A pretty, precocious blonde, Kirsten Dunst began working in commercials at age three (eventually racking up over 70 such credits) and made her feature debut as Mia Farrow’s daughter in “Oedipus Wrecks”, Woody Allen’s segment of “New York Stories” (1989). Modest roles in other features followed, though several of the films (”The Bonfire of the Vanities” 1990) were flops at the box office. Dunst also appeared in a recurring role on the NBC drama “Sisters” and guest starred in an episode of the syndicated “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

She was catapulted into the limelight with her stunning work in Neil Jordan’s “Interview With the Vampire” (1994). Only eleven at the time of filming, she essayed what was debatably the female lead opposite Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Her Claudia, a little girl made into a vampire and unable to age through the years, looked like a child one moment and appeared–and acted–like a grown woman the next.

Although the film received mixed notices, Dunst’s remarkably mature performance earned nearly universal raves, earning her a few critics’ awards and a Golden Globe nomination. Although there was talk of an Oscar nomination, it failed to materialize. Nevertheless, the young actress continued to turn in impressive work. She portrayed the younger version of the spoiled, artistic Amy in “Little Women” (1994), appearing alongside Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon (although Samantha Mathis essayed the adult character).

Dunst solidified her rising status co-starring with Robin Williams in the hit “Jumanji” (1995). Poised to make the transition to adult roles, she alternated TV appearances with her high profile films. During the 1996-97 season, Dunst had the recurring role of a tough-talking runaway who crosses paths with Dr. Doug Ross (George Clooney) in the hit NBC drama “ER”.

After providing the speaking voice of the young version of the title character in Fox’s animated “Anastasia”, she earned notice as a teenager hired to play an Albanian refugee in a mock war in the political satire “Wag the Dog” (both 1997). Dunst was “Fifteen and Pregnant” in the based-on-fact Lifetime drama before returning to the big screen in the highly touted “Small Soldiers” and alongside other rising female stars in the ensemble of “Strike/The Hairy Bird” (both 1998).

Dunst began to emerge from the pack of Hollywood starlets to become a recognizable actress and box office draw, with her adroit comedic turns in the beauty pageant comedy “Drop Dead Gorgeous” (1999) and the off-the-wall teen girls-meet-Richard-Nixon riot “Dick” (1999). She and Michelle Williams were prefectly cast as clueless teenager of the Watergate era.

As she matured, Dunst also became something of a sex symbol for the younger set with roles in teen romantic comedies. She played the plucky captain of an ambitious cheerleading squad in the surprisingly infectious “Bring It On” (2000), in which she displayed her ability to carry a film on her perky, girl-next-door charm, and she also scored in the less brilliant teen romance “Get Over It” (2001).

Dunst proved she also had formidable dramatic chops when she appeared as Lux, the eldest and most rebellious of the doomed Lisbon sisters, in Sofia Coppola’s acclaimed directorial debut “The Virgin Suicides” (1999)’ and was particularly riveting in 2001’s “crazy/beautiful” as the emotionally troubled daughter of a wealthy congressman who threatens to derail the rise of her less-privileged Latin boyfriend (Jay Hernandez).

It would be Dunst’s sunny, sexy and endearing portrayal of Mary Jane Watson, the love interest of nerdy Peter Parker, in the big screen adaptation of the comic book superhero “Spider-Man” (2002) that would thrust her into full-fledged superstardom. Dunst’s utter likeability and strong chemistry with leading man Tobey Maguire turned “Spider-Man” into an action blockbuster with a romantic soul, and the see-sawing nature of the characters’ relationship made it the first super-hero date movie.

The same year, Dunst had a wonderful turn in director Peter Bogdonavitch’s early Hollywood scandal film “The Cat’s Meow” in which, despite being far too young to play early screen star Marion Davies, she turned in a convincing performance centered around the character’s surprisingly believeable romance with media tycon William Randolph Hearst (Edward Herrmann). She next appeared with an all-star cast in writer-director Ed Solomon’s “Levity” (2003), playing a self-destructive young woman who becomes dependent on an ex-con (Billy Bob Thornton).

Dunst joined fellow up-and-comers Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal as students of progressive and liberal-minded teacher Julia Roberts in “Mona Lisa Smile” (2003). Dunst showed her harsher edges as the vicious, over-privileged senior Betty Warren who, committed to a life of housewifery to a louse, shows the most opposition to Roberts’ ideals. She used the student newspaper to attack her stance that Wellesley women of the 1950s should aspire to more from life than a role as a perfect housewife to a CEO.

Next for Dunst was a pivotal and well-acted supporting turn in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004) as Mary, the young receptionist in the memory-erasing facility where heartbroken Jim Carrey goes to have his ex-girlfriend eliminated from his thoughts. Then it was on to reprise her role as Mary Jane Watson, now a successful, engaged actress but still pining for Peter Parker in the highly anticipated sequel “Spider-Man 2″ (2004), followed by the U.S. release of France’s first 3-D CGI animated film “Kaena: The Prophecy” (2004), in which she provided the voice of the rebellious teen heroine in the sci-fi fantasy.

