Emma Stone

• 1. Project Hollywood

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  Emma Stone, born Emily Jean Stone, once built a PowerPoint presentation for an audience of her parents. Its title was "Project Hollywood," and its purpose was to persuade them to let a teenager from Arizona pursue acting in California. The pitch worked. Stone is now an American actress and film producer whose career runs from teen comedy to musicals, a superhero franchise, and some of the strangest films of recent years. This documentary follows the questions that presentation raises. Where did such determination come from? What happened when the first auditions went nowhere? And how did a performer first noticed in comedies end up producing films and returning again and again to the director Yorgos Lanthimos?

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• 2. A Husky Voice

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  Emily Jean Stone was born on the 6th of November 1988 in Scottsdale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. Her father, Jeffrey Charles Stone, founded a general-contracting company, and her mother, Krista, was a homemaker. She has a younger brother named Spencer. From age 12 to 15, Stone lived on the grounds of the Camelback Inn resort. Her paternal grandfather, Conrad Ostberg Sten, came from a Swedish family that changed the spelling of its surname to Stone.

  As a baby, Stone had colic and cried constantly. All that crying left nodules and calluses on her vocal cords while she was still a child. The result was a low, husky voice that stayed with her. She later described herself as a "loud" and "bossy" girl, and she said her controlling nature made sure she earned all A's even though she disliked school.

  Panic attacks and anxiety shaped her childhood too. She remembered the first attack happening at a friend's house, where she became convinced the building was on fire. It was followed by three years of near-daily distress. She spent most lunch periods at the school nurse's office, and she kept asking her mother to describe the day ahead, then asked again half a minute later. In her words, "I just needed to know that no one was going to die and nothing was going to change." Therapy helped, but Stone said it was local theater that cured the attacks.

  At age 11, Stone made her acting debut as Otter in a stage production of The Wind in the Willows. She had wanted to act since age four, first dreaming of sketch comedy and then turning toward musical theater, and she took vocal lessons for several years. During two years of homeschooling, she appeared in 16 productions at Phoenix's Valley Youth Theatre. Among them were The Princess and the Pea, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She also performed with the theater's improvisational comedy troupe.

  A trip to Los Angeles to audition for Nickelodeon's All That ended without a part. Her parents answered by sending her to private acting lessons with a local coach who had once worked at the William Morris Agency in the 1970s.

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• 3. Rejection and Renaming

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  Xavier College Preparatory, an all-girl Catholic high school in Phoenix, held Stone for exactly one semester as a freshman. She left to become an actress, and in January 2004 she and her mother moved into an apartment in Los Angeles. Stone later recalled, "I went up for every single show on the Disney Channel and auditioned to play the daughter on every single sitcom." Then came the punchline: "I ended up getting none." Between auditions, she took online high-school classes and worked part-time at a dog-treat bakery.

  At age 16, Stone registered with the Screen Actors Guild and found that the name Emily Stone already belonged to someone else. She briefly worked as Riley Stone instead. Under that name she made her television debut as Laurie Partridge on In Search of the New Partridge Family, a VH1 talent competition from 2004. The resulting series, retitled The New Partridge Family, never sold and remained an unsold pilot.

  Guest roles on Medium in 2005 and Malcolm in the Middle in 2006 followed. By then she was struggling to feel like a Riley, so she chose the stage name Emma, in honor of Emma Bunton of the Spice Girls. In 2006 she also appeared in Lucky Louie, the HBO series from Louis C.K.

  The worst moment came in 2007, when she auditioned without success for the part of Claire Bennet in the NBC science fiction drama Heroes. Stone later called it her "rock bottom" experience. That April she took the role of Violet Trimble in the Fox action drama Drive. The network canceled it after seven episodes.

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• 4. Comedy Breakthrough

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  Superbad, directed by Greg Mottola, gave Stone her feature film debut in 2007 beside Michael Cera and Jonah Hill. The comedy follows two high school students whose plan to buy alcohol for a party spirals into misadventure. Stone dyed her hair red to play Hill's romantic interest. She described the experience as "amazing... but very different than other experiences I've had since then." The film was a commercial success and won her a Young Hollywood Award for Exciting New Face.

  The Rocker, released in 2008, cast her as Amelia Stone, a bass guitarist, and she learned the instrument for the part. Critics disliked the film and audiences stayed away. The House Bunny did better that year. She played a sorority president and performed a cover of the Waitresses' 1982 song "I Know What Boys Like." Ken Fox of TV Guide wrote that she "is well on her way to becoming a star."

  Zombieland, from director Ruben Fleischer, grossed $102.3 million in 2009 and was her most profitable film of that year. Stone played a con artist and survivor of a zombie apocalypse, alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin. Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph saw a "tough cookie" who seemed wiser than her years.

