Few actresses have built a resume as consistently acclaimed as Emma Stone’s. She started as an Arizona teenager doing local theater and eventually became a two-time Academy Award winner. Indeed, Stone’s career spans musicals, period dramas, and dark comedies, and her recent work with director Yorgos Lanthimos has made her one of the most decorated actresses of her generation. This guide therefore covers her career milestones, her marriage to Dave McCary, what’s publicly known about their daughter, and the honors that have defined her two decades in Hollywood.
Who Is Emma Stone? (Quick Facts)
Emily Jean “Emma” Stone is an American actress and film producer born on November 6, 1988, in Scottsdale, Arizona. She has built a career spanning comedy, drama, and musical film, and her accolades include two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Volpi Cup.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full/Birth Name | Emily Jean Stone |
| Born | November 6, 1988, Scottsdale, Arizona |
| Occupation | Actress, film producer |
| Years Active | 2004–present |
| Spouse | Dave McCary (married 2020) |
| Child | One daughter, born March 2021 |
| Production Company | Fruit Tree (co-founded 2020) |
| Major Awards | 2 Academy Awards, 2 BAFTAs, 2 Golden Globes, 1 Volpi Cup |
Early Life and Background
Stone grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, the daughter of Jeffrey Charles Stone, founder of a general-contracting company, and Krista Jean Stone, a homemaker. She also has a younger brother, Spencer. In addition, she lived on the grounds of the Camelback Inn resort in Scottsdale from ages 12 to 15.
Stone made her first stage appearance at age 11 with the Valley Youth Theatre in Phoenix. She quickly developed a serious interest in pursuing acting professionally. As a young teenager, she reportedly put together a PowerPoint presentation for her parents set to Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” to make the case for moving to Los Angeles. The plan worked: she and her mother relocated to LA so she could pursue auditions full time.
Meanwhile, her television debut came in the 2004 reality series In Search of the New Partridge Family. She also had a recurring role on the short-lived series Drive before transitioning into film.
Why “Emma” Instead of “Emily”?
Fans frequently search for Stone’s real name because her billed name differs from her birth name. She was born Emily Jean Stone. However, when she went to register with the Screen Actors Guild, she found another performer already credited as “Emily Stone.” As a result, she adopted “Emma” as her professional name instead the name she has used throughout her entire film career.
Her Distinctive Voice
One frequently searched trivia point about Stone is her notably low, raspy speaking voice. She has said in interviews that she had colic as an infant, causing prolonged crying as a baby, which is widely cited as a contributing factor to her distinctive vocal tone.
Emma Stone’s Career and Rise to Fame
Breakout Roles (2007–2010)
Stone made her feature film debut in Judd Apatow’s teen comedy Superbad (2007) opposite Jonah Hill and Michael Cera. For the role, she dyed her naturally blonde hair red. The look became her signature for years afterward. The film was a box-office hit and put her on Hollywood’s radar.
She followed it with a string of comedic roles that built her profile quickly: The Rocker and The House Bunny (both 2008), then Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, the horror-comedy Zombieland, and the indie drama Paper Man (all 2009). Even so, critics singled out her performance in Paper Man despite the film’s poor box-office showing. Then, in 2010, she voiced a role in Marmaduke and landed her first true leading role in Easy A. In it, she played a high schooler whose reputation spirals after a rumor gets out of hand. The film grossed roughly $75 million worldwide and earned Stone a Golden Globe nomination, establishing her as a bankable lead.
Blockbuster and Prestige Work (2011–2015)
The years that followed saw her balance blockbuster and prestige work. First, she appeared in the ensemble comedies Crazy, Stupid, Love and Friends with Benefits (both 2011). Then she took a more dramatic turn in The Help (2011), playing aspiring writer Skeeter Phelan in the Oscar-winning ensemble drama. Next, in 2012, she stepped into the superhero genre as Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man opposite Andrew Garfield, later reprising the role in the 2014 sequel. Around the same period, she also starred in Gangster Squad (2013), voiced a role in the animated The Croods (2013), and appeared in two Woody Allen films, Magic in the Moonlight (2014) and Irrational Man (2015).
First Oscar Nomination and Broadway Debut (2014)
Stone earned her first Academy Award nomination (Best Supporting Actress) for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014). She played the recovering-addict daughter of a washed-up actor played by Michael Keaton. That same year, she made her Broadway debut, starring as Sally Bowles in a revival of Cabaret.
