Biography
The year 1997 saw Rossum's television debut with a guest appearance on Law & Order as Alison Martin. A recurring role as the original Abigail Williams, in the long-running daytime soap As the World Turns was soon to follow (1999), as were several other minor roles in two movies and mini-series. Rossum was nominated for a Young Artist Award nomination in 1999 for Best Performance in a TV Movie for her work in the made-for-tv movie Genius, followed by roles such as the young Audrey Hepburn in the ABC TV movie The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000).
Rossum made her big screen debut in 2000's Songcatcher, with her good friend Rhoda Griffis, in which she plays an Appalachian orphan, Deladis Slocumb. Debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, it won the Special Jury Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. For her role, Rossum received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance and also had the opportunity to sing a duet with Dolly Parton on the Songcatcher soundtrack.
In Nola (2003), Rossum played the title character, an aspiring songwriter; in her first major studio film, Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, Rossum stars as Katie Markum, the ill-fated daughter of small-business owner Jimmy Markum, played by Sean Penn. As Katie, Rossum is said to have "projected an aura of innocence that made her character's tragic death memorable and heartbreaking".
Following Mystic River, Rossum played a damsel in distress named Laura Chapman in the Roland Emmerich eco-disaster film The Day After Tomorrow, which was released in 2004. After returning to New York, Rossum was the last to audition, in full costume and make-up for the coveted role of Christine Daaé in the screen adaptation of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's world-famous and longest running musical The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film). After an international search for talent, and having nearly missed the audition on account of a family engagement,Rossum was asked to audition in person for Lloyd Webber at his home in New York. Webber felt she proved her ability to play the young opera singer who becomes the object of the phantom's obsessive love opposite Broadway singer Patrick Wilson as Raoul and actor Gerard Butler as The Phantom. For her role as Christine Daaé, Rossum received a Golden Globe nomination and many other awards.
In 2006, Rossum appeared in Wolfgang Petersen's high-budget remake of the disaster film Poseidon, in which she stars opposite Kurt Russell as one of the film's leading roles, the 19-year-old daughter of former firefighter and New York Mayor, Jennifer Ramsey. She also appeared as Juliet in a 2006 Williamstown Theatre Festival Production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
In an interview with USA Today, Emmy revealed that she has already signed on to do four films in 2008.According to Emmy, "One film is a comedy, one is a character drama and two are "indies".It was announced on December 15, 2007 that Rossum had joined the cast of the upcoming Dragonball live-action film, playing the role of Bulma.
