There have been quite a few memorable Emma Roberts roles in the 21st century, as she has appeared in many memorable movies and television shows over the course of her career. The star, 33 years old at the time of writing, is the daughter of Oscar nominee Eric Roberts and the niece of Oscar winner Julia Roberts. She herself has won an MTV Movie + TV Award, a Teen Choice Award (out of 10 nominations), and a Young Artist Award (out of 12 nominations).

Roberts’ onscreen acting career began when she was just 10 years old. Although she played preteen and teenage roles for quite some time at the beginning of her career, she has also smoothly transitioned into adult roles. One key genre in this transition was horror, as she started taking on roles as teenagers in various scary movies and television shows, cementing her status as a modern scream queen that helped her find other similar roles as she continued past the teenage stage of her career.

10

The Hunt (2020)

Character: Yoga Pants

Emma Roberts’ role in the The Hunt cast may have been less under the radar had the movie had the opportunity to play out its full theatrical run. Its release in March 2020 was cut short by global theater closures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that it only earned $12.4 million at the box office against its $14 million budget. It has not been reported how its subsequent PVOD premiere at a $19.99 price point did or didn’t bolster its profits. However, despite its complicated financial fate, the movie has a solid 66% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Roberts does not play a major role in The Hunt, but that is what makes her appearance in the movie particularly intriguing. She is one of the first characters to appear onscreen, but she is quickly killed in a shocking twist. This positions her in a role similar to that of Drew Barrymore in Scream or Janet Leigh in Psycho, playing on the audience’s expectations of Emma Roberts potentially being the main star of the horror satire.

9

Aquamarine (2006)

Character: Claire

Aquamarine, which was based on the young adult novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman, had a slightly lukewarm reception when it premiered. At the time of writing, it still has a Rotten score of 52% on the Tomatometer, though audiences are considerably kinder to the movie, giving it 62%. It grossed $23 million at the box office against a budget of $12 million, meaning it likely didn’t break even in theaters given the fact that a movie generally needs to earn back at least twice its budget.

However, Aquamarine holds an important place in Roberts’ early career, as it is essentially her first theatrical feature film lead roles. She had previously starred in the Air Bud Entertainment movie Spymate, but that movie went direct to DVD in the United States despite running theatrical in Canada, more or less making Aquamarine her theatrical debut outside of very small roles in early 2000s movies such as Blow, Grand Champion, and America’s Sweethearts.

8

Hotel for Dogs (2009)

Character: Andi

Hotel for Dogs, another young adult adaptation this time based on a 1971 novel by Lois Duncan, was a bona fide hit unlike Aquamarine. It remains Roberts’ second-highest-grossing movie of all time, having earned $117.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $35 million. However, its critical reception was less strong, as it currently holds a 46% Tomatometer score and a 55% user score.

Despite a lack of Rotten Tomatoes enthusiasm, the movie was proof positive of Roberts’ commercial viability as a young star. Additionally, it afforded her the opportunity to work with some of her most seasoned co-stars yet, as the adult roles in the movie were played by well-known performers including Friends alum Lisa Kudrow, Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle, and Kevin Dillon, who was at the time still starring in the HBO hit Entourage.

7

Unfabulous (2004-2007)

Character: Addie Singer

Unfabulous was a middle school-set Nickelodeon sitcom that was at one point one of the most-watched U.S. shows for the demographic aged between 10 and 16. Although it only lasted for three seasons, it continued to air on the network via reruns for the better part of a decade. It doesn’t have official scores on either Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, but its user rating on IMDb is a solid 6.3 out of 10.

Unfabulous was the show that put Emma Roberts on the map. Her lead role as the relatable and lovable Addie Singer helped propel her to stardom, and she received 13 of the show’s 26 awards nominations, including two Kids’ Choice Awards nods, two Teen Choice Awards nominations, and eight Young Artist Award noms as both a lead actor and a part of the overall ensemble cast.

6

We’re the Millers (2013)

Character: Casey Mathis

We’re the Millers, despite boasting an R-rating (which can sometimes inhibit a movie’s box office performance by limiting its potential audience), was a runaway hit and remains the highest-grossing movie starring Emma Roberts more than a decade after its release. The movie was a smash hit, earning $270 million against a budget of $37 million. This is reflected in the movie’s Rotten Tomatoes audience score, which is a strong 76%, holding strong against the considerably more negative Tomatometer score of 48%.

