Kirsten Dunst - Blonde and Happy
By Sheila Bapat
Young actresses of Hollywood are often summed
up in one word: Angelic Claire Danes; Precocious Natalie Portman. Fourteen-year-old
actress Kirsten Dunst is capable of being both angelic and precocious,
though she embodies neither.
Happy is the best word to describe Dunst. Even portraying the
morbidly precocious character of Claudia on Interview With the Vampire,
and most recently the highly precocious adolescent prostitute on NBC’s
ER didn’t haze the blue-eyes blond. “I would just go on the set, be [the
character] on the set, and come off happy,” she stated in an interview
from her California home.
Dunst has spent most of her life grinning for the camera. She
began with commercials at the age of three, then strutted her stuff as
a model with the Ford Agency. Her acting credits include sharing the screen
with the likes of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt (Vampire) and even the great
Woody Allen (New York Stories.), and have earned her the praises of her
high-profile co-stars. “We’re all in awe of her maturity as an actress,”
Cruise commented to People about Dunst’s performance in Vampire. “There
seems to be the experience of a 35-year-old actress in the body of this
little girl.” And how does she handle praise like that? “Well,
I’m very gracious and say ‘thank you’ and everything,” she giggles, then
becomes serious. “But Tom also told me to always keep my head grounded.
And my parents have helped me do that. So, I don’t have a big head or anything.”
Despite her eleven years of seniority in “the business,” Dunst is one of
many young actresses who have taken the movie industry by storm in recent
years. But this platinum-blond isn’t one to balk at competition. “It’s
not exactly [competitive], because there’s me, then there’s all these dark-haired
girls, like Natalie Portman and Christina Ricci,” she reasons. “I mean,
I’m never in competition with them, because they’re a different type than
me- and that’s good for me!”
Just like most actors, Dunst’s fame pays its price. “If you’re
really big, like Tom [Cruise], I mean, you can have a life, but you can’t
go out to a restaurant without being bothered,” Dunst said thoughtfully.
“Oh, and you always have psycho fans, too. I don’t get to read my fan mail
because I have so many psycho fans sometimes. My manager’s like, ‘You’re
not reading this stuff!’”
So, amidst psycho fans and dark-haired competitors, how does a
happy blond-haired actress stay happy? “I always watch MTV. I like Singled
Out!” Dunst confides. And I love listening to music. My favorite singer
is Jewel. There’s this song on here CD called Foolish Games; it’s so pretty!”
She laughs out loud. “My cat’s eating my foot!” she cries, and proceeds
to describe in detail her four cats, and her dog.
The future for Dunst is bright with camera lights and the glamour
of tinsel town. In fact, she recently completed Wag the Dog with none other
than Robert DeNiro. And, like most actors, Dunst aspires to steal scenes
from behind the camera, too. “I want to be an actress, plus a writer, and
a director...and a mom!” she said. “I still go to acting classes twice
a week, so I’m always learning new stuff. I’ve grown so much as an actor,
and done really hard roles and everything. And I’ll keep growing and keep
learning things.”
Her motto? “Don’t worry, be happy!”
Back