La La Land and First Oscar Win (2016–2017)
Her biggest commercial and critical breakthrough came with La La Land (2016), the musical romance opposite Ryan Gosling. The film won her the Academy Award for Best Actress along with a Golden Globe. She followed it with a well-reviewed dramatic turn as tennis player Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes (2017).
The Yorgos Lanthimos Collaborations (2018–2025)
Stone’s most decorated creative period, however, has come through her ongoing collaboration with Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. Their partnership began with the period drama The Favourite (2018), in which Stone starred alongside Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz. For that role, she earned another Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actress. She has since called Lanthimos her creative “muse.”
Afterward, the two reunited on the surreal dark comedy Poor Things (2023). In it, Stone played Bella Baxter, a Victorian-era woman revived with the brain of her unborn child a role she has described as deceptively simple despite its complexity. As a result, the performance won her a second Golden Globe and her second Academy Award for Best Actress, and the film took home four Oscars overall.
Since then, Stone and Lanthimos have worked together four times in total, also including the anthology film Kinds of Kindness (2024) and the dark comedy thriller Bugonia (2025). In Bugonia, she played a pharmaceutical company CEO abducted by a conspiracy-obsessed captor (Jesse Plemons) who believes she is an alien in disguise. Consequently, her performance earned her a further Best Actress Oscar nomination at the 2026 ceremony, along with a Best Picture nomination in her capacity as a producer on the film. That made her the first woman in Oscar history to earn nominations for both acting and producing on the same film twice, having previously achieved the feat with Poor Things. It also made her, at 37, the second-youngest person and youngest woman ever to reach seven Oscar nominations, trailing only Walt Disney, who hit that mark at 34.
Other Notable Work
Beyond her Lanthimos collaborations, Stone also reprised her Zombieland role in the sequel Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) and starred in the Netflix miniseries Maniac (2018). In addition, she took the title role in Disney’s Cruella (2021), a villain-origin story that earned her another Golden Globe nomination. Through Fruit Tree, she further produced and starred in When You Finish Saving the World (2022), and she appeared in Ari Aster’s Eddington prior to Bugonia‘s release.
Recent and Upcoming Projects
Stone continues to split her time between acting and producing through Fruit Tree, the production company she co-founded with her husband in 2020. As of early 2026, she remains active on the awards circuit following Bugonia‘s multiple Oscar and BAFTA nominations.
Emma Stone’s Husband: Who Is Dave McCary?
McCary’s Background
Stone is married to Dave McCary, an American comedian, writer, director, and producer born on July 2, 1985, in San Diego, California. McCary graduated from Monroe High School in Monroe, Wisconsin, in 2003. Before working in television, however, he co-founded the sketch comedy group Good Neighbor alongside college friends Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, and Nick Rutherford. The group built a substantial following on YouTube before its members moved into mainstream television and film.
Afterward, McCary worked as a segment director and writer for Saturday Night Live from 2013 to 2018. During that time, he earned three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series (2016, 2017, and 2018) and won several Writers Guild of America awards for his work on the show. He also directed the first two seasons of the web series Epic Rap Battles of History.
How They Met and Their Relationship Timeline
Stone and McCary met in 2016 when she hosted SNL. Then, a source confirmed to People in October 2017 that the two had been dating for approximately three months, making their relationship public. Afterward, they made their first award-show appearance as a couple at the 2019 SAG Awards. Finally, McCary announced their engagement on Instagram in December 2019, after roughly three years together.
Marriage and Fruit Tree
The COVID-19 pandemic reportedly disrupted the couple’s original wedding plans. Even so, they ultimately married in a small, private ceremony on September 26, 2020. An anonymous source confirmed the news to People, since the couple didn’t announce it themselves consistent with how private they’ve remained throughout the relationship. That same year, they also co-founded the production company Fruit Tree, giving them a shared creative outlet beyond acting and directing individually. Later, Stone revealed she had a black eye on her wedding day after an incident with a refrigerator door handle.
Since marrying, the two have made only occasional joint public appearances, largely limited to major awards shows such as the Oscars, Golden Globes, and Vanity Fair’s annual Oscar party. For example, Stone wore a low-key version of her wedding dress to the 2022 Met Gala one of the rare instances she has referenced the marriage through a public style moment.
Emma Stone’s Child
Pregnancy and Birth
Pregnancy rumors first surfaced in January 2021 after photos circulated of Stone with a visible baby bump while out on a walk in Los Angeles. A source told E! News at the time that she was “pregnant and just loves married life.” Two months later, Stone and McCary welcomed their daughter, Louise Jean McCary, on March 13, 2021. According to reporting from Vanity Fair, Louise was named after Stone’s grandmother, Jean Louise.
