Emmy Rossum

Emmanuelle Grey Rossum, born September 12, 1986, in New York City, is an American actress, singer-songwriter, director, and producer. The only child of Cheryl Rossum, a corporate photographer who raised her as a single mother, Rossum identifies as Jewish and has spoken about the influence of her mother's Russian Jewish heritage on her upbringing. Her father, of English and Dutch Protestant ancestry, separated from her mother before Rossum was born, and she had met him only twice as of 2007. She was named after her maternal great-grandfather Emanuel, using the feminine spelling of the name.

Rossum's performing career began in childhood when, at age seven, she joined the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus after singing "Happy Birthday" in all 12 keys for chorus director Elena Doria. Over five years, she performed in 20 operas in six languages, earning between five and ten dollars per night. Her operatic work included productions of La bohème, Turandot, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a Carnegie Hall presentation of La damnation de Faust. During this period she performed alongside Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti and worked under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli on Carmen. She pursued her education at the Spence School in Manhattan before completing her high school diploma at age 15 through Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth. She subsequently enrolled at Columbia University, where she studied French, art history, and philosophy. Her acting training included classes with Flo Salant Greenberg at The New Actors Workshop and work with coach Terry Knickerbocker.

Her television debut came in August 1997, when she originated the role of Abigail Williams on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns. She received a Young Artist Award nomination in 1999 for her performance in the Disney Channel film Genius and portrayed a young Audrey Hepburn in the 2000 ABC television film The Audrey Hepburn Story. Rossum made her feature film debut at 13 in Songcatcher (2000), playing Appalachian orphan Deladis Slocumb. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance, and her work earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance. Variety named her one of its "Ten to Watch" that year. She also recorded a duet with Dolly Parton for the film's soundtrack.

Her first major studio role came in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River (2003), in which she played Katie Markum opposite Sean Penn. The following year she appeared as Laura Chapman in the science fiction disaster film The Day After Tomorrow (2004) before landing the role that brought her widespread recognition: Christine Daaé in Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera (2004). She was the last performer to audition for the part, appearing in full costume and makeup, and was subsequently invited to audition privately for composer Andrew Lloyd Webber at his New York home. The performance earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, a Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Actress, and a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.

Rossum continued her film career with Poseidon (2006), Wolfgang Petersen's remake of The Poseidon Adventure, in which she played Jennifer Ramsey. Additional film credits include Dragonball: Evolution (2009), Inside (2011), Beautiful Creatures (2013), Comet (2014), You're Not You (2014), and Cold Pursuit (2019). In Comet, she starred opposite Justin Long in the independent romantic comedy directed by Sam Esmail, to whom she later became engaged and subsequently married.

On stage, Rossum appeared in The 24 Hour Plays in 2004, and returned to the format in November 2009 as part of Broadway's 24 Hour Plays, a benefit for the Urban Arts Partnership in which actors, writers, and directors collaborate to write and perform six one-act plays within a single 24-hour period. In that production she appeared in Warren Leight's piece "Daily Bread," directed by Lucie Tiberghien. She also performed as Juliet Capulet in a 2006 Williamstown Theatre Festival production of Romeo and Juliet.

In television, Rossum became widely known for her portrayal of Fiona Gallagher, the eldest sibling and de facto guardian of a large, motherless family, in the Showtime series Shameless, which ran from 2011 to 2019. The series co-starred William H. Macy and was based on the British series of the same name. She made her directorial debut with the fourth episode of the show's seventh season. In December 2016, Rossum entered a contract dispute with the show's producers over salary parity with Macy and back pay for prior seasons, a matter that was resolved the same month. She announced her departure from the series in August 2018 after nine seasons. Rossum has also directed and produced television since the mid-2010s, and she stars in and produces the 2022 Peacock series Angelyne, co-produced with Esmail.

As a recording artist, Rossum released her debut album, Inside Out, in 2007, followed that same year by a Christmas EP titled Carol of the Bells. Her second album, Sentimental Journey, was released in 2013. Her accolades include a Saturn Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and two Critics' Choice Television Awards.