  Easy A, in 2010, became her first leading role. Will Gluck directed this teen comedy, which is partly based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter. Stone played Olive Penderghast, a student caught up in a scandal after a false rumor about her love life. She had read the script before the project was optioned, pursued it with her manager, and became one of the first actresses to audition. The film grossed $75 million against an $8 million budget. It brought her a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination, a Golden Globe nomination, and an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.

  In October 2010, Stone hosted Saturday Night Live, with one sketch playing on her resemblance to Lindsay Lohan. She called it "the greatest week of my life."

  Crazy, Stupid, Love, in 2011, paired her with Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Julianne Moore. She played a law school graduate who becomes Gosling's love interest. The film earned $142.9 million worldwide on a $50 million production budget.

  Stone was dismayed at being typecast as "the sarcastic interest of the guy," and The Help was her answer. In Tate Taylor's period drama, she co-starred with Viola Davis as Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, an aspiring writer in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. The film adapts Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel. Taylor remembered her arriving at the first meeting "completely awkward and dorky." To prepare, Stone learned a Southern accent and studied the Civil Rights Movement through books and films. With $216 million worldwide against a $25 million budget, it became her highest-grossing film to that point.

  In 2012 she turned down a part in 21 Jump Street to play Gwen Stacy in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man, opposite Andrew Garfield. She returned to her natural blonde hair for the role. Stone admitted she had never read the comics and had assumed, from the Sam Raimi films, that "Mary Jane was his first love." The film earned $757.9 million worldwide and ranked seventh among the year's releases.

  In the 2014 sequel, Stone argued that Gwen did not depend on the hero: "He's the muscle, she's the brains." Mixed reviews, weak box office and the 2014 Sony Pictures hack ended all planned sequels and spinoffs. The role still won her the Favorite Movie Actress award at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards.

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• 5. Birdman to La La Land

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  Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, released in 2014, gave Stone a darker kind of role. She played Sam Thomson, the assistant and recovering-addict daughter of Michael Keaton's character Riggan Thomson, with Edward Norton also in the cast. Iñárritu based the character on his own experience with his daughter. The film led the 87th Academy Awards with nine nominations and four wins, including Best Picture. Stone received Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for her work.

  From November 2014 to February 2015, Stone starred as Sally Bowles in a Broadway revival of the musical Cabaret, taking over from Michelle Williams. She called it "the most nerve-racking thing ever" and listened to a French radio station to get into the right frame of mind. Marilyn Stasio of Variety was critical of her singing but praised her intelligence and energy.

  Cameron Crowe's romantic comedy Aloha, in 2015, went badly. Stone played an air force pilot who was meant to be of Asian, Hawaiian and Swedish descent, and critics attacked the film for whitewashing. She later regretted taking part and acknowledged the problem across Hollywood.

  During her Cabaret run, Stone met the filmmaker Damien Chazelle. He was so impressed that he cast her in La La Land, her third film with Ryan Gosling. She played Mia Dolan, an aspiring actress in Los Angeles, and borrowed several real experiences for the part. To prepare, she watched The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. She also recorded six songs for the soundtrack.

  La La Land opened the 2016 Venice Film Festival, where Stone won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. It grossed over $440 million worldwide on a $30 million budget. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote that she had "never been better," praising eyes that radiated intelligence even when filling with tears. Stone won the Academy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA awards for Best Actress.

  Battle of the Sexes, her only 2017 release, dramatized the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Stone played King and Steve Carell played Riggs. She met King, studied old footage and interviews, worked with a dialect coach, and drank high-calorie protein shakes to gain 15 lb. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, but it earned less than its $25 million budget. It still brought her a fourth Golden Globe nomination, and King attended the ceremony with her.

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• 6. The Lanthimos Run

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  In The Favourite, from Yorgos Lanthimos, Stone played Abigail Masham and Rachel Weisz played Sarah Churchill, two cousins competing for the favor of Queen Anne, played by Olivia Colman. Stone found it hard to be the lone American in an all-British cast, and she struggled to master her character's accent. The film premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival to acclaim. Michael Nordine of IndieWire called the three leads "a majestic triumvirate." Stone received her third Oscar nomination and fifth Golden Globe nomination for it.

  In 2022 she starred in Lanthimos's short film Bleat. The next year came Poor Things, based on the novel by Alasdair Gray. Stone also produced it, and she played Bella, a young Victorian woman who is crudely resurrected after her suicide. Playing a character free of social pressure felt "extremely freeing" to her, and the role included nudity and several sex scenes. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter praised her physical comedy, and Stephanie Zacharek of Time admired the "perfect oddness" of her performance.

  Poor Things earned Stone her fourth Critics' Choice Award, a second BAFTA, a second Golden Globe and a second Academy Award for Best Actress. As a producer, she also shared in the film's Best Picture nomination.

  Kinds of Kindness, which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, was their fourth collaboration. Stone played three characters in the absurdist anthology. Robert Daniels of Mashable ranked it the weakest of their films together and called her "miscast."