Shortly after the birth, a source close to Stone told People that she was “thrilled to be a mom.” The source added that Stone and McCary “have a great marriage and both wanted a child,” and that the couple were “very grounded and private” and “ready for a family.” The same source also noted that Stone is “close to her family and good friends but not the type to flaunt her personal life,” and that McCary “respects that.”
How Private Stone Keeps Her Daughter
Consistent with that approach, Stone has shared only limited details about her daughter publicly. Her most notable public mention came during her 2024 Best Actress acceptance speech for Poor Things. There, she thanked her mother, brother Spencer, father, and husband, then turned to her daughter: “And most importantly, my daughter, who’s going to be three in three days and has turned our lives technicolor. I love you bigger than the whole sky, my girl” a nod to the title of a Taylor Swift song.
Stone has spoken about motherhood in general terms in interviews. Even so, she has consistently avoided sharing photos or day-to-day details about her daughter with the media. This is a deliberate choice that reflects the couple’s broader preference for keeping their family life away from the spotlight; in fact, McCary has even taken down his personal Instagram account. Out of respect for that stated preference, this article does not go beyond what Stone and her family have chosen to share publicly, and it does not include speculative details, images, or claims about their daughter.
Awards and Recognition
Her Full Trophy Case
Stone’s trophy case includes:
- Two Academy Awards for Best Actress — La La Land (2016) and Poor Things (2023)
- Five additional Oscar nominations — Best Supporting Actress for Birdman (2014) and The Favourite (2018), and Best Actress plus a producing Best Picture nomination for Bugonia (2025)
- Two BAFTA Awards and two Golden Globe Awards
- A Volpi Cup for Best Actress, awarded at the Venice Film Festival
Record-Setting Nominations
As of the 2026 awards season, Stone has seven total Academy Award nominations across acting and producing. As a result, that milestone made her, at 37, the second-youngest person and the youngest woman in Oscar history to reach that number, behind only Walt Disney. In addition, she joins a small group of performers who have earned dual nominations for acting and producing on the same film twice first with Poor Things and now with Bugonia. Frances McDormand first achieved that feat with Nomadland (2021).
Meanwhile, in 2017, outlets reported Stone as the world’s highest-paid actress, and Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Fun Facts About Emma Stone
- She has described herself as a feminist and, in interviews, has spoken about being drawn to complex, unconventional female characters a throughline across her collaborations with Lanthimos.
- For instance, at a 2024 Cannes press conference for Kinds of Kindness, when a reporter suggested she was Lanthimos’s muse, Stone flipped the framing, joking, “He’s my muse.”
- Her signature red hair, first seen in Superbad, was a styling choice suggested by director Judd Apatow. In reality, Stone is naturally blonde and has gone back and forth between the two looks throughout her career, including returning to blonde for her Gwen Stacy role in the Amazing Spider-Man films.
- She also made her Broadway debut in 2014, playing Sally Bowles in a revival of Cabaret.
- Additionally, she co-runs Fruit Tree, the production company she founded with McCary, giving her creative control on the production side of projects she stars in not just the acting side. Fruit Tree’s credits include When You Finish Saving the World (2022) and producing duties on Poor Things and Bugonia.
- Despite starring in it, Stone has said in interviews that she has never fully watched Easy A, the film that made her a leading lady. In fact, she has said she walked out partway through a friends-and-family screening.
Frequently Asked Questions
Emma Stone was born on November 6, 1988, making her 37 years old as of 2026.
Yes. She married comedian and director Dave McCary in September 2020. The two met on the set of Saturday Night Live in 2016.
Yes, Stone and McCary have one daughter, born in March 2021. The couple has kept most details about their child private.
Her birth name is Emily Jean Stone. She goes by “Emma” professionally.
Two both for Best Actress, for La La Land (2016) and Poor Things (2023). She has additional nominations, including for Bugonia (2025).
They met in 2016 when Stone hosted Saturday Night Live; McCary was a segment director and writer on the show at the time. Their relationship was confirmed publicly about a year later, in late 2017.
Stone and McCary’s daughter, Louise Jean McCary, was born in March 2021. She was reportedly named after Stone’s grandmother, Jean Louise. Beyond her name and birth date, the couple has kept most details about her private.
