Emma Stone

Emily Jean "Emma" Stone (born November 6, 1988) is an American actress. Stone was a cast member of the TV series Drive, and made her feature film debut in the comedy Superbad. She appeared in The House Bunny and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. She then starred in the horror-comedy Zombieland and the indie comedy Paper Man in 2009. In 2010, Stone voiced the character Mazie in Marmaduke, and starred in the high school comedy Easy A, which earned her a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.

Stone was born in Scottsdale, Arizona, the daughter of Jeff Stone, a contractor, and Krista Stone, a homemaker. She has a brother who is younger by two years. Stone's paternal grandfather was of Swedish descent, and her family lived in Pennsylvania Dutch Country; her family's surname was anglicized to "Stone" when immigrating to the U.S. through Ellis Island.

She was a member of the Valley Youth Theatre while growing up, a regional theater in Phoenix, Arizona, where she appeared in her first stage production, The Wind in the Willows, at the age of 11. Stone attended Sequoya Elementary School and then Cocopah Middle School for sixth grade. She was home schooled for two years, at which time she appeared in 16 productions at Valley Youth Theatre, including: A Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail, The Princess and the Pea, Cinderella, The Wiz, Titanic, Honk!, The Little Mermaid, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, Alice in Wonderland, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and performed with the theater's improv comedy troupe.

Stone attended Xavier College Preparatory, an all-girl Catholic high school, as a freshman for one semester. She gave a PowerPoint presentation to her parents, set to the Madonna song "Hollywood", to convince them to let her move to California for an acting career. She dropped out of high school, and in January 2004, moved with her mother to a Los Angeles apartment, at the age of fifteen. She was then home schooled, so that she could audition during the day.