Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#783
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Emma Roberts works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Emma Roberts appears in 33 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Emma. About Fate is the clearest case: a film rated 7.5 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, fantasy, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with SJ Clarkson, Liz W. Garcia, Michael Jacobs and others, Emma Roberts helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
About Fate (2022) as Margot Hayes · Blow (2001) as Young Kristina Jung · Holidate (2020) as Sloane
Career snapshot
Ranked #783 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
33
2001–2024
Career length
23 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.5
About Fate
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.5
About Fate
Most frequent director
SJ Clarkson
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With SJ Clarkson
Most common genre
Comedy
18 titles
Average runtime
1h 43m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.8
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.4
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2000s
6.4 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Hotel for Dogs, The Winning Season, Lymelife — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.4
Across 8 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.4
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Hotel for Dogs, The Winning Season, Lymelife.
Most productive era
2010s
18 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.64 films | 6.19 films | 5.51 film |
| Action | — | 5.53 films | 6.02 films |
| Thriller | — | 5.73 films | 6.32 films |
| Comedy | 6.27 films | 6.47 films | 6.44 films |
| Crime | 6.82 films | 6.34 films | — |
| Romance | 6.33 films | 6.37 films | 6.73 films |
| Horror | — | 6.22 films | 6.32 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Girl in Purple T-shirt (uncredited).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2022About Fate
7.5 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2024Space Cadet
The current state of the argument, as Rex Simpson.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
33 of 33 films
as Margot Hayes
Directed by Unknown
as Sloane
Directed by John Whitesell
as Vee Delmonico
Directed by Henry Joost
as Poppy Moore
Directed by Unknown
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Margot Hayes
About Fate (2022)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Margot Hayes gives Emma Roberts a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Sloane
Holidate (2020)
Performance score7.6
Holidate asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sloane is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Vee Delmonico
Nerve (2016)
Performance score7.6
Nerve asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vee Delmonico is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Noelle
It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)
Performance score7.4
It's Kind of a Funny Story asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Noelle is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Margot Hayes
Start here. About Fate is the clearest statement of what Emma Roberts does — accessible, 99 minutes, and rated 7.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Emma at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Wild Child (2008)
Same director as About Fate, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)
Keeps the romance register of Wild Child but asks for a colder reading of it.
Nerve (2016)
A deliberate change of key after It's Kind of a Funny Story — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Holidate (2020)
A deliberate change of key after Nerve — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Ted Demme
Director
1 film together
Notably Blow
Joe Roth
Director
1 film together
Notably America's Sweethearts
Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
Director
1 film together
Notably Aquamarine
Andrew Fleming
Director
1 film together
Notably Nancy Drew
Thor Freudenthal
Director
1 film together
Notably Hotel for Dogs
Mark Davis
Director
1 film together
Notably 4.3.2.1
Joel Schumacher
Director
1 film together
Notably Twelve
Ryan Fleck
Director
1 film together
Notably It's Kind of a Funny Story
Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Valentine's Day
Wes Craven
Director
1 film together
Notably Scream 4
Lee Toland Krieger
Director
1 film together
Notably Celeste & Jesse Forever
Scott Coffey
Director
1 film together
Notably Adult World
Tony McNamara
Director
1 film together
Notably Ashby
Henry Joost
Director
1 film together
Notably Nerve
Osgood Perkins
Director
1 film together
Notably The Blackcoat's Daughter
Donald Petrie
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Italy
John Whitesell
Director
1 film together
Notably Holidate
Craig Zobel
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hunt
Michael Jacobs
Director
1 film together
Notably Maybe I Do
Liz W. Garcia
Director
1 film together
Notably Space Cadet
SJ Clarkson
Director
1 film together
Notably Madame Web
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Ted Demme
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BlowJohn Whitesell
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HolidateHenry Joost
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NerveRyan Fleck
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
It's Kind of a Funny StoryCraig Zobel
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The HuntDonald Petrie
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little ItalyWes Craven
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scream 4Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AquamarineLee Toland Krieger
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Celeste & Jesse ForeverTony McNamara
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AshbyThor Freudenthal
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hotel for DogsAndrew Fleming
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nancy DrewScott Coffey
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Adult WorldOsgood Perkins
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Blackcoat's DaughterGarry Marshall
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Valentine's DayJoel Schumacher
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TwelveJoe Roth
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
America's SweetheartsLiz W. Garcia
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Space CadetMichael Jacobs
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Maybe I DoMark Davis
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
4.3.2.1SJ Clarkson
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Madame WebSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Blow
as Young Kristina Jung
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Art of Getting By
as Sally Howe
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Blow
as Young Kristina Jung
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
America's Sweethearts
as Girl in Purple T-shirt (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
About Fate
as Margot Hayes
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Emma Roberts has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
23 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
18 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Nerve
as Vee Delmonico
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Nerve
as Vee Delmonico
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Art of Getting By
as Sally Howe
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Nerve
as Vee Delmonico
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Hunt
as Yoga Pants
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Hunt
as Yoga Pants
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Aquamarine
as Claire Brown
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Blow
as Young Kristina Jung
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
Which Emma Roberts performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
Join the conversation
Reference
Continue exploring
Trending performers
Directors they work with
Collections to read next
