• Faith: Judaism
• Career: Actress
• Birthday:  September 12, 1986

Emmy Rossum is a singer, actress, and songwriter. She’s best known for playing Fiona Gallagher in the series “Shameless.” Since the mid-2010s, she’s also directed and produced television, including the 2022 Peacock series “Angelyne,” in which she also stars. Born and raised in New York City, Rossum started performing professionally in the Metropolitan Opera as a child. Her early on-screen roles included “Songcatcher,” “Genius,” “Passionada,” and “Nola.” At 16, she was cast in her breakthrough role in “Mystic River.”

Rossum starred in the 2004 sci-fi movie “The Day After Tomorrow” and also received critical acclaim for her performance in the leading role in the film adaptation of “The Phantom of the Opera.” She’s also well known for acting in “Poseidon,” “Dragonball: Evolution,” “Inside,” “Beautiful Creatures,” “Comet,” and “Cold Pursuit.” In 2007, Rossum released her debut album, Inside Out. The same year, she also released a Christmas EP titled Carol of the Bells. In 2013, she released a follow-up album called Sentimental Journey.

Emmy Rossum was born in 1986 in New York City, the only child of Cheryl Rossum, a single mother who worked as a corporate photographer. Her parents separated while her mother was pregnant. As of 2007, she’d only met her father twice. Upon singing “Happy Birthday” in all 12 keys, Rossum was welcomed by chorus director Elena Doria to join the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus when she was seven. For five years, she sang onstage with the chorus and had the chance to perform with singers like Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. For anywhere from $5 to $10 a night, Rossum sang six languages in 20 operas. She also worked under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli in “Carmen.”

An increasing interest in pursuing acting led to Rossum taking classes with Flo Salant Greenberg of The New Actors Workshop in New York City. She’s also worked with acting coach Terry Knickerbocker. She attended the Spence School, a private school in Manhattan, before dropping out to pursue career opportunities. Rossum received her high school diploma at 15 years old via online extension courses offered by Stanford University’s Education Program for Gifted Youth. She enrolled at Columbia University, where she studied art history, French, and philosophy.

What religion is Emmy Rossum?

Rossum’s mother is of Russian Jewish descent, and her father is Protestant. She identifies as Jewish and has said that her mother instilled in her the “Jewish code of morals and ethics.” She was named after her great-grandfather, whose first name was Emanuel, using the feminine spelling. In an interview, Rossum detailed her childhood by saying, “My mother instilled in me the Jewish code of ethics and morals. That stays with me very strongly every day. I enjoy having Shabbat dinner with my close friends, even though it is not something I grew up doing weekly.”