"It's hard to explain to someone who didn't know me as a child," Fanning said. "But even before I started working -- when I was two, three, four, five -- I was an exceptionally mature child. I just was. And my mom and I were able to have conversations like, 'Do you want to go to California and go to auditions for commercials and TV shows? Is that something you want to do?' And I was like, 'Yeah, let's give it a try.' "
She said she and her mother, Joy, made the decision when she was just 5 years old to move from their hometown of Conyers, Ga., to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career.