EMMA ROBERTS (Photo: Emma Roberts and Chay Tower in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" - 1999)
Emma Roberts is an only child and was home schooled by her parents in Ashby, MA. Her parents were able to complement her traditional studies with extensive reading, visits to museums and other field trips and the flexibility of home schooling was well suited to her involvement in theatre at an early age. At the age of six Emma had her first taste of theatre when she was cast in the title role of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at the Fitchburg Public Library.
In 1986 Emma made her Theater at the Mount debut in Babes in Toyland and she and her Mom, Peggy, both became “regulars” onstage and backstage at TAM for several years. During this time Emma appeared in Velveteen Rabbit, Anne of Green Gables, and Big River and played Patty in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown and Laurie in Brighton Beach Memoirs.
A seasoned performer at only age 15, Emma enrolled at MWCC, taking almost all of the available theatre classes. After only a year at the college, Emma auditioned ...she was the youngest actor
ever to have been accepted at
the American Repertory Theatre
(A.R.T.) Institute in Cambridgefor her second Brighton Beach Memoirs, this time with the
professional Worcester Foothills Theatre. She was once again cast as Laurie,
stopped going to school and moved away from home to live in company housing.
Her professional career was launched.
From 1992 to 1995 Emma performed throughout New England at several regional professional theatres. Some of her credits include The Diary of Anne Frank at Seacoast Repertory Theatre, Miranda in The Tempest at The Theatre at Monmouth in Maine and the coveted role of Juliet (a role she has now played 3 times) in Romeo and Juliet at the Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard.
Her newfound love of Shakespeare convinced her to seek formal theatre training and at age 17 she was the youngest actor ever to have been accepted at the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) Institute in Cambridge. Recognized by the teaching staff as “a natural born ingénue,” Emma was invited to join A.R.T.’s professional company upon graduation. There she appeared in The Wild Duck, In the Jungle of Cities and Peter Pan and Wendy. She also shared the ART stage with Claire Bloom in Long Day’s Journey into Night and toured Singapore in Nobody Dies of Friday.
In 1999 Emma made New York City her home base and continued to work steadily in summer stock and regional theatres. She starred in an independent film called The Prom Queen, appeared in BBC’s The Handmaid’s Tale and in Last Night of Ballyhoo at Theatre of Virginia and performed one of her favorite roles, Laura, in The Glass Menagerie at Pittsburgh Public Theatre.
At the urging of her manager and agent, Emma moved to Los Angeles in 2001 to pursue projects in television and film. As fate would have it, she arrived in LA the day before September 11 and found the entertainment industry in upheaval, resulting in a “dry period” in her career. She did manage to land 2 “plum” roles during this time, appearing in The Countess at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and with Marsha Mason in The Cherry Orchard at the Santa Fe Stage.
Emma has recently re-located back to New York where she is trying to re-establish her career in the Broadway arena, auditioning for films, commercials and the legitimate theatre. In between auditions, she makes frequent trips home to Ashby to provide support to her Mom, Peggy, who is battling cancer. Emma says that “there is nothing like the high of a good rehearsal or performance. If I continue to love what I’m doing, and have days when I go to work happier to be doing that than anything else, I’ll consider myself pretty content.” For this “natural born ingénue” the future is limitless.