Dakota Fanning Says Her Mom 'Changed the Course of Her Life for Me': 'She Put Her Own Dreams to the Side'

Dakota Fanning is paying tribute to someone who was “always there.” 

While accepting the Performance Award at the IndieWire Honors ceremony at Citizen News in Los Angeles on June 6, the actress, 30, singled out praise for her mother, Heather Joy Arrington. 

“She’s been by my side through anything and everything,” said Dakota of her mom, who was in the audience. “She changed the course of her own life for me. She put her own dreams to the side so I could achieve mine.”

Dakota, born in Georgia, began her career in commercials and television guest appearances. Her family, including her sister Elle, 26, and their parents Steven, 57, and Heather, 56, moved to Los Angeles when Dakota began booking bigger screen roles leading up to her award-winning breakout, 2001’s I Am Sam. 

Heather “spent countless hours on film sets in a camping chair, in fields in Connecticut, freezing in dark corners in studios," Dakota said. "She allowed me to have my own independence and stand on my own two feet, to find my footing as a young woman and as an actor, but she was always there.”

That was true up until the Twilight star became an adult, she added. “There was never a day on set my entire life until I was 18 that she wasn’t there. I wonder if anyone can love me as much as she does.”

Calling her mother’s support “so unreal,” Dakota added, “I feel like if one day my children love me half as much as Elle and I love her, that will be enough.”

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Dakota, who stars in the Ishana Night Shyamalan horror movie The Watchers (in theaters now), accepted the IndieWire Honors Performance Award for her work as Marge Sherwood in the Andrew Scott-starring Netflix drama Ripley, which premiered in April. 

In addition to thanking creator Steven Zaillian and the Patricia Highsmith adaptation’s filmmakers, she said, “I’ve dedicated most of my life to being an actor. I am 24 years in at 30 years old, and I would not change one thing."

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While speaking to PEOPLE recently, Dakota brought up an example of her mother’s support during her years as a child actor.

"When I was young, somebody asked me to sign their chest or stomach," she said. "My mom was like, 'Oh, how about just a piece of paper?' "