Emma Roberts's acting career:

Acting career
2001-2005: Early career and Unfabulous
During her childhood, Roberts spent a lot of time on the sets of the films in which her aunt Julia Roberts was starring. These experiences sparked a desire in Roberts, from the age of five, to follow her father and aunts into the film industry. Roberts said in an interview that: "Well I’ve been on sets since I was a little kid, and I’ve grown up around it and its something I’ve always wanted to do so it seemed pretty natural to me." Although her mother initially wanted her to have a normal childhood, Emma Roberts made her acting debut at age nine in Ted Demme's 2001 drama Blow. It was the first movie for which she ever auditioned. In the film she portrayed Kristina Jung, the daughter of Johnny Depp's character, cocaine smuggler George Jung. As the film is rated R, her mother reportedly would not allow Roberts to see it before she turned eighteen. Director Ted Demme produced a tape for her that featured only the scenes in which she appeared. In 2001, Roberts also had a role in Leif Tilden's 10-minute short "bigLove" (which also starred her future stepfather, Kelly Nickels), and was an uncredited extra in some scenes featuring her aunt Julia Roberts in America's Sweethearts.
She went on to appear in smaller roles in two family films, in 2002's Grand Champion, as the sister of the main character Buddy (Jacob Fisher); and in 2003's Spymate, as the kidnapped daughter of former secret agent Mike Muggins (Chris Potter), who tries to rescue her with the help of a spy monkey. Grand Champion had a brief theatrical release in August 2004, while Spymate was not released until February 2006, when it was given a theatrical run in Canada, followed by its DVD release in April 2006. In August 2003, Roberts was scheduled to shoot an independent film called Daisy Winters, starring as the title character, alongside Rachel Weisz. However, the film, which would have been Roberts' first leading role, never began shooting due to financial problems. In 2004, Roberts became a teen idol at the age of thirteen, starring as the lead character Addie Singer in the Nickelodeon series Unfabulous, which debuted in September 2004. Nickelodeon had wanted to cast her for the role from the beginning, and the teen sitcom earned Roberts a Teen Choice Award nomination and several Young Artist Award nominations. The series became the network's most-watched programs and was quickly recommissioned for a second season. The television show was also one of the most-watched programs in the United States among children between the age of 9 and 14. The show aired for three seasons from 2004-2007 and aired 42 episodes. The third season ended on December 16, 2007.
The television series focused on Addie Singer (Roberts) a seventh grader who's life is "unfabulous" and she writes songs about her life, Addie relies on her friends Geena Fabiono (Malese Jow) and Zack (Jordan Calloway). The television series had had various TV Movies which include: The Perfect Moment which premiered on Nickelodeon on October 6, 2006. The TV Movie centers on Addie trying to tell Jake how she feels about him so she travels to China Town with Geena and Zack to get to the wedding that Jake is at. The second TV Movie premiered on December 16, 2007 The Best Trip Ever centers on Addie's prom and how tries to stop Geena and Zack from becoming a couple, thou Addie's boyfriend Jake is trying to get them together which causes conflicts between the four friends. In 2004 Roberts guest-starred in an episode of another popular Nickelodeon series Drake and Josh, Roberts was in the episode "Honor Council" where she played Addie a judge in a trial to see if Drake should be found guilty of putting his teachers car in the classroom and should be suspended of all school activity's for the year. Because her character on Unfabulous writes songs and plays guitar, Nickelodeon soon considered a career in music for Roberts as well, following the lead of other actress'/pop singers such as Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan. Roberts said that one of the things she enjoys about Unfabulous is: "It's just so much fun. Everyone, like me and the kids and everyone, all get along and we're all really good friends. Also I get to pick out a lot of my own clothes on the show which is really fun. Roberts also said of the show that one of her favorite episodes is: "I do. I really had a lot of fun filming the episode where Addie directs the school play. It kind of turns into a disaster and she gets stressed out. It's just a really funny episode, I liked it a lot. I had fun."
2006-2008: Aquamarine and Nancy Drew
In 2006, Roberts returned to the big screen, starring alongside Sara Paxton and singer JoJo in Aquamarine.Roberts won a 2007 Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Young Actress in a Feature Film for her role in the film. The film Aquamarine took #5 place at the box office on its opening weekend making 8 million. Following Aquamarine, she was scheduled to star in Camp Couture (produced by her mother, Kelly Cunningham) and Bras and Broomsticks (based on the book of the same name by Sarah Mlynowski), but neither film went into full production. In early 2006, Roberts finished shooting her title role in Nancy Drew. The film was released to theaters on June 15, 2007, and grossed over 7 million in its opening weekend, though the film was not well received by critics.
