Just over a decade ago, no one could have guessed that Emma Stone , the young Arizona-born starlet who had a reputation for playing quippy high schoolers, would become a Hollywood heavyweight and the first double Oscar winner of her generation, scoring her first statuette for her fleet-footed turn in La La Land and the second for the unrivalled powerhouse performance she delivers in Poor Things . But then again, revisit her earliest work now and you’ll see that all of her hallmarks – that jaunty physicality, the expert comic timing, the utter fearlessness – have been there since the very beginning. As she turns 36, we look back at the actor’s most memorable films and TV shows to date.
Superbad (2007) Stone burst onto the scene at the age of 18, as the razor-sharp, darkly funny Jules, Jonah Hill’s love interest – who proves to be more than a match for him – in Greg Mottola’s raunchy buddy comedy. In a role which could’ve been entirely forgettable, she sparkled – and established herself as one to watch. Easy A (2010) That strut down the school hallway , the “sex” scene , the sequence where she sings “Pocketful of Sunshine” for an entire weekend – Will Gluck’s playful romp, loosely inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter , is a comedy masterclass, and it’s impossible to imagine anyone other than Stone in the part of the zany, awkward and ultimately triumphant Olive Penderghast.
This is the film which, rightfully, made her a star. .