  In 2025 she also appeared in Ari Aster's Western Eddington, which premiered at Cannes with Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Austin Butler. Ben Croll of TheWrap felt that neither she nor Pascal was given much to do.

  Then came Bugonia, Lanthimos's remake of the South Korean film Save the Green Planet! Stone played a CEO kidnapped by two men who believe she is an alien. She shaved her head for the part and wore wigs in public for months afterward, hoping to keep the look a surprise. The film was released on the 24th of October 2025 to generally positive reviews. It brought nominations for the Actor, BAFTA, Critics' Choice and Golden Globe awards, plus two Oscar nominations, for Best Actress and Best Picture.

  Those nominations made her the first woman nominated as both producer and actress in each of two different films. They were also her seventh Oscar nomination, which made her the second-youngest person, and the youngest woman, to reach that number. Meryl Streep previously held the record.

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• 7. Producer and Television

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  Netflix's Maniac, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, arrived in 2018 with Stone as both star and executive producer. She and Jonah Hill played two strangers whose lives change after a mysterious pharmaceutical trial. Stone admired Fukunaga's work and agreed to join without reading the script. Judy Berman of Time noted how much Stone and Hill had grown as actors since Superbad. The series earned Stone a Screen Actors Guild nomination.

  In 2021, Stone played Cruella de Vil in Cruella, a Disney live-action film based on the 1961 animation One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Craig Gillespie directed, Emma Thompson co-starred, and Stone was an executive producer alongside Glenn Close, who had played the character in earlier live-action versions. The film opened in American theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access. It grossed $233 million worldwide against a $100 million budget. Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times found the screenplay flawed but called Stone "wholly committed." The role brought her sixth Golden Globe nomination.

  In 2020, Stone and her husband, Dave McCary, launched the production company Fruit Tree. Its first project was When You Finish Saving the World, the feature directorial debut of Jesse Eisenberg. It premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival to modest reviews. Next came Problemista, directed by Julio Torres, which premiered at South by Southwest in 2023. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike delayed its release. A24 collaborated on both films.

  In 2023, Stone also executive produced and starred in The Curse, a satirical comedy series for Showtime. She played Whitney, an influencer who hosts an HGTV show with her husband. Caryn James of BBC Culture wrote that Stone had quickly moved past Hollywood stardom to claim serious artistic credentials. The series earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

  The 2024 Sundance Film Festival premiered two Fruit Tree productions. One was the horror film I Saw the TV Glow. The other was A Real Pain, Eisenberg's second film as director, a comedy-drama about two mismatched Jewish American cousins. It received critical acclaim and several awards.

  More projects are on the way. Stone and her close friend Jennifer Lawrence are attached to produce a movie about the Muppets character Miss Piggy, written by Cole Escola. She will also star opposite Chris Pine in The Catch, a Universal romantic comedy that McCary will direct. A sequel to Cruella is planned as well.

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• 8. Image and Private Life

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  In 2013, Forbes included Stone in its Celebrity 100 list and reported that she had earned $16 million between June 2012 and June 2013. Four years later, in 2017, the magazine named her the world's highest-paid actress, with annual earnings of $26 million. Time put her on its list of the 100 most influential people that same year. Biographer Karen Hollinger argues that Stone escaped the "star ingénue" label, despite having no classical training, by building a career on skill, careful role choices and a distinctive personality. Vogue named her the best-dressed woman of 2012.

  Stone's charity work began with a Revlon campaign promoting breast cancer awareness. From 2012 to 2014, she hosted the Revlon Run/Walk for the Entertainment Industry Foundation, which fights women's cancer. After the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, she spoke in support of the LGBTQ community and gun law reform. In 2017 she wore a Planned Parenthood pin to the Academy Awards. A year later, she worked with 300 women in Hollywood to set up the Time's Up initiative against sexual harassment and discrimination.

  Stone moved from Los Angeles to Greenwich Village in New York City in 2009, then returned to Los Angeles in 2016. She generally refuses to talk about her personal life publicly. She has named Diane Keaton as an acting influence, calling her "one of the most covered-up actresses of all time." Before her marriage she dated her Paper Man co-star Kieran Culkin for two years. In 2011 she began a four-year relationship with Andrew Garfield, her co-star in The Amazing Spider-Man.

  Stone met Dave McCary, a Saturday Night Live segment director, on the 3rd of December 2016 while hosting the show. They began dating the following year and announced their engagement on the 4th of December 2019. They married in a private ceremony in September 2020. Their daughter, Louise Jean McCary, was born in March 2021, and as of 2021 the family lived in Austin, Texas.

  Stone has asthma, which she discovered while having trouble breathing during the filming of Easy A. Her mother was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2008. When the cancer went into remission in 2010, mother and daughter celebrated with matching tattoos of birds' feet. Paul McCartney designed them as a nod to the Beatles song "Blackbird," which both women love.

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