Race. Dunst's portrayal of a white supervisor drew praise from
Slant Magazines Elise Nakhnikian, while
The Guardian thought the film was educational and entertaining despite its underdeveloped supporting cast. The film was a commercial success, grossing worldwide and was nominated for three
Academy Awards. The cast also won the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In addition to acting, Dunst served as a member of the main competition jury of the
2016 Cannes Film Festival. In that year, Dunst planned to direct an adaptation of
Sylvia Plath's novel
The Bell Jar, starring
Dakota Fanning, but stepped down from the project before production.
2017–present: Critical acclaim Dunst had two film releases in 2017. She starred alongside
Colin Farrell,
Nicole Kidman and
Elle Fanning in the drama
The Beguiled, which marked her third collaboration with
Sofia Coppola, who wrote and directed the film. It is a remake of
Don Siegel's
1971 film of the same name about a wounded
Union soldier who seeks shelter at an all-girls' school in the
Confederate States of America. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 79% approval rating which was "enlivened by strong performances from the cast". Matthew Norman of the
Evening Standard similarly took note of the "impeccable" acting performances and wrote, "Dunst lends the ideal measure of coiled physical longing to her prim
spinster". Dunst then starred in the psychological thriller
Woodshock, written and directed by her friends,
Kate and Laura Mulleavy, founders of the
Rodarte fashion label. The film is about a woman who falls deeper into paranoia after taking a deadly drug. The Mulleavys' personally approached Dunst for the lead role, which gave Dunst an "emotional safety net" during filming. She prepared for the role over the course of a year, undertaking
dream experiments in order to try to inhabit the character's state of mind. Upon release, the film was unpopular with critics. Katie Rife of
The A.V. Club acknowledged the "sophisticated" cinematography but thought "Character development and motivation are practically nonexistent, and the already-thin plot pushes ambiguity to the point of incoherence".
Varietys Guy Lodge shared a similar opinion with the character, writing "Dunst has form in playing irretrievably inverted depression to riveting effect, but the Mulleavys' script hardly gives her as complex an emotional or intellectual palette to work with". In 2019, Dunst starred in the
Showtime dark comedy television series
On Becoming a God in Central Florida, which premiered in August that year. For her role, she was nominated for a
Golden Globe for Best Actress and a
Critics Choice Award for
Best Actress in a Comedy Series. In September 2019, Showtime renewed the series for a second season, but ultimately canceled it the following year due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. in 2024Dunst co-starred with her then-fiancé
Jesse Plemons in
Jane Campion's film
The Power of the Dog distributed by
Netflix, and given a limited theatrical release in the USA on November 17, 2021. She received
Academy Award,
Golden Globe Award, and
Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress along with two
Critics' Choice Award nominations (
Best Supporting Actress and
Best Acting Ensemble). Following its release, she took a two-year hiatus from acting due to only being offered the role of “the sad mom,” saying that it was harder to find roles that resonated with her as she aged. Dunst was approached by director
Alex Garland to star in his dystopian thriller film
Civil War and signed on to the role in 2022. She stated that she eagerly agreed to it as she had “never done anything like [it]” before. Dunst starred opposite
Channing Tatum in
Derek Cianfrance's true-crime drama
Roofman, a film about criminal
Jeffrey Manchester who hid inside a
Toys "R" Us store for six months after escaping prison. She played Leigh Wainscott, a divorced mother who falls in love with Manchester. The film premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival in 2025 and received positive reviews. Dunst's performance was praised;
Mark Hughes of
Forbes called it one of the best performances of her career, writing "Her own charm and charisma [are] mixed perfectly with a naturalist realism and skepticism lurking beneath the surface." Dunst and
Mikey Madison will star in
Alejandro Landes Echavarría's thriller
Reptilia. She is set to play
Alex in the sequel to the 2025 film
A Minecraft Movie, set for release in summer of 2027. The film will be directed by
Jared Hess and star
Jack Black,
Jason Momoa,
Danielle Brooks,
Matt Berry, and
Jennifer Coolidge, among others. She will star in a film adaptation of
Freida McFadden's novel ''
The Housemaid's Secret, a sequel to the 2025 film The Housemaid'', which will be directed by
Paul Feig and feature
Sydney Sweeney. Two of her upcoming films,
Ruben Östlund's satirical comedy
The Entertainment System Is Down and
Charlie McDermott's drama
Rhubarb, are in post-production. ==Music career==