Outside of her work in the horror genre, We’re the Millers was a major cornerstone of Roberts’ transition away from more wholesome teen roles. The release revealed that the star still had the facility to perform comedy as well as she had in her early roles despite working with much more ribald humor this time around.

5

Nerve (2016)

Character: Vee

Another young adult adaptation (this time based on the 2012 Jeanne Ryan novel of the same name), Nerve became Roberts’ fourth highest-grossing release at the time, and is now her fifth. The summer movie grossed $95.3 million against a budget of $19 million, more than quadrupling its production budget. On top of its theatrical success, it was solidly received by both critics and audiences, earning Fresh scores of 67% and 66% from the respective groups on Rotten Tomatoes.

In Nerve, Roberts brings her years of experience playing similar characters to one of her final teen roles. She and her co-star Dave Franco (another actor with many teen roles under his belt) breathe life into the characters at the center of the thrilling story, which is also elevated by a luminous neon aesthetic guided to the screen by Catfish and Paranormal Activity 3 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman.

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4

Scream Queens (2015-2016)

Character: Chanel Oberlin

After playing a supporting role in American Horror Story, Emma Roberts reunited with co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk on their next show, Scream Queens. Although the cast of the horror-comedy changed drastically between season 1 and season 2 (which was also its final season), she was part of the main cast of both. The show has an average rating of 77% on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score nearly equaling that total, placing it at 76% thanks to a variety of positive user reviews.

Scream Queens gave Roberts a much more prominent role as one of the primary antagonists, the sorority queen bee Chanel Oberlin. The show allowed her an opportunity to show off her range, combining the comedy stylings she showcased in We’re the Millers with her previous experience in the horror genre.

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3

Scream 4 (2011)

Character: Jill Roberts

Scream 4, which was the third sequel to the 1996 smash hit meta horror movie Scream, remains one of Roberts’ highest-grossing movies of all time. Against a budget of $40 million, it earned $97.2 million, outgrossing other 2011 movies like Sucker Punch and The Rite. Although critics and audiences are divided over the movie on Rotten Tomatoes, it earned a Fresh score of 60% on the Tomatometer and birthed one of the franchise’s most beloved characters, Kirby Reed, who triumphantly returned to the fold in 2023’s Scream VI.

Scream 4 provided Emma Roberts with an important opportunity. As one of her first horror projects, it allowed her to showcase her range as a performer in addition to helping her shed her wholesome teen image. The teen slasher movie and Scream franchise legacy sequel gave her a meaty role that would lay the groundwork for Scream Queens​​​​​​​’ Chanel and other iconic Mean Girl characters to come.

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2

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)

Character: Joan

The A24 horror movie The Blackcoat’s Daughter was another under-the-radar release for Roberts. In its theatrical run, it grossed just $38,348, as it only played for two weeks in a maximum of 26 theaters in the United States in addition to having a similarly truncated run overseas. However, the movie is among Roberts’ best-received. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a Certified Fresh Tomatometer score of 75%, marking her second-best score for a movie overall and her highest-ranked Certified title.

The Blackcoat’s Daughter marked a key transition point for Roberts’ career. While the movie is set around a boarding school and has a certain teenage feel given the fact that her co-stars were the young actors Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton, its subtly chilling approach to horror allowed her the opportunity to play a more nuanced character that helped prove she could play more mature roles.

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1

American Horror Story (2011-)

Character: Various

American Horror Story is the horror project that cemented Roberts’ status as a scream queen after her Scream 4 role. She made her debut on the popular show (which has an average 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) as the icy Madison Montgomery in season 3, Coven, followed by appearances in season 4 (Freak Show, as Maggie Esmerelda), season 7 (Cult, as Serena Belinda), season 8 (Apocalypse, reprising her role as Madison Montgomery), season 9 (1984, as Brooke Thompson) and season 12 (Delicate, as Anna Victoria Alcott).

Over the years, the show has offered her roles that fit every age. The characters currently bookending her tenure on the show prove this, as she began with an iconic teenage Mean Girl and most recently played a pregnant Hollywood star who was forced to deal with severe body horror and a complicated decision about how much she was willing to sacrifice in order to maintain her lifestyle.

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