Michael A. Schuman - Emma!. Amazing Actress Emma Stone

Emma!

Actress and trailblazer Emma Stone is rapidly becoming one of Hollywoods leading ladies. From her early roles and setbacks to leading lady status in The Help, Emma has worked hard to make it in Hollywood. Read about her early acting roles, her rise to fame, and her plans for the future.

Quotes, personal stories, and accessible features make this a book everyone will want to read.

Emma Stone plays both comedic and dramatic characters. She has made the transition from teen actor to adult performer; read how she managed that difficult transition.

About the Author

Award-winning author Michael A. Schumans other works for Enslow Publishers, Inc., includes Robert Pattinson: Shining Star. Schuman lives with his wife, Patti, and daughters Trisha and Alexandra.

Emma Stone accepts the Trailblazer Award at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, June 3, 2012, in Los Angeles.

On June 3, 2012, actress Emma Stone attended the MTV Movie Awards. She was nominated in two categories for her role in a romantic comedy titled Crazy, Stupid, Love. While she won no awards for the movie, she did win a special honor.

The category was a new one: the MTV Trailblazer Award. Older similar shows, such as the Academy Awards, give out lifetime achievement awards for actors who have earned respect for starring in dozens of movies in their long lives. But the Academy Awards date to the 1920s when the movie industry was young.

The first MTV Movie Awards presentation was in 1992. The MTV Movie Awards also tend to get a much younger audience than the Academy Awards. So it makes sense that their award categories are of more interest to younger people.

Instead of a lifetime achievement award, MTV decided to give a special award to a young actor. According to MTV, the purpose of the MTV Trailblazer Award is to honor an actor who does a wide variety of movies and cannot be typecast, or expected to play the same type of role in every movie. For example, Adam Sandler has been very successful making funny movies. He has made a few serious movies, but he is best known for his silly ones.

Emma Stone attends the Critics Choice Movie Awards on January 12, 2012.

Emma Stone started out making comedies, but then she starred in a smash movie about the civil rights era titled The Help. It drew a large number of moviegoers and most critics loved it. It offered proof that Stone could not be typecast. The fact that this was MTVs first Trailblazer Award meant something special.

As she stood in front of an audience of actors and other important movie industry people, Stone got teary eyed. She said, Thank you, Im a crier.

She then went on to say, So, I looked up the actual definition of trailblazer, and it means someone who blazes a trail to be followed by others. And thats an honor to hear youre being associated with a concept like that. But the only thing I can hope that an award inspires is originality.

The cast of The Help at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. From left to right: Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Ahna OReilly, Mike Vogel, Cicely Tyson, Jessica Chastain, Chris Lowell, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, Viola Davis.

She then went on to list actors, an author (J. D. Salinger), and musicians (the Beatles) who inspired her. Stone said, Those people are my creative trailblazers, but Im not following any of their paths, and whats incredible about them is they help make me want to be more myself because theyre all originals.

Stone concluded, But that youll continue to harness your own originality and what makes you unique cause I know that when youre a teenagerand sometimes when youre an adultwhat sets you apart can sometimes feel like a burden and its not. And a lot of the time, its what makes you great. She then took her seat to a loud round of applause.

Steve Martin (right), John Candy (left), and director John Hughes during a press conference for Planes, Trains and Automobiles in 1987.

Emily Jean Stone was born in the desert city of Scottsdale, Arizona, on November 6, 1988. She was a blonde-haired baby who whined and cried a lot. Part of the reason for her crankiness is that she suffered from severe colic. Colic is a condition that affects the digestive system. It is especially hard on infants. Stone said, My mom dealt with a screaming baby 24 hours a day for first six months of my life. I screamed myself hoarse every day and developed nodules [masses of tissue in the body] as an infant. So I have calluses on my vocal cords [to this day].

Her father was a builder while her mother stayed home and raised the family. Emma has a younger brother named Spencer. It was her father who turned her on to movies. He loved silly comedies, such as Steve Martins The Jerk. It was the first movie she ever saw. She and her father also loved another comedy, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which starred John Candy and Steve Martin.

She said that because her father watched the movies over and over, she watched them many times, too. There is a scene in Planes, Trains and Automobiles in which Steve Martins character loses his temper in an airport and swears repeatedly. Stone admitted she had that dialogue memorized as a child. Her mother was disgusted to hear her use that language but her father thought it was a big joke. She said of those classic comedies, I loved them and my dad loved them, and we would laugh together, and I would think, This is love. I just wanted to make people feel like that.

Her father also introduced her to the television comedy show Saturday Night Live. Her favorite regular actor on Saturday Night Live was Gilda Radner. Because Radner left the show before Emily was born, Stone must have seen her in reruns. Classic episodes of Saturday Night Live are shown on cable television channels. Her favorite Radner character was a teenage girl who acted out short plays in her bedroom. Stone used to do the same thing. She dreamed of some day being a guest host on Saturday Night Live.

When she was seven, Emily took gymnastic lessons. One day she was standing on the parallel bars and the woman supporting her let go of her ankles. Emily fell forward and broke both her arms on the mat. As a result, for the next two years Emily suffered from panic attacks. She was anxious and nervous much of the time. Stone recalled, I had massive anxiety as a child. I was in therapy. From 8 to 10, I was borderline agoraphobic. [Agoraphobia is a condition in which a person is afraid to be in public places.] I could not leave my moms side.