Hot off the success of the “Spider-Man” films, Dunst landed her first full-fledged adult leading role in the lukewarm romantic comedy “Wimbledon” (2004), winningly playing up-and-coming tennis sensation Lizzie Bradbury, an easily distracted “bad girl of tennis” whose romance with a faded ex-star of the game (Paul Bettany) reignites his passion and send him to tennis’ most prestigious tournament.

Taking on one of most mature leading roles to date, Dunst was winsome and appealing in her turn as the relentlessly upbeat flight attendant Claire Colburn, who helps a failed golden boy (Orlando Bloom) mourning his father reawaken to the joys of life and romance in writer-director Cameron Crowe’s engaging, if uneven, film “Elizabethtown” (2005). Lynch recently talked with Dunst about her career and her life.

IM: How do you feel about movie stars being referred to as royalty, american royalty?

Dunst: Well, we’re actors. We’re not running a country, and I think that it’s so blown out of proportion. Everyone is obsessed with fame and money and all of the shows and the magazines, all of it is pretty much about living a certain kind of lifestyle, the kind of lifestyle that you think that celebrities are living and how they’re catered to in a certain way.

IM: So how do you view your own celebrity then? Do you not think about it, or do you read the tabloids or reviews?

Dunst: No. I haven’t read any reviews, but I don’t see myself as a celebrity and when I do feel that kind of feeling it makes me extremely uncomfortable. I recognize it in people really quickly and it’s just given me a pretty good BS monitor I guess.

IM: Do you do a disguise when you go out at all?

Dunst: No, that seems tiring to me to think about that in the morning when I get up in the morning or something, that I would need to disguise myself. I can’t live that way.

IM: can you compare working with sofia on ‘Virgin Suicides’ and then with her on ‘Marie Antoinette?’

Dunst: Well, at sixteen I wasn’t as observant of the director and how she was observing me. You’re a little bit more unaware in a way which is a good thing because she just let me be in a way. She creates an atmosphere like no one else. Even with ‘Virgin Suicides’ we were in a house together. Our rehearsals were making sandwiches and playing games. We were in the house doing family things and then on ‘Marie Antoinette’ we rehearsed a little bit and improvised a little bit in the beginning and talked about the direction of things. We talked about any ideas and whatever we thought about Marie and Louie and then she really lets you go. There’s not much talking there. It’s more of a shorthand with Sophie and I. It’s not like there are big discussions for every scene. I kind of mapped it out myself so that everyday I would have a list of our scenes and descriptions and what I wanted to remember in each scene so that everything kind of flowed into one another because that’s the difficult thing to remember – what you’re going through, how old you are, how you’d be feeling now and what I would be paying attention to. So I kind of did that for myself because the good thing about Sophia is that she’s there for support, but she also leaves you alone and it makes you very vulnerable and I think that she gets a good live performance because of that. It’s very immediate. You don’t have the time to really hash over things.

IM: Do you think you’re going to say goodbye to ’spider-man’ now? This seems to be the one that everyone was signed up to, or would you continue to do it if Sam Raimi didn’t direct?

Dunst: I wouldn’t do it without Sam. He’s the heart of the film. No way. He makes that movie unique and so special and he has such a passion for ‘Spider-Man’ and he has children so he feels that responsibility to his audience and I don’t think that – well, I can’t say I don’t think that anyone would do it. But I wouldn’t do it without Sam. He’s our glue.

IM: I mean, when you look back on this incredible time in your career do you attribute any of your confidence and success to the ’spider-man’ films?

Dunst: Yeah, and it helps in that you don’t have to worry about finances [Laughs]. That helps, yeah, and yes, it also gives me opportunities to not worry about stuff and I can make any film that I want and it can be a risk.

IM: And you don’t have to worry about the way the film does?

Dunst: Right, exactly.

IM: If you were a superhero what superpower would you want to have?

Dunst: God. That’s so funny.

IM: Have you been asked this a lot?

Dunst: Have I been asked this question before? Yeah, yeah. I don’t know [Laughs]. I guess the ability to cure people of disease or something like that.

IM: Well then, how do you see your character’s evolution in this third installment?

Dunst: For Mary Jane, basically, she is still an actress and you could see where it was heading towards in the last film with Peter so emotionally much more adult and mature. There is a lot more at stake because of their relationship. This time they are together. Emotionally there is a lot more at stake for all of the characters and I think that we have gone to their relationships because they are older, having just developed more and become more complicated. Emotionally this third film is a much heavier film to me.

IM: Is this the completion of the spider-man story for you? Does the third film bring some kind of closure to this story?

