Emmy Rossum

Birth Date:
September 12, 1986

Height:
5' 8"

Occupation:
Actress

Emmy Rossum was born in New York City to a Jewish American family; her father is a banker and her mother is a corporate photographer. Her parents divorced when she was three years old and Rossum has not remained close to her father. At age seven, she joined the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus.

Rossum was enrolled at the prestigious all-girl Spence School in Manhattan until administrators upset with her frequent absences delivered an ultimatum - forego all career opportunities in order to concentrate on schoolwork, or withdraw. She opted for the latter, and graduated from high school after completing "virtual classes" sponsored online by Stanford University. She left the school to pursue an acting career.

Rossum appeared in a number of productions as a child in the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus, including Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and the acclaimed Franco Zeffirelli-directed Carmen. She has sung with performers as diverse as tenor Plácido Domingo and country singer Dolly Parton. Her television appearances include Law & Order (1997), As the World Turns (1999), and The Practice (2001). She also portrayed the teenage Audrey Hepburn in the made-for-television biopic The Audrey Hepburn Story, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt (2000).

Rossum's films include Songcatcher and It Had to Be You (both in 2000), Mystic River (2003), and The Day After Tomorrow and The Phantom of the Opera (in which she played the role of Christine Daaé, opposite Gerard Butler and Patrick Wilson), both in 2004. Rossum had never seen the stage version of The Phantom of the Opera prior to filming. She studied Degas' paintings of ballerinas in the Musee d'Orsay to learn how to stand like one for her role in the film. After the film was released, Rossum was offered to make a classical music album by several companies, but declined, deciding instead to record an album of contemporary music, on which she has recently began production. Rossum describes the album as "pop music... but not bubblegum".

Rossum's latest role is in Poseidon, a high-budget disaster film in which she plays the daughter of Kurt Russell's character. The film opened on May 12, 2006 to mixed reviews and flopped at the box office. Rossum has expressed a desire to choose a "smaller" and "more intimate" film for her next project. During the summer of 2006, she appeared as Juliet in a Williamstown Theatre Festival production of Romeo and Juliet to mediocre reviews.

Cinemania Magazine had reported in 2004 that star Emmy Rossum has been rumored to be playing supporting lead roles in the possible 2008 film, Jurassic Park IV. But as of yet, it has not been confirmed.

Rossum lives with her mother in Manhattan. She dated David Wildenstein, a member of the French billionaire art-dealing Wildenstein family, from 2004 to 2005, but they have since broken up. Rossum has said that she would not date other celebrities, and prefers to keep her personal life away from the media spotlight, wishing to "fly under the radar" by living in her native New York City.

Rossum has elected not to attend college but has enrolled in some extension courses offered at Columbia University. She has already completed a course in art history, being inspired by her study of Degas in Paris.