Emma Stone

Emily Jean "Emma" Stone (born November 6, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She made her feature film debut in 2007 with the comedy Superbad and gained wide exposure in 2008's The Rocker and The House Bunny.

Stone was born in Scottsdale, Arizona, the daughter of Jeff and Krista Stone, and has a younger brother, Spencer. Stone 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 theatre's improv comedy troupe. She told Teen Vogue in a September 2008 interview that, since her mind "works in five-minute increments," she connected to improvisational comedy.

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 to convince them to let her move to California for an acting career. She moved with her mother to Los Angeles, California at age 15.

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 appeared in the television series Medium, Malcolm in the Middle and Lucky Louie. In 2007, Stone had a regular role on the Fox television drama series Drive until its cancellation. She made her feature film debut in the teen comedy Superbad, playing Jules, the love interest of lead character Seth (Jonah Hill).

In 2008, Stone appeared in the comedy films The Rocker, with Rainn Wilson, and The House Bunny, starring Anna Faris. In The Rocker, Stone played Amelia, the bassist in a band featuring Teddy Geiger; a role for which she learned to play the bass. In The House Bunny, Stone played the president of a sorority. Colin Hanks and American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee also appear in the film.

In 2009, Stone appeared in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, a romantic comedy directed by Mark Waters, the director of Mean Girls (2004), and 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.

Stone will star in the comedy Paper Man, starring Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds and Lisa Kudrow, and directed by Kieran and Michele Mulroney. Stone began filming on Veterans Day, November 11, 2008, in Montauk, New York, using well-known local locations. She will also star in the horror/comedy Zombieland, along with Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg. The project, her third comedy for Columbia Pictures, began shooting in Atlanta in February 2009. Stone plays the character Wichita, from Wichita, Kansas, traveling across the U.S. with her little sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). Stone will star as a high school student in Easy A with Amanda Bynes, a comedy directed by Will Gluck. Stone's character divides the strictly moral students and teachers against the liberals in her school after a false rumor circulates that she's sexually promiscuous. The script draws on elements of The Scarlet Letter and that novel's heroine, Hester Prynne.

Stone has stated that she would eventually like to venture into film production, producing her own films, and would like to appear on Saturday Night Live

Personal life

As of 2007, Stone lives on her own in Los Angeles. She has stated that she is skilled in HTML and has web design as a hobby. As of July 2008, Stone was romantically linked to singer-songwriter and actor Teddy Geiger, her co-star in The Rocker though they have not been seen together since the Rocker premiere. Although known as a redhead, Stone was a brunette when film producer Judd Apatow had her change the color for her role in Superbad. She is naturally a blonde.