Kirsten Dunst was born on April 30, 1982, in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Her mother, Inez, is an artist, her father is an executive.

Kirsten's career started out in television commercials at the age of three, with a baby doll commercial.

Dunst was only seven when she made her movie debut in the Woody Allen-directed portion of the trilogy New York Stories (1989).

She made her mark as a young up-and-comer by playing the creepy tot Claudia in Interview With the Vampire (1992, with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt).

She played in the drama The Virgin Suicides (2000, directed by Sofia Coppola), the battle-of-the-cheerleaders comedy Bring It On (2000, with Gabrielle Union) and the high school romance Get Over It (2001). Her other films include The Cat's Meow (2002), Mona Lisa Smile (2003, with Julia Roberts.

Kirsten Dunst is known to mainstream movie audiences as Mary Jane in the super-hero blockbusters Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (both starring Tobey Maguire).

Kirsten Dunst presently lives in Burbank, California, with her mother, brother Christian, her two cats, and the family dog Beauty.