Roberts said of playing the character Nancy Drew: "Yeah, if I make something appeals to me it's kind of challenging, but I mean I read the Nancy Drew script and I loved it. I loved the character, and the whole ideal," also that, "Nancy Drew was created in like the 30s so she's very old. But in the movie her character stays basically the same as she was in book, but they just updated the story kind of around her," and, "Yeah, I love mysteries and I love the whole detective idea and I think it's so fun. " Roberts also related to the character by saying: "Oh I mean we're both ambitious and determined and also very curious but I mean she's much more of a neat freak than I am." On May 15, 2006, Roberts was featured on MTV's Punk'd with pop singer Teddy Geiger. In December 2007 Roberts began filming Hotel For Dogs. In 2008 Roberts had her voiceover debut when she voiced the English version of the character Wilma in the CGI-animated family film The Flight Before Christmas. Roberts starred alongside comedian Norm Macdonald. The film was released direct-to-dvd in the U.S. on October 28, 2008. Roberts said of her role in the film that: "It’s an animated movie, which is great because I’ve never done voice-over work. For this it was just me reading with myself, which is funny because as an actor, I’m used to working with other people. I do the voice for a little, white ferret named Wilma. She’s very sassy and one of the characters that Niko the reindeer meets during his search for his father—he thinks his dad might be one of Santa’s reindeer. It’s a really fun movie, and I actually got to sing in it." Roberts also starred in Spymate as Amelia Muggins, the daughter of the lead character. The film was released in Canada in a thearetical run in 2006 and was later released direct-to-dvd in the US on April 11 2006.
2009-present: Hotel for Dogs and Lymelife
In 2009, Roberts starred alongside Jake T. Austin in Hotel for Dogs, based on the novel by Lois Duncan. The film premiered on January 15, 2009 and was released to theaters on January 16, 2009 and took #5 place in its opening weekend with over 17 million. The film has to-date grossed over 114 million, and received generally mixed reviews from critics. was released on DVD April 28, 2009. Roberts starred as the lead in the movie Wild Child, about a rebellious teen from Malibu sent to a boarding school in England. The movie ended production in late 2007, and was released on August 15, 2008 in the United Kingdom. The movie will be released in the U.S. on May 9, 2009. Emma described her character as “pretty much your typical spoiled-brat Malibu socialite who gets shipped off to British boarding school.” Roberts also described the film and her character as being: It’s about a Malibu princess who isn’t getting along with her dad so well because she behaves pretty badly, so he ships her off to boarding school in England. It’s a very cute story and I am so excited because I get to shoot in London all summer. Roberts also said of the reason why she chose to play Poppy in Wild Child is that: "I love the movies like Mean Girls and Clueless and this really reminded me of that and I’d never really played a character like that before – I always played like the girl next door, so it was cool to get to play someone completely different." Roberts also said: "I'm playing a bad, mean girl who's at a boarding school in England", also that "the character is very sassy and I can sometimes get sassy a little bit." Roberts will also appear in the indie movie Lymelife with Alec Baldwin, which was premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. Roberts said that Lymelife is “kind of like American Beauty meets The Ice Storm,” and that her reasoning for doing the film was that, “Some people look at me and think, She’s just Julia Roberts’s niece. So I wanted to do something smaller and edgier, something that would show I really am an actress.”
Roberts also described her character in Lymelife and said of her, "Adrianna really is your typical girl. I think everyone knew an Adrianna type of girl growing up, and I could relate to her just because I remember being at her age, like fifteen, sixteen, where you're kind of frustrated because you don't know if you want to be older or if you have to act your age, or if you're supposed to act sexy or cute or what. I could definitely relate to that aspect of her. Roberts also said that she chose to do the role because: "I had just finished Hotel for Dogs, and I wanted to do something just completely different. So the script [for Lymelife] kind of just came out of nowhere, and I read it and I really liked it. I met Derick and I really, really liked him. For the most part the cast was set, and I thought the cast they had chosen was brilliant. It was something I really wanted to be a part of; when you want to be a part of something like that, you'll do whatever they want you to do. Roberts also said of the film: "I just really loved the material, and I loved the people that were involved with the script, and I just really wanted to be a part of it. I'm 18 now, so I think that it's appropriate and time to do something more mature." Roberts said in a interview with Vanity Fair that: I’d love to do another role similar to my character in Lymelife, just because it was such a fun character to get to play with. I’d love to do a thriller, and I’d love to do a role like Kate Hudson’s in Almost Famous, because that’s my favorite movie. I just want to keep trying new things. I want to constantly be surprising people with different roles. Roberts has also said that she'd: "Yeah, I’d love to do more. I want to do a movie like The Royal Tenenbaums because I watched it for the millionth time last night and realized how much I love it. I love Gwyneth Paltrow’s character, Margot.
Roberts is set to be reunited with Nancy Drew director Andrew Fleming on both Rodeo Gal and a Nancy Drew sequel, although the latter has been put on hold. She was also selected to play the lead role in James C. Strouse's high school sports comedy The Winning Season, alongside Sam Rockwell and Rob Corddry, which was also shown at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Most of The Winning Season was filmed in New York City, New York. According to IMDb The Winning Season is slated for a 2009 release date. The Winning Season centers on a has-been coach who is given an opportunity to redeem himself as a coach when he is asked to coach his local high school's all-girls basketball team. Roberts plays Abby, a girl on the team. Roberts will star as Molly alongside Chace Crawford and 50 Cent in Twelve. The film began production in New York City on April 20, 2009 and is set to be released in 2010. Roberts is set to play Alice Leeds in the movie adaptation of Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. The book of the same name is about a high school junior named Naomi who hits her head and she can’t remember anything that happened since sixth grade. According to BloodyDisgusting.com Roberts will be starring in the horror film, Grimm, which follows the Quinn family that moves to Marburg, Massachusetts, a town that turns out to be haunted by the most horrific nightmares spawned by the imagination of the Brothers Grimm. Also, it has been announced that Roberts will star in the up-coming film Valentine's Day, where she will play a girl called Janice, and will star alongside, Taylor Swift, Taylor Lautner, Jessica Biel, and Julia Roberts.