Kirsten on her life in front of the lens

New role: Kirsten Dunst as Camille and Garrett Hedlund as Dean Moriarty in On The. Source: Supplied

HER short life could form the script of a Hollywood film but Kirsten Dunst is over the drama.

She's been behind a camera lens since the age of three, kissed Brad Pitt when she was 12, dated a string of co-stars, battled depression and hit 30.

So now she's ready for some laughs. Bring on Bachelorette, a comedy in which Dunst stars opposite two Australians, Isla Fisher and Rebel Wilson.

With an enviable CV, Dunst began acting at age six with a minor part in Woody Allen's New York Stories. She landed her first notable role six years later in Interview With The Vampire, in which she famously kissed Pitt.

"I choose what I love no matter how much money I make," Dunst tells Insider. "After Melancholia, I didn't want to do another dramatic film. I didn't want to become the girl who would then be cast as a weirdo. I wanted to do a comedy, and Bachelorette came up."

Her film credits include The Virgin Suicides, the Spider-Man franchise, and quirky drama Melancholia for which she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival last year.

A style-setter known for her edgy choices, perhaps her best accessory is her handsome boyfriend of eight months, Garrett Hedlund, with whom she stars in On the Road, which opened here on Thursday.

Dunst has previously been involved with her Spider-Man co-star Jake Gyllenhaal, and musicians Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell and Rilo Kiley drummer Jason Boesel.

"I like a good soul who can make me laugh," Dunst says.

"That's the most important thing. I think you should not date someone too much like yourself. If you're too similar, it's as though you're with a girlfriend."

Having turned 30 earlier this ye! ar, Duns t admits: "I was raised on Disney movies, so of course I'd like to be married one day and have children."

On the Road is the much-awaited adaptation of the classic novel by Beat-generation writer Jack Kerouac of the same name, and also stars Kristen Stewart and Sam Riley.

"I read the book when I was really young because a guy who I was in love with at the time said it was his favourite book," Dunst says.

Playing the second wife of Hedlund's character, Dunst portrays the mother of his children.

"When I watched it, I was thinking, 'Do I look like a mother? Am I holding this baby right?'," she laughs.

"It was funny to see myself like that. It's just so far from my reality."

Her reality looks pretty good but it hasn't always been smooth. She was treated for depression in 2008.

"Maybe when I'm an old lady I'll talk about what I went through but it's not really a subject matter that I care to talk about now," she says.

Today in Los Angeles, she's dressed in a Derek Lam blouse and an A.L.C skirt.

Sometimes lauded for her style, she is occasionally lambasted for her bravery.

"Usually whoever's on the worst-dressed list is actually the best dressed, or it means that they're avant garde."

As an adorable blonde, Dunst was signed to Ford Models and Elite Model Management for television commercials at age three.

Born in New Jersey, she moved to LA with her mother and younger brother when she was nine to develop a career in acting.

"Growing up as an actress makes you an easy target in school. I never wanted to be singled out but it's easy to be made fun of for doing movies or commercials," she says.

"I remember I did a commercial for a baby doll that poops and pees in its diaper. So, being on the school bus when I was younger I learned to roll with the flow, especially when the other kids sang the theme song to me.

"But I had some really good friends through high school, and a lot of them I'm still friends with now."

Earnin! g a good living at a young age must have afforded a lifestyle beyond her expectations? "Yes, but when you're in your 20s and you have your own house, it's a lot," she says.

"At the time, I thought that's what I was supposed to do because I had money to do it. In reality, I would have been happier sharing an apartment.

"Now I realise that it's important to go down your own path."

These days Dunst splits her time between her Manhattan apartment, in which she lives alone, and her mother's home in California. And apparently she's in no rush to change her domestic arrangements.

"I'm old school. I don't want to live with anyone until I get married and I don't want babies until I'm married either," she says.