Dunst: Well, there is definitely a culmination, but you would have had to seen the 1st and the 2nd and this definitely ties up some story lines but if there are more stories to tell then, if things are unresolved then we will tell them, it depends I think on if everyone is game and if there is a story to tell. If there is a good story I will be there. But it would have to be with Sam. Like I said before, Sam is our glue.

IM: After three spider-man films, does being turned into an action figure still provide the same thrill?

Dunst: It doesn’t really look like me, so, for me, I don’t have a weird connection like ‘Oh whoa, that looks so much like me.’ [Laughs.] It’s nice that, if girls want to buy a Mary Jane doll, she can. But, personally, I’ve never really felt any connection to speak of here.

IM: I’ve read reports, especially this article in premier magazine awhile back, that early in your career you had seperation anxiety in your relationship with your mother.

Dunst: That totally got blown out of proportion by the way. It was totally about any normal mother daughter relationship. You’ve got to separate a little bit and they made it like, ‘Kirsten Dunst is separated from her mother,’ you know what I mean? I was twenty- two years-old and all I was saying was that I was doing my own thing now and that’s healthy and normal.

IM: Perhaps your mother pushed you into show business or acting without it being your choice?

Dunst: I mean, obviously I started at a very young age. But I totally enjoyed performing for people. For me, it was more like why does a kid like performing for people? I was really good at it. People responded to me and I got love and attention, and you know, that might not be the right love and attention, it might not be real love and attention, but I’m not angry with my mother for it. I’m compassionate and I see her side of things too. It’s different now for me and yeah, I look back and I’m like, ‘That movie I probably shouldn’t have done,’ but we were all kind of learning. I had no real strong like people around me. We were all kind of naïve going into all of this stuff. It’s not like we were super into the industry in every way. So you’re going to make mistakes and stuff.

IM: You’ve been called one of the ‘50 most beautiful women in the world.’ how do you feel about that? Dunst: I never take it seriously because they don’t know me, but I’m always gracious and very flattered.

IM: Which beauty routines do you have now?

Dunst: I pay a lot of attention to my skin. No matter how late I get home, no matter what, I always wash my face. No matter how tired I am, I always wash my face at the end of the day. I also try to eat well, but I have to admit that I don’t really go overboard with exercise. I don’t need to run on a treadmill or do any of that creepy stuff.

IM: What is your best beauty tip before a big party?

Dunst: Hmmm. I guess I have a few. Before a big event I will get my hair cut. (She usually favors New York City stylist John Sahag) I try and get a good night’s sleep to look refreshed. I can get 12 hours easily. I’m a big sleeper for sure. Designers lend me beautiful gowns for big events like the Oscars and that’s great, but I never feel like a sexy woman, you know. I feel like a cute blonde chick. I would tell other women who don’t have access to all of these designers to invest in one really nice, new thing, like a skirt, and pair it with an old item. You can make the focus of your outfit the new thing and down play it with your basic old stuff.

IM: Who is your ideal and inspirational role model, when talking about beauty?

Dunst: I just love the 50’s movie star, Grace Kelly. She was so amazing and beautiful. I admire everything about her. She’s a role-model for sure, but I don’t think I could ever look like her. I just try and be myself.

IM: Which product would you give your best friend?

Dunst: I love Philosophy Kiss Me Red ($10; sephora.com), it’s a tinted lip balm with moisturizing vitamin E, kiwi and sweet almond oil. I would give that to a friend for sure. I also love everything by Sonya Dakar. Not only does Sonya make your skin perfect. But she gives you graham crackers and tea. I trust her completely, her products are unearthly, and she is an angel herself. “Ever since I came to Sonya I do not use make-up. I love the way my skin has a natural glow after using her products, especially the cellular patch cream ($150) and Drying Potion ($25).

IM: What is your worst turnoff when it comes to beauty?

Dunst: I think it’s a lack of self-confidence. Being happy with your self is glamorous…I’m always criticizing myself. We all aspire to look like models, but what can you do? I love those waify, stick-looking girls, even though I wouldn’t want to throw up to become one. I like food too much.

IM: How do you deal with any beauty problems?

Dunst: If I am having a really bad hair day I will use John Frieda’s Frizz Ease Instant Touch-up ($8.99/1.69oz) and if there’s an issue with my skin I will use Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage blemish concealer because it tends to stay put on the skin. ($ 27/ .26 oz) And I love facials. They keep your skin healthy, glowing and gorgeous. Plus, they’re so relaxing and, as I have a really busy schedule, it’s the one way I get to indulge myself. But the real secret to total gorgeousness is to believe in yourself, have self-confidence, and try to be secure in your decisions and thoughts.

IM: who is your blouse by?

Dunst: Oh, it’s an old blouse. It’s Chloe, but it’s an old one of man. Black jeans. I love that at first it’s always about what the girls are wearing.

IM: I ask the guys, too.

Dunst: You do? You ask the guys too?

IM: Yeah, and they’re like, ‘We don’t know.’

Dunst: I should start saying that.

Source: theimproper.com