Emmy Rossum

Rossum was married to Justin Siegel from 2008 to 2010. She has been married to writer and director Sam Esmail since 2017, and they have two children, a daughter born in May 2021 and a son born in April 2023.

Rossum has celiac disease and predominantly hyperactive attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She has taken medication for ADHD since childhood.

Raised by her mother, corporate photographer Cheryl Rossum, Emmy Rossum began performing with the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus at age seven. Over five years, she sang in more than 20 operas and performed alongside Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. She also worked under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli in Carmen and appeared in a Carnegie Hall presentation of La damnation de Faust.

Rossum made her television debut as Abigail Williams on As the World Turns in 1997. Her early screen work included Genius, The Audrey Hepburn Story, Songcatcher, Nola, and Clint Eastwood's Mystic River. Her performance as an Appalachian orphan in Songcatcher earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance.

Rossum's breakthrough came at age 16, when she was cast as Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera. Andrew Lloyd Webber selected her after she auditioned in costume and makeup and later sang for him at his New York home. Her classical vocal training helped her combine the role's demanding singing with its dramatic requirements.

The performance brought Rossum a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical. She also won the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance, the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Actress. She followed the film with roles in The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon, Dragonball: Evolution, Beautiful Creatures, You're Not You, and Cold Pursuit.

In 2011, Rossum began playing Fiona Gallagher on the Showtime dramedy Shameless. Fiona is the oldest sibling in a large, motherless family and serves as a guardian to her younger brothers and sisters while managing the instability caused by their alcoholic father, played by William H. Macy. Rossum remained with the series for nine seasons and 110 episodes, leaving in 2018.

Rossum made her television directorial debut with the Shameless episode "I Am a Storm" and later directed episodes of Animal Kingdom and Modern Love. She starred in and executive produced the 2022 miniseries Angelyne, played Candy Sullivan in The Crowded Room, and stars as Alice Black in the Hulu series Furious.

Rossum released her debut album, Inside Out, through Geffen Records in 2007. She chose contemporary pop rather than a classical album after her success in The Phantom of the Opera. Her second album, Sentimental Journey, was released by Warner Bros. Records in 2013 and consists of covers of songs from the 1920s through the 1960s. It reached number one on the U.S. Jazz Albums chart.

She has served as a YouthAIDS ambassador and supported environmental protection through Global Green USA and public service announcements for the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund. She also worked with Best Friends Animal Society to encourage animal adoption and became a spokesperson for Pinkitude's breast cancer awareness campaign.