Born and raised in New York City, Emmy Rossum showed musical talent at an early age and at seven, joined the Metropolitan Opera's Children's Chorus. She performed onstage with the likes of Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti in the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, and has sung in a Carnegie Hall presentation of The Damnation of Faust. During her tenure at the Metropolitan Opera, Rossum performed in over 20 different operas in six different languages, and had the pleasure of working under the direction of Franco Zefferelli in Carmen.
Emmy signed up with an agent and began auditioning for acting roles. In 1997, she made her television debut with a recurring role in the long-running daytime soap As the World Turns. Later that year, she guest-starred on Law&Order and the following year, appeared in two movies and a mini-series. Rossum received a Young Artist Award nomination in 1999 for Best Performance in a TV Movie for her work in the TV movie Genius, followed by the role of the young Audrey Hepburn in the ABC TV movie The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000).
Earlier that year, Emmy made her big screen debut as the Appalachian orphan Deladis in Songcatcher, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the Special Jury Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Emmy also received an Independent Spirit Award nomination in the category of Best Debut Performance and sings a duet with Dolly Parton on the Songcatcher soundtrack.Other film appearances include It Had To Be You (2000) with Natasha Henstridge and An American Rhapsody (2001) with Scarlett Johannson. After playing Sean Penn's daughter in Clint Eastwood's award-winning Mystic River (2003), Rossum's career in feature films took off. She worked on The Day After Tomorrow (2004) with Dennis Quaid, then landed her biggest role to date - the coveted part of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera (2004) - the screen adaptation of the long-running stage musical. For her portrayal she won numerous awards, including a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor, a Broadcast Film Critics Association award for Best Young Actress, a National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, a Young Artist Award and a Golden Globe nomination.An only child, Rossum has a pet Maltese named Chrissie and enjoys reading, horseback riding, talking on the phone, and spending time with friends. Currently, she divides her time between her home in Manhattan and Los Angeles.
