As a child, she was homeschooled by her maternal grandmother. Elle is known to be pretty good at playing the piano. During her seventh birthday, Elle, along with her family, went to Melbourne, Australia, to see Cirque du Soleil perform Quidam.
Elle’s grandmother has gifted her an old container that had once belonged to Marilyn Monroe after buying it at an auction for $600. Elle stepped into the film world when she played the younger version of her sister, Dakota’s character in the movie Am I Sam.
A year later, she also performed her sister’s character’s younger version in Taken as Allie. She got her first independent break in the 2003 film Daddy’s Day Care, where she played Jaime’s character. Elle has also guest-starred in Judging Amy and CSI: Miami.
Elle’s career started an upward trajectory when she achieved another significant role in the 2004 movie The Door in the Floor, alongside Kim Basinger. She was becoming pretty successful and landed two other movies – Because of Winn-Dixie, and I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. Apart from that, she has appeared in several other famous films such as We Bought a Zoo, Super 8, Maleficent, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.