Heather Joy Arrington: Everything About Elle and Dakota Fanning’s mother

Who is Elle and Dakota Fanning’s mother?

Heather Joy Arrington is the mother of Elle and Dakota Fanning. Aside from being the mother of these wonderful actresses, she is well-known as an American sportscaster and correspondent for KCBS-TV and KCAL 9 in Los Angeles.

Dakota rose to prominence at an early age. She rose to fame at the age of seven for her performance as Lucy Dawson in the drama film I Am Sam, for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination at age eight, making her the youngest nominee in SAG history.

Ella also made her film debut as the younger version of her sister Dakota Fanning’s character in the drama film I Am Sam. As a child actress, she appeared in several films, including Babel, Phoebe in Wonderland, and Somewhere.

Heather Joy Arrington: Bio Summary

Who is Heather Joy Arrington?

Heather Joy Arrington was born on the 1 of July 1967 in the United States of America to her parents,  Rick Arrington and Mary Jane Odum. As of 2023, she is 56 years old. Her Zodiac sign is Cancer. Arrington grew up with her sister Jill Arrington. She is well-known as an American sportscaster and correspondent for KCBS-TV and KCAL 9 in Los Angeles.

Heather came into the limelight because of her two actress daughters, Ella and Dakota Fanning. She is currently married to Steven Fanning.

While many will agree with the fact that behind most successful people there is always a woman which in most cases is a mother. Arrington has always been a great deal of support to her daughter, Dakota and Elle when they started out with their career. Though she has been very supportive, there is something she’s not completely comfortable with herself; stardom. Heather Joy has been described as a very shy and private person. That’s why we hardly ever see her accompanying her daughters on their red carpets. The Fanning sisters respect her wishes of privacy, though, and aren’t too upset about it.

Heather Arrington is against being in the spotlight altogether only because she’s really shy. “I dare you to find a picture of my mom on the Internet that’s not a paparazzi photo of her walking with us,” Elle said about her mother.

How did Heather Joy Arrington and her husband meet?

How did the two love birds meet and started their relationship? The couple nor their children have given any information related to the condition that lead them to meet and hence their relationship. Though there isn’t much information available regarding her married, as we said earlier, Heather Joy is married to her sweetheart, Steven Fanning. The couple had their beautiful daughters Dakota and Ella. Dakota is 2 years older than her little sister Ella.

Career

In an interview, Elle, the youngest of the family described her mother Heather Joy Arrington as a very hard-working person. The actress went on to say that her mother “sacrificed so much” moving the family to L.A. for “a child’s dream.” The family moved from Georgia to L.A. when Dakota’s career was starting up. Elle wasn’t far behind her big sister. “I had the luxury of knowing what I want to do because of her,” Elle said of their mother’s sacrifice.

Now that we know she is the reason the children got to know what they want to do, what is Heather Joy Arrington’s career? Heather went to college on a tennis scholarship, and she later turned pro. Her father, Rick Arrington, was a quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. Heather’s husband, Steven Fanning, is also a sports personality; he played minor league baseball.

As many put it, Heather Joy Arrington and her sister grew up competing in tennis tournaments, which explains her sister’s choice of field in her profession. The whole family is very sporty as the youngest Fanning put it in an interview.

“I have the sports drive,” Elle told The Guardian. “It’s in my blood; I can’t help it. Actors and athletes are similar, I think. You set a goal for yourself; you’re ready for a challenge. You prepare for the match, or you’re getting ready for the role. The adrenaline when you have a big scene to do is huge.”

Dakota and Ella’s mother, Heather Joy Arrington definitely encouraged sports. By the very young age of two, Dakota could play the sport without help from her mother, who already knows a lot about this field and was also expecting her daughter would follow in her footsteps. But unfortunately, the Fanning Sister caught the acting bug instead.

“I was being groomed to be a tennis player for sure,” Dakota in an interview with The Scotsman. “My grandparents and parents realized I had a natural athletic ability, and if I was forced to do it, I could probably do well. But all I wanted was to play pretend.”

The Fanning Sister’s mother, Heather Joy Arrington took a step back from her daughter’s careers. She supported them, of course, and did anything she could, but when it came to their work, “I don’t think she wanted that pressure of feeling somehow involved. She was never our manager.” So she’s definitely the opposite of the biggest momager there is, Kris Jenner.

Heather Joy Arrington is Disciplinarian

The sisters also describe their mother as a disciplinarian, Elle said that if they ever misbehaved in front of someone else, Arrington would “embarrass us in front of them. Like, ‘You interrupted, and I’m not answering your question,’ you know?” The sisters knew the phrase “go back and apologize” very well.

Dakota also revealed in an interview with Town & Country that the Fanning family wasn’t raised to “air your dirty laundry to people that aren’t your family or your friends. Why would I ever want to portray myself as anything other than together?”