Emmy Rossum

Emmanuelle Grey "Emmy" Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She has starred in films such as The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon, The Phantom of the Opera and Dragonball Evolution.Rossum was born in New York City, New York,^[1] the only child^[2][3] of Cheryl, a single mother who worked as a corporate photographer and a banker. She was named after her grandfather, whose first name was Emanuel. However, she was given the name Emmanuelle, using the feminine spelling.^{[citation needed]} Her parents divorced when her mother was pregnant. Rossum was raised by her mother and has only met her father twice. Her song "Anymore," from her album Inside Out, is based on this experience.^[4] Her family is Jewish.^[5] She is the niece of Vera Wang, to whom she is related to by marriage.

The year 1997 saw Rossum's television debut with a guest appearance on Law & Order as Alison Martin. In 1999, she had a recurring role as the original Abigail Williams in the long-running daytime soap opera As the World Turns. She also had a guest role as Caroline Beels in Snoops. Rossum was nominated for a Young Artist Award nomination in 1999 for Best Performance in a TV Movie for her work in the made-for-tv movie Genius. Following that movie, she portrayed a young Audrey Hepburn in the ABC TV movie The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000).

Rossum made her big screen debut in 2000's Songcatcher as Deladis Slocumb, an Appalachian orphan. Debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, the film won the Special Jury Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. For her role, Rossum received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance and also had the opportunity to sing a duet with Dolly Parton on the Songcatcher soundtrack.

 

Variety magazine named Rossum as "One of the Ten to Watch" in 2000. In Nola (2003), Rossum played the title character, who was an aspiring songwriter. In her first major studio film, Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, Rossum starred as Katie Markum, the ill-fated daughter of small-business owner Jimmy Markum, played by Sean Penn. As Katie, Rossum was said to have "projected an aura of innocence that made her character's tragic death memorable and heartbreaking."^[5]

Following Mystic River, Rossum had a breakthrough role as Laura Chapman in the Roland Emmerich eco-disaster film The Day After Tomorrow, which showcases potential effects of global warming. She later returned to New York, where she was the last to audition, in full costume and make-up, for the coveted role of Christine Daae in the on-screen adaptation of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. Following an international search for talent, and having nearly missed the audition on account of a family engagement,^[9] Rossum was asked to audition in person for Webber at his home in New York. After seeing her audition, Webber felt she proved her ability to play the young opera singer who becomes the object of the phantom's obsessive love. For her role as Christine Daae, Rossum received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a musical or comedy. She is the youngest actress ever to be nominated for that particular award.^[10] She also received a Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Actress, along with a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor and other awards.

Rossum is a 1996 graduate of the Spence School in Manhattan.^[17] She received her high school diploma at 15 years old via online extension courses offered by Stanford University's Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY).^[17] She currently attends Columbia University.^[18]

Rossum is a YouthAIDS ambassador.^[10] She is also the official spokesperson for "PiNKiTUDE" - a campaign to help raise breast cancer awareness.^[19]

Rossum is gluten-intolerant. She revealed to MTV News that she is allergic to wheat after MTV News gave her a cupcake on-camera to celebrate her 22nd birthday; she was only able to eat the frosting.^[20]