Mary Jane Watson of the 'Spider-Man' series: Who is Kirsten Dunst?

Her full name is Kirsten Caroline Dunst, she was born on April 30, 1982 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Her father, Klaus Dunst, is a medical services manager at Siemens, and her mother, Inez Rupprecht, is a flight attendant. Her mother was also an artist and once a gallery owner. Her father is German, originally from Hamburg. Her mother is of American, German and Swedish descent. She has a brother named Christian Dunst. Dunst lived in New Jersey until she was eleven. She went to Rainy School in Tinton Falls to continue her education.

After her parents divorced in 1993, she moved to Los Angeles with her mother and brother. Dunst attended Notre Dame High School to pursue her high school education. When she graduated from high school in 2000, she continued acting, which she started here. Dunst struggled to cope with her rising fame in her youth.

Dunst began her acting career at the age of three as a child model for television commercials. Dunst's breakthrough role, which we have seen in many movies and commercials, was in the horror drama film "Interview with the Vampire"(1994), based on Anne Rice's novel of the same name, with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The film received a lot of mixed reviews overall, but critics liked Dunst's performance. She won the MTV Movie Award and the Saturn Award for her performance. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award. 

Later in 1994, Dunst appeared in the historical drama "Little Women" with Winona Ryder and Claire Danes. The movie was appreciated by the critics.

In 1995, Dunst appeared in the fantasy adventure movie "Jumanji," an adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's 1981 children's book of the same name. Dunst was part of a cast of Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, and David Alan Grier in the film. The film was a financial success. In 1995 and again in 2002, Dunst was named to People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People list.

In 1996, she appeared in a recurring role in the third season of the NBC medical drama "ER". Later, she voiced Young Anastasia in the animated musical film "Anastasia"(1997). Also in 1997, she starred in the black comedy "Wag the Dog" with Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman. She also played a student at a girls' boarding school with Gaby Hoffmann, Rachael Leigh Cook and Lynn Redgrave in Sarah Kernochan's period comedy "All I Wanna Do" (1998).

Dunst co-starred with Michelle Williams in the comedy "Dick" (1999). Her next film was Sofia Coppola's psychological drama "The Virgin Suicides" (1999), based on Jeffrey Eugenides' novel of the same name. The film was screened as a special presentation at the film festival in 2000 and received generally positive reviews.

In 2000, Dunst starred as the captain of a cheerleading squad in the teen cheerleading comedy "Bring It On." The film received mostly positive reviews, with many critics praising Dunst's performance. The following year, Dunst starred in the teen comedy "Get Over It." She also played actress Marion Davies in the 2001 historical drama film "The Cat's Meow" directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Dunst's performance in the film earned her the Silver Ombú award for Best Actress at the 2002 Mar del Plata International Film Festival.

Dunst appeared in the 2002 superhero movie "Spider-Man," directed by Sam Raimi and co-starring with Tobey Maguire. The film was the most financially successful of her career to date. The film was both a critical and commercial success. Dunst then co-starred with Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman and Holly Hunter in the drama "Levity" (2003). In the same year, she was also seen in the drama film "Mona Lisa Smile" (2003). However, the film received mostly negative reviews.

Dunst appeared as Mary Svevo in Michel Gondry's science fiction romantic comedy-drama film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), alongside Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, and Tom Wilkinson. The film was critically acclaimed and grossed $72 million worldwide.

The success of the first film led Dunst to reprise the role of Mary Jane Watson in "Spider-Man 2" in 2004. The film was acclaimed by many critics and was a commercial success. It also set a new opening weekend box office record in North America. It managed to become the second highest-grossing film of 2004 with its box office receipts. Also in 2004, she co-starred with Paul Bettany in the romantic comedy "Wimbledon", in which she portrayed a rising tennis player at the Wimbledon Championship. Although the film received mixed reviews, many critics gave positive reviews of Dunst's performance.

Dunst's only project in 2005 was co-starring with Orlando Bloom in Cameron Crowe's romantic tragic comedy "Elizabethtown." The movie received a lot of mixed reviews. At the same time, the movie was a box office disappointment. She then appeared as the main character in the historical drama movie "Marie Antoinette" (2006), based on Antonia Fraser's book Marie Antoinette: The Journey. The movie received positive reviews.

In 2007, Dunst reprized the role of Mary Jane Watson in "Spider-Man 3". Contrary to the praise of previous films, this one received mixed reactions. It did, however, make it the most commercially successful film in the franchise. Additionally, it was Dunst's highest-grossing film until the end of 2008.

In 2010, she co-starred with Ryan Gosling in "All Good Things" (2010), a mystery/crime romance drama film based on the true story of New York real estate developer Robert Durst. The film was a commercial failure while receiving fair reviews. In 2011, Dunst starred in Lars von Trier's drama "Melancholia" with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland and Charlotte Rampling. It premiered at the 2011 film festival, and Dunst's performance received primarily positive reviews. She won many awards, including the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance.

In 2012, Dunst co-starred with Jim Sturgess in Juan Diego Solanas' science fiction film Upside Down. She then starred in Leslye Headland's romantic comedy "The Bachelorette" (2012), starring alongside Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, and Lizzy Caplan. The movie received mixed reviews.

Hossein Amini's "Two Sides of January" (2014) was Dunst's next major role alongside Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Isaac. The film received mostly positive reviews. Throughout 2015 Dunst chose to focus solely on her television work. She starred in the second season of the critically acclaimed FX black comedy crime drama television series "Fargo," earning her a Golden Globe Award nomination.

In 2016, Dunst starred in Jeff Nichols' science fiction film "Midnight Special." The movie received mostly positive reviews. Dunst appeared in a supporting role in the biographical drama film "Hidden Figures" (2016), an adaptation of the book of the same name about African-American mathematicians working at NASA during the Space Race. The film was a commercial success and was nominated for three Academy Awards. The actors also won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance. Besides acting, she served as a member of the main competition jury of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

Dunst appeared in two films in 2017. She appeared in the thriller "The Beguiled" with Sofia Coppola, who wrote and directed the film, and also starred Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Elle Fanning. The film received generally positive reviews. Dunst then starred in the psychological thriller "Woodshock" (2017), written and directed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy, the founders of the Rodarte fashion brand. The plot of the movie is about a woman who falls into deeper paranoia after taking a deadly drug. Dunst prepared for the role for a year and tried to live up to the character's mood. The film did not become popular with critics after its release.

In 2019, Dunst appeared in the Showtime black comedy television series "On Becoming a God in Central Florida," which premiered in August of that year. She was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Critics' Choice Award for her role. In September 2019, Showtime decided to renew the series for a second season, but it was canceled the following year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Dunst co-starred with her partner Jesse Plemons in Jane Campion's Netflix-distributed "The Power of the Dog", which was released in the United States on November 17, 2021. Dunst was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the film.

Personal life

Dunst began dating actor Jake Gyllenhaal in 2002. The couple shared a house in Los Angeles on amicable terms before splitting up in 2004. Dunst was in a relationship with On the Road co-star Garrett Hedlund from 2012 to 2016. They were engaged for a short time before they split.

In 2016, they decided to start a relationship with Fargo co-star Jesse Plemons. The couple got engaged in 2017. Their first son was born in May 2018. In a cover shoot for a W fashion magazine, she said she was pregnant with her second child and held her second son in her arms in May 2021. Dunst and Plemons married in July 2022.

Dunst, who became a German citizen in 2011, now holds dual citizenship.