Emma Stone Is An Award-Winning Actress – Here Are 9 Comedic Roles That Jump-Started Her Career

Throughout all of her performances, Emma Stone has proved that she can basically do it all: comedy, drama, musicals, even superhero films — and she sells it every time. In her over 20-year career, the actress has brought characters such as La La Land’s Mia Dolan and Easy A’s Olive Penderghast to life in ways that are so iconic, it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing them.

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While her recent roles in films including Bugonia and Poor Things solidify Emma as a critically beloved force to be reckoned with in the realm of drama films, there is something special about her early comedic roles that deserves its own acknowledgement.

Yorgos Lanthimos / © Searchlight Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection, ©Screen Gems/Courtesy Everett Collection

From her very first TV appearance to her first time as a lead movie character, these are nine early comedy roles that helped launch Emma Stone into the acclaimed star she is now:

1. The New Partridge Family (2004)

Emma landed her very first TV gig by winning the VH1 reality series competition, In Search of the New Partridge Family. The series sought to find actors for a reboot of the original 1970s show, The Partridge Family, and she won the role of Laurie Partridge in the new remake. The New Partridge Family was meant to follow the lives of a family band at the start of their career, with Emma’s character being one of five children who plays the keyboard and does backup vocals in the band. Bad news: The show never got past the pilot episode. Good news: You can watch the entire episode on YouTube. Even then, Emma’s natural ability to deliver a believable performance shone through.

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2. Malcolm in the Middle (2006)

If you haven’t watched Malcolm in the Middle and therefore haven’t seen this episode (“Lois Strikes Back”, Season 7, Episode 16), then you’re missing out. For some quick context, one of the main characters, Reese, undergoes public humiliation at the hands of four girls from his high school, and as a result, his mother, Lois, spends the rest of the episode strategically enacting payback on all of the girls. Emma plays one of the four girls, Diane, and this role showcases how Emma’s comedic acting chops have been stellar since the beginning. Though she’s only on screen for a few minutes throughout the episode, her melodramatic performance in the locker-stuffed-with-doll-heads scene is just iconic.

3. Superbad (2007)

Widely considered her breakout role, Superbad led to Emma’s comedic talents being appreciated on a whole new level. Her character, Jules, is a popular high school girl and the love interest of one of the main characters, Seth (played by Jonah Hill). Jules invites Seth to her house party, and Seth plans for them to both get drunk so he can sleep with her (a very 2007 plot, to say the least), but he eventually finds out Jules doesn’t even drink and ends the night by head-butting her as he passes out onto the ground. This role earned Emma the Young Hollywood Award for Exciting New Face in 2008, further solidifying her success as a breakout star. It was also the debut of what became her signature look, as she dyed her hair red for the role.

4. The Rocker (2008)

Though it’s one of her lesser-known roles, the limited time (and lines) that Emma has in this movie were enough to prove her mastery of playing the classic sarcastic side character with flawlessly delivered one-liners. She plays Amelia Stone, the bassist in the band A.D.D. The film centers on a rock drummer named Fish, who gets a second chance at fame after being kicked out of his 1980s band when his nephew needs a drummer for his high school rock band’s prom gig. Emma actually learned how to play the bass for the role, only adding to the list of believable performances she has delivered throughout her career.

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5. The House Bunny (2008)

This film marks the first time we actually got more than a few lines and scenes from one of Emma’s characters, and it was certainly worth the wait. In typical nerdy girl movie makeover fashion (where she basically just takes off her glasses and lets her ponytail down), Emma’s character, Natalie Sandler, undergoes a transformation at the hands of Shelley Darlingson (played by Anna Faris), a former Playboy Bunny who found herself being the “house mother” of Shelley’s sorority after being kicked out of the Playboy Mansion. Emma’s ability to portray girl-next-door characters while weaving in effortless comedy is part of what boosted her into the star she is now, and it’s easy to see how through roles like this.

6. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)

In one of the many movie depictions of A Christmas Carol, Emma plays Allison Vandermeersh, the 16-year-old “Ghost of Girlfriends Past” who takes Matthew McConaughey‘s womanizing character, Connor, through his romantic history the night before his brother’s wedding. As if her ’80s perm and braces aren’t enough, Emma’s comedic timing and body language throughout the film make this role a criminally underrated one. Even in the early stages of her career, she’s somehow able to give her all to a role without it coming off as “too much,” and it only gets better the more movies she appears in.

7. Zombieland (2009)

One of her most recognizable early roles, Emma plays Wichita (whose real name is Krista), the tough and protective big sister of Little Rock (played by Abigail Breslin). When they meet Columbus and Tallahassee (played by Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson, respectively) in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, they immediately try to con the guys out of their survival supplies. The four of them eventually decide to work together, going on a journey to find what Wichita believes is a sanctuary. Though it’s a vastly different setting from her previous roles, Emma balances her famous knack for humor and sarcasm with the deeper, more serious side of her character with ease, making for yet another iconic performance (in only the third year of her movie career, nonetheless).

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8. Easy A (2010)

Moving from supporting roles to the lead character in a film, Easy A took Emma’s career to a whole new level. The contemporary comedic take on The Scarlet Letter, centered around a high school student lying about losing her virginity and bringing together the likes of Stanley Tucci, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley, Lisa Kudrow, and more, was simply bound to be a smash hit. But Emma as Olive Penderghast was just the cherry on top. Emma even won the MTV Movie & TV Award for Best Comedic Performance and the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress: Romantic Comedy for this role. And as we all know, her trophy stack only grew from there.

9. Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

As arguably the last purely comedic role Emma played before stepping into more dramatic performances — going on to next play Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan in The Help (2011) and Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) — her role as Hannah Weaver was just as relatable and charming as ever. Hannah has a one-night stand with Jacob Palmer (your typical womanizing man in a rom-com, who needs a girl who challenges him to fall in love, as played by Ryan Gosling) that ultimately leads to the two of them dating. When Jacob meets Hannah’s family, chaos ensues as misunderstandings come to light and the iconic backyard party scene unfolds (IYKYK). This film marked the beginning of the trifecta of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling films, completed by Gangster Squad (2013) and La La Land (2016), which led to her first Oscar win, of course.

What’s your favorite Emma Stone role? Should she make a return to comedy films? Let us know in the comments!

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