Today, the star of La La Land and Easy A is celebrating her 32nd birthday today.
Despite her young age, she has had a very successful career. She is highly appreciated for her witty roles in many popular rom-coms, making her an Academy Award-winning actress. Let’s take a closer look into her life, career and achievements on her important day.
Emily Jean (Emma) Stone was born on 6 November 1988 in Scottsdale, Arizona. She was raised by her homemaker mum Krista and company-owner dad Jeffrey, and she also has a younger brother called Spencer. Stone herself has said that she was a loud kid – who hated school and suffered from panic attacks.
Her first acting experience was at age eleven after she took part in a stage production of The Wind in the Willows. After that, she was home-schooled for a few years enabling her to focus on her acting career. She played in Valley Youth Theatre productions and went on to audition in LA for various productions and take private acting classes.
Stone dropped out of high school to pursue her dreams and moved to Los Angeles with her mum in 2004. She had many rejections and appearances on unsuccessful TV shows – making her doubt in herself. But things changed when Stone was cast for her first film Superbad (2007) – a comedy also starring Michael Cera and Jonah Hill.
For this film she also dyed her hair red- something that is now her trade mark. After her film debut, she was offered roles for several mediocre romantic comedies – which weren’t appreciated by critics but still got Emma noticed in the industry.
Emma Stone was at the beginning of her peak in 2009, when she was cast for three films (all in the same year) Ghost of Girlfriends Past, Zombieland and Paper Man. Her breakthrough came in 2010, when she starred in Easy A – a teen comedy about a high school student with a promiscuous reputation. The film was a commercial success and Stone’s performance got her nominated to several awards from which she won the MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.
In 2011 she had a supporting role in Crazy, Stupid Love – a huge box-office success. The same year she also co-starred in a period drama Help, which was a challenge for Stone as it was a different genre than what she is used to. She had to learn a Southern accent and educate herself on Civil Rights Movement. However, her appearance was highly praised and Help became her highest-grossing film to that point.
Her success only continued to grow – Stone was offered a part in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), playing Gwen Stacy – the love interest of Andrew Garfield in the film and also in real life. The film was followed by a sequel two years later – The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). Both films were huge hits and received warm feedback from the critics and audience.
In 2015, Emma gave Broadway a try when she starred in a musical Cabaret. It allowed her to demonstrate her singing and stage acting abilities, which resulted in her starring in the acclaimed musical comedy-drama La La Land (2016). It was not her first time playing the love interest of Ryan Gosling, as the pair made their debut as a couple three years earlier in Gangster Squad (2013).
It is mutually agreed that the role of Mia Dolan – an aspiring actress living in LA – is Stone’s greatest performance in her acting career. Maybe it’s the fact that she could relate to her character very well, being in the same position herself not too long ago. Stone won the Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe and the SAG Award for Best Actress for her role in La La Land.
Emma Stone likes to keep her personal life private, not wanting to talk about it too specifically in the media. However, it is known that she is very close with her family and has married Saturday Night Live segment director Dave McCary this year. She is involved in many charities and helps organise fundraising events – focusing mainly on cancer awareness, environmental issues and women’s rights.
Emma Stone is considered one of the most talented actresses of the generation and I couldn’t agree more. She is a great entertainer on the screens, who also uses her influence to make the world a better place. I cannot wait to see what else she will accomplish in the future and hope to see some new films from her soon. Happy birthday Emma Stone!
By Kirke Viira
Feature image: Free News