Elle Fanning Reveals Who Her Oscars Date Will Be and How She Celebrated Her Nomination with Sister Dakota (Exclusive)

Andrea MandellFri, February 27, 2026 at 8:07 PM UTC

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Elle Fanning tells PEOPLE about her first Oscar nomination, for her work in Sentimental Value

“My mom is coming with me. I'm looking forward to picking out her dress," she says of her date for the ceremony

The star also recalls nominations morning and celebrating with her family

Elle Fanning knows exactly who will be by her side at the upcoming Academy Awards.

The first-time Oscar nominee, who scored a Best Supporting Actress nod for her work in Sentimental Value, is all squared away in the date department.

“My mom is coming with me. I'm looking forward to picking out her dress,” the 27-year-old tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. But there's work still to be done, sartorially speaking: “We have not decided what that's going to be yet.”

Her memory of nominations morning? It was also a family affair.

She and sister Dakota Fanning, 32, “went out the night before,” Elle recalls. “We stayed out pretty late, and then we crashed at our mom's house, so I was running on two hours of sleep.”

Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning in January 2026Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty

When Elle woke up to her phone lighting up with the news, she couldn’t quite believe it. “I'm kind of like half asleep, and I pick up the phone, and they're like, 'You got nominated!' And I was like, 'Is this real? Is this real?'"

Joking she looked like a "crazed zombie" in her nightgown, Elle continues: “I ran into my sister's room and I told her, and she was freaking out. She's like, 'What do you mean? What do you mean?' And I'm like, 'Look it up, look it up!' Because I didn't believe it until I saw it. So I was like, 'Look it up, this must be a mistake.'"

The sisters discovered Elle's name among a starry category of Best Supporting Actress nominees including Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (her Sentimental Value costar), Amy Madigan (Weapons), Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) and Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another).

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Elle Fanning photographed for PEOPLE on February 10, 2026.Credit: Michael Schwartz; Set Design: Sean Costello/Art Department Agency

"Then my mom ran in because she heard me screaming, and my grandmother was there as well," Elle says. "We popped champagne at like 6 in the morning.”

Sentimental Value, which traces a fractured family as they navigate attempting to heal through the creation of a film — the preferred medium of the patriarch (Stellan Skarsgard) — pulled in nine nominations this year, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Renate Reinsve), Best Supporting Actor (Skarsgard) and Best Director (Joachim Trier).

The drama, which won the prestigious Grand Prix prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025, was filmed in Oslo, where Elle says she picked up a favorite Norwegian word. “I only know one: spennende. Renate taught it to me. It’s fitting ... it means excited!”

Elle Fanning in Sentimental ValueCredit: NEON

Elle, who has been working in the industry since she was a child (one of her first roles was in Dakota's 2001 drama I Am Sam at age 3), says she would "love" to share her Oscar news with her younger self.

“I think it's always in your head as this unattainable dream,” she says. “But since I was a kid, I've watched the Academy Awards and watched so many actors that I love get up there and have that special moment."

She adds, "I started [acting] from a very young age, since I was 2, so it's been a long time that I've been in this business. And, of course, I have a healthy relationship with that, where it's like, okay, that's not what it's all about or why I necessarily do it. But of course it's like a seed in your brain, and it's a dream that I would love to tell my little self right now.”

Conan O'Brien will host the Oscars live on Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and Hulu. See the full list of nominees here.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”