Emma Roberts Biography

Emma Rose Roberts was born on February 10, 1991, in Rhinebeck, New York, USA, to Kelly Cunningham and Eric Roberts. Soon after her birth, her parents got separated over accusations of domestic violence.

Her mother later married musician Kelly Nickels. Roberts has a maternal half-sister named Grace. Her father also remarried, and she has two step-siblings from her step-mother Eliza Simons' first marriage.

Her paternal family has been in the entertainment field for a long time. Her grandmother Betty Lou Bredemus served as an acting coach, while her aunts Julia Roberts and Lisa Roberts Gillan are actors.

Initially, her mother did not want an acting career for her. However, spending a lot of time on film sets, alongside her aunt Julia, made her interested in acting.

She studied at Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles, California. She then got admitted to Sarah Lawrence College in September 2011. However, she left the college within a few months to focus on her movie projects.

In 2001, Emma Roberts started her acting career with the film Blow. She played the role of Kristina Jung, the daughter of a cocaine smuggler, played by Johnny Depp.

In the next few years, she did a role in a short film, appeared as an extra in one of her aunt's movies, and worked on two family films, namely Grand Champion and Spymate. Though the film Spymate was shot in 2003, it was not released until 2006.

Being cast as the lead character in the Nickelodeon series Unfabulous in 2004 was her big break. Emma's performance in the show earned her a number of award nominations.

In 2005, Nickelodeon launched her music career with the album Unfabulous and More. Roberts contributed to the lyrics of a few songs and appeared on the music videos of her songs. The album reached the 46th spot on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.

In 2006, she was cast in the movie Aquamarine alongside Sara Paxton and JoJo. In the movie, she sang the cover version of Weezer’s single, Island in the Sun.

Emma Roberts played the titular character in the 2007 movie Nancy Drew. While the film did not receive much praise from critics, it did well at the box office.

In 2008, she landed another lead role in the movie Wild Child, and also appeared in the independent film Lymelife. The same year, she voiced the character of Wilma in the animated film The Flight before Christmas.

The next couple of years, she did a few comedy movies, such as Hotel for Dogs and It's Kind of a Funny Story. In 2010, she appeared in the teen action drama film Twelve, and starred alongside her aunt Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day. Around this time, she also did a supporting role in the movie Virginia, which released two-and-a-half years later.

She worked with Freddie Highmore in the 2011 romantic comedy The Art of Getting By. That year, she was also cast in her first horror movie Scream 4. Later, she also worked on horror television series, such as American Horror Story and Scream Queens, appearing in two seasons each.

2013 was an important year for Emma Roberts; she worked with Evan Peters in the movie Adult World, and appeared alongside Jennifer Aniston in the comedy film We're the Millers. The same year, her performance in the movie Palo Alto, based on James Franco's short story collection of the same name, received positive reviews from film critics.

She went on to work in the 2016 movie Nerve with Dave Franco. She then became part of the American biographical crime-drama film Billionaire Boys Club which released in 2018.

In the 2017 drama film Who We Are Now, she played the role of Jess. She also voiced the character of Wedgehead in the comedy animated film UglyDolls.

In the 2019 fantasy drama film Paradise Hills, she starred as Uma. The same year, she was also cast to play important roles in films, such as Holidate and The Hunt.

Emma Roberts' role in the television series Unfabulous made her a teen idol at the age of 13. In 2005, she received a Teen Choice Award nomination and two Young Artist Awards for her performance in the series. The show became one of Nickelodeon's most-watched programs and was renewed for two more seasons.

Her movie Palo Alto received generally favorable reviews from critics. Her performance in the film was praised by Tom Shone of The Guardian and Ian Freer of Empire.

The movie We're the Millers was a commercial success and grossed over $269 million. It also received favorable reviews from critics.

Emma Roberts impressed the audience from the very beginning with Unfabulous and Aquamarine. She received the Young Artist Award for Aquamarine under the Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actress category in 2007. The same year, she also won the Female Star of Tomorrow at ShoWest Awards.

In 2014, she received the Shining Star Award at the Maui Film Festival. The same year, she won Teen Choice Award under the Choice Movie Actress: Comedy category for the film We're the Millers.

Emma Roberts started dating Chord Overstreet in April 2011. However, they split twice within four months before finally calling it quits.

She started dating Evan Peters in 2012. The next year, their relationship took an ugly turn when she was arrested for injuring Peters during a heated argument. They eventually worked on their problems and got engaged in March 2014. However, they broke up in May 2016, only to get back together in January 2017. She reportedly dated Christopher Hines in mid-2016. Their relationship ended as she got back with Peters.

In 2019, it was reported that Peters and Roberts had split. The same year, she started a relationship with actor Garrett Hedlund. Emma and Garrett announced in August 2020 that they were expecting their first child. On 27 December, 2020, the couple was blessed with a son named Rhodes Robert Hedlund. Emma Roberts ended her relationship with Garrett Hedlund in January 2022.

After her parents separated, her aunt Julia not only bought her mother a house, but also sided with her in the custody battle over Roberts. Her father got so furious that he hardly ever visited his daughter.

Blow, the first movie she worked on, was an R rated film. As a result, her mother had decided not to let her watch the movie until she turned 18. However, director Ted Demme created a version for her so that she could watch it.