Emma Stone

Emily Jean "Emma" Stone, born November 6, 1988 is an American actress. Stone was a cast member of the TV series Drive, and made her feature film debut in the comedy Superbad (2007). She appeared in The House Bunny (2008) and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009). She then starred in the horror-comedy Zombieland and the indie comedy Paper Man in 2009. In 2010, Stone voiced the character Mazie in Marmaduke, and starred in the high school comedy Easy A, which earned her a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.

Stone's upcoming films include the Steve Carell comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love, and a role in the comedy Friends With Benefits. She will voice a character in the DreamWorks Animation comedy The Croods, and will play Gwen Stacy in a reboot of the Spider-Man film series, as well as the character "Skeeter" Phelan in an adaptation of the Kathryn Stockett bestselling novel, The Help.

Early life

Stone was born in Scottsdale, Arizona, the daughter of Krista (née Yeager), a homemaker, and Jeff Stone, a contractor. She has a brother who is younger by two years. Stone's paternal grandfather was of Swedish descent, and his family's surname was anglicized to "Stone" when immigrating to the U.S. through Ellis Island; her ancestors also lived in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

She was a member of the Valley Youth Theatre while growing up, a regional theater in Phoenix, Arizona, where she appeared in her first stage production, The Wind in the Willows, at the age of 11. Stone attended Sequoya Elementary School and then Cocopah Middle School for sixth grade. She was home schooled for two years, at which time she appeared in 16 productions at Valley Youth Theatre, including: A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail, The Princess and the Pea, Cinderella, The Wiz, Titanic, Honk!, The Little Mermaid, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, Alice in Wonderland, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and performed with the theater's improv comedy troupe.

Stone attended Xavier College Preparatory, an all-girl Catholic high school, as a freshman for one semester. She gave a PowerPoint presentation to her parents, set to the Madonna song "Hollywood," to convince them to let her move to California for an acting career. She dropped out of high school, and in January 2004, moved with her mother to a Los Angeles apartment, at the age of 15. She was then home schooled, so that she could audition during the day.

Personal life

Stone was living on her own in Los Angeles in 2007 and moved to Greenwich Village, New York City in 2009. Stone has stated that she "was really into HTML and web design" when she was younger. Stone was romantically linked to singer-songwriter and actor Teddy Geiger, her co-star in The Rocker, at the time the film was being promoted in July 2008. She has since been linked to her Paper Man costar, Kieran Culkin.

Although known as a redhead, Stone is naturally a blonde. She landed her first role as a teenager after dyeing her hair dark brown. Film producer Judd Apatow had her change from a brunette to a redhead for her role in Superbad.

In April 2011, Stone ranked 10th on People magazine's annual 100 Most Beautiful list.

Career

Stone launched a career in television after winning the role of Laurie Partridge on In Search of the New Partridge Family (2004), a VH1 talent competition reality show. The resulting show, The New Partridge Family (2005), only produced a pilot episode. Stone next had appearances in the television series Medium, Malcolm in the Middle and Lucky Louie. In 2007, she had a regular role on the Fox drama Drive, playing Violet Trimble, until the series was cancelled. She also auditioned for Heroes, and overheard in the casting room "On a scale of 1 to 10, you are an 11" — the casting directors were referring to Hayden Panettiere, who was cast as Claire Bennet instead. Stone called this experience "rock bottom.

Stone at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival

Stone made her feature film debut in the 2007 teen comedy Superbad, playing Jules, the love interest of lead character Seth (Jonah Hill). In 2008, she appeared in the comedy The Rocker, with Rainn Wilson. Stone played Amelia, the bass guitarist in a band featuring singer Teddy Geiger. Stone learned to play bass for the role. Also that year, Stone appeared in The House Bunny, starring Anna Faris, alongside Katharine McPhee, Kat Dennings, Rumer Willis, and Colin Hanks. Stone played the president of a sorority and sang on a single from the film, "I Know What Boys Like," a cover version of the 1982 song by The Waitresses.

