Emma Roberts first graced the movie and television world in 2001, when she was only nine years old, in a performance in the crime film Blow. Born into a family of acting coaches and actors, including American actress Julia Roberts, Roberts rose to fame through an avenue familiar to audiences in the mid-2000s: Nickelodeon. She starred in the 2005 series Unfabulous with Malese Jow, which was extremely popular with youths at that time. Roberts’ fame skyrocketed during that time, and, in 2007, she was cast as Nancy Drew in the movie of the same name. But as she began to mature, so did her career.
Roberts had a string of releases in more mature roles, from Scream 4to Valentine’s Day, but her big breakthrough as an adult was when she was cast in Palo Alto. With good reviews from the movie to back her credibility even further, Roberts then starred in American Horror Story and Scream Queens, which cemented her status as an icon for the generation that had previously watched her on the Nickelodeon show. Soon she will appear in Madame Web, Marvel’s film starring Dakota Johnson, and, per Variety, Space Cadets. That being said, these are Emma Roberts’ best seven performances so far.
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7 Wild Child
Relativity Media
Released in 2008, a year after Nancy Drew came out, Roberts starred in the British teen comedy Wild Child. She portrays a wealthy teenager from Malibu, Poppy Moore, with an attitude problem. After pulling off a prank in poor taste, she is sent off to an English boarding school, and that attitude will not fly there. When she makes some friends at the school, they eventually come up with a decision that dictates the only way to liberate Poppy is to get her expelled, leading them down a much different path than they expected. Although there is much to be desired from this movie plot-wise, Roberts plays a convincing teenager with privilege.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 The Art of Getting By
Gi Gi Productions
The Art of Getting By, too, is a high school story. In this film, Freddie Highmore stars as an isolated high school student that, because of his beliefs about how the world works, often skips class. He discovers a classmate, Sally (Roberts), on the roof randomly one day, and the two quickly become friends. The heavily relies on archetypes to explain these two’s relationship, making it drab quite quickly plotwise, but the acting is well-done throughout.
5 We’re the Millers
New Line Cinema
We’re the Millers, which came out in 2013, starred Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, and Will Poulter as the fake Miller family. Sudeikis’ character, David, lives in Denver and deals weed for a living. After getting robbed of his supplies and forced to make a run to Mexico to smuggle in more, David decides that he needs a fake family to appear convincing to customs. Ultimately, he decides to hire a stripper, a girl who ran away from home, and his teenage neighbor to pretend to be the Miller family, leading to an entire movie’s worth of shenanigans.
4 Palo Alto
American Zoetrope
Gia Coppola directed Palo Alto, which was originally a short story collection by actor James Franco. Roberts stars as April, a teenager living in Palo Alto, California. Her story becomes entangled with two other teenage boys attending the same school, making the movie a dreamy coming-of-age story with gorgeous cinematography scattered throughout. One of the best performances in the movie belongs to Roberts, who portrays April brilliantly.
3 Nerve
Lionsgate
Roberts, Dave Franco, and Juliette Lewis all-star in Nerve, which was adapted from a novel of the same name. An online game surfaces where the basic premise is truth or dare with the promise of a tangible reward, but, as the game grows bigger and more people join in, it begins to bleed into real life. As the protagonists become more addicted to the online game, their lives outside the screen being consumed by it, the stakes continue to climb, even becoming potentially deadly.
2 Scream Queens
Fox Network
Scream Queens boasts one of Roberts’ most iconic roles so far: Chanel Oberlin. Alongside Ariana Grande, Billie Lourd, and Abigail Breslin, the actresses play members of a sorority at Wallace University. As the Dean tries to shut down the sorority due to Chanel’s obnoxious behavior, a serial killer is loose on the campus targeting certain individuals in the sorority. Scream Queens may not be considered intellectual material for television, but it sure is entertaining. Roberts, along with the other actors, plays a key role in making that magic happen.
1 American Horror Story
FX
American Horror Story has become a beloved staple on FX, each series bringing in the same actors when possible to tell a completely different tale. Emma Roberts has been with the show for multiple seasons now, portraying a wide variety of roles, including a movie star, camp counselor, and a dead witch. Every season of American Horror Story manages to unleash a new round of terrors and good writing when it premieres, and the actors, including Roberts, all manage to bring their best each season.
