The Resilient Redhead: 15 Fascinating Facts About Emma Stone
Discover Emma Stone's early auditions, unusual jobs, musical performances and work as a producer, with the documented stories behind her name, voice and Oscar wins.
1. Emma Is Her Professional Name; Emily Is Her Given Name
Born Emily Jean Stone, she adopted a different professional name because another Emily Stone was already registered with the actors' union. She briefly tried Riley before choosing Emma. She has also linked the choice to her childhood enthusiasm for Emma Bunton, and has said she likes being addressed as Emily.
2. She Has Described Her Childhood Voice Problems
Stone has attributed her husky voice to vocal nodules that developed when she cried heavily as a colicky baby. She has also described how easily she can lose her voice. Her interviews provide a personal account of the distinctive sound that later became familiar to film audiences.
3. A PowerPoint Helped Her Pitch Hollywood
As a teenager, Stone used a PowerPoint presentation called Project Hollywood to make the case for pursuing acting in Los Angeles. She and her mother moved there in January 2004. The presentation gave a hopeful young performer a practical way to explain an ambitious move to her parents.
4. She Worked in a Bakery for Dogs
During her early time in Los Angeles, Stone worked making dog treats while trying to find acting work. She later discussed the bakery job in interviews, including its use of human-safe ingredients. It was an unusual occupation alongside the auditions and small roles of her early career.
5. A Reality Competition Led to a Pilot
Stone won the role of Laurie Partridge through the 2004 VH1 competition In Search of the New Partridge Family. The planned revival did not proceed beyond its pilot. It was an early opportunity in front of a camera, before the film roles that made her widely known.
6. Her Red Hair Was a Choice for Superbad
Stone is naturally blonde. She has recalled arriving at the Superbad camera test with brown hair, when producer Judd Apatow suggested red. The movie, directed by Greg Mottola, helped establish the red-haired screen image many viewers came to associate with her.
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7. Paul McCartney Drew a Tattoo Design for Her Family
Stone and her mother chose bird-foot tattoos associated with Blackbird to celebrate her mother's recovery from breast cancer. Stone told David Letterman in 2010 that she wrote to Paul McCartney requesting a drawing and he sent one. The personal connection to the song mattered more than an elaborate tattoo design.
8. She Turned Her Experience of Anxiety Into Advocacy
Stone has spoken publicly about anxiety beginning in childhood and the help she received from therapy and performing. In 2019, the Child Mind Institute announced that she was joining its board. Her involvement grew out of awareness work she had begun with the organization in 2017.
9. She Found the Favourite's Corsets Uncomfortable
On The Graham Norton Show in 2018, Stone described the discomfort of wearing a corset for The Favourite. Her vivid comments about its effect on her body were a performer’s account of a demanding costume. They convey how different the period clothing felt from ordinary contemporary dress.
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10. Cabaret Helped Prepare Her for a Film Musical
Before La La Land, Stone played Sally Bowles in the Broadway revival of Cabaret. She described the stage experience as reinvigorating her love of acting. Performing a musical before a live audience also gave her valuable experience when she later faced the demands of singing for a camera.
11. Some La La Land Vocals Were Recorded Live
Stone sang Audition live on set, with composer Justin Hurwitz accompanying her on piano from another room. That allowed her to lead the pacing and move naturally from speech to song. Other sequences used recorded playback, so the film should not be described as containing exclusively live vocal performances.
12. She Once Supplied the Voice of a TV Dog
Stone's early work included voicing a dog on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. She recalled the unusual credit in a Rolling Stone interview about her path into films. It belonged to a period of small television jobs and auditions, before Superbad became her movie breakthrough.
🤔 Quick guess
Which game was linked to her decision to shut down a Facebook account in a 2011 profile?
13. FarmVille Was Part of Her Facebook Exit Story
A 2011 Vanity Fair profile reported that Stone had shut down her Facebook account after becoming absorbed in FarmVille. The story captures a particular moment in her relationship with online games and social media, rather than establishing what accounts she might use privately in later years.
14. She Was Also a Producer of Poor Things
Stone's role in Poor Things extended beyond playing Bella Baxter. The Academy lists her among the film's producers alongside Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe and Yorgos Lanthimos in its 2024 Best Picture nomination. Producing and acting gave her two distinct credits in the same awards season.
15. Her Second Lead Actress Oscar Came at Thirty-five
Stone won the Academy Award for Actress in a Leading Role for La La Land in 2017 and for Poor Things in 2024. Born in November 1988, she was 35 at the second ceremony. The two wins recognized very different lead performances seven years apart.
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