In 2009, Stone appeared in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, a romantic comedy directed by Mark Waters, the director of Mean Girls, starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. Stone played "The Ghost of Girlfriends Past," a takeoff of the Ghost of Christmas Past from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. She starred in the horror/comedy Zombieland, along with Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg. The project began shooting in Atlanta in February 2009. Stone played Wichita, a survivor/con artist from Wichita, Kansas, traveling across the U.S. with her younger sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).

Stone starred in Paper Man, alongside Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds and Lisa Kudrow, directed by Kieran and Michele Mulroney. Stone plays Abby, a babysitter that Daniels' character hires after moving to Long Island. Stone began filming the independent comedy on November 11, 2008, in Montauk, New York, using well-known local locations.

Stone had a voice role in Marmaduke in 2010, a film adaptation of the long-running comic strip about a Great Dane. She voiced Marmaduke’s friend, Mazie, a tomboyish Australian Shepherd. Stone landed her first leading role starring as a high school student in Easy A with Amanda Bynes, a comedy directed by Will Gluck. Her character scandalizes her teachers and more conservative religious classmates after a false rumor circulates that she is sexually promiscuous. The script contrasts the novel The Scarlet Letter and its heroine, Hester Prynne, to the life of the protagonist in the film. Stone read the script before the project was optioned for production, and kept an eye on it along with her manager until preparations were made. She was attracted to the script because it was "funny and sweet" and her character was "fantastic from the first read" who was "fleshed  out so much in the script".When she found out that the film went into production, she met with Gluck to express her enthusiasm about the project. A few months later, the audition process started and Stone met again with Gluck to be one of the first actresses to audition. Stone was nominated for the 2011 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her role.

Stone will star in Crazy, Stupid, Love, alongside Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling and Marisa Tomei. The Warner Bros. film, about a husband (Carell) with marital problems and difficulties with his children, began shooting on April 16, 2010 in Los Angeles. Stone will also star in The Help, an adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel of the same name, a period piece set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. She plays Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, an aspiring writer, and plans to employ a Southern dialect for the role.

Stone joined the voice cast of The Croods, a 3D computer animated caveman comedy by DreamWorks Animation. She will voice the role of Eep, the oldest daughter of Grug (Nicolas Cage) and Ugga (Catherine Keener). Ryan Reynolds voices Gy, the love interest to Stone's character. The film is scheduled for release on March 30, 2012.She also joined the cast of Friends With Benefits, starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, and directed by Gluck. The sex comedy began filming in July 2010 in New York.

Stone appeared at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010, and introduced Linkin Park. She stated in 2008 that she would eventually like to venture into film production, producing her own films, and that her dream was to appear on Saturday Night Live.Stone hosted the late-night sketch comedy show on October 23, 2010. She stars in the comedic short film, "Veronica," alongside Kieran Culkin, directed by Griffin Dunne. The short is a comedy segment that is part of an anthology film called Movie 43, featuring Kate Winslet, Gerard Butler, Hugh Jackman, Uma Thurman, Halle Berry, and others. The feature-film was produced by the Farrelly brothers and directed by Elizabeth Banks, Steven Brill and Steve Carr.

Stone will star as the female lead in The Amazing Spider-Man, a reboot by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment of the Spider-Man film series. She plays Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's love interest, in the Marc Webb-directed film; a release date of July 3, 2012 has been set. The film went into production in December 2010 and is scheduled to last through April 2011. Stone was considered for the lead in a reboot of 21 Jump Street, alongside Superbad co-star Jonah Hill. She did not take the role however, after signing on to Spider-Man. Stone will again work with writer/director Will Gluck, starring in and executive producing an untitled comedy for Screen Gems.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes

2007 Superbad Jules Film debut

2008 The Rocker Amelia

2008 The House Bunny Natalie

2009 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Allison Vandermeersh

2009 Paper Man Abby

2009 Zombieland Wichita (Krista)

2010 Marmaduke Mazie Voice

2010 Easy A Olive Penderghast Main Role

2011 Friends with Benefits Kayla

2011 Crazy, Stupid, Love. Hannah

2011 The Help Eugenia Phelan (Skeeter) Main Role

2012 Movie 43 Post-Production

2012 The Amazing Spider-Man Gwen Stacy Post-Production

2013 The Croods Eep Voice