September 12: actress and singer-songwriter Emmy Rossum is 27-years-old today.

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Emmanuelle Grey "Emmy" Rossum was born in New York City in 1986. At the age of seven, after she sang "Happy Birthday" in all twelve keys, Rossum was invited to join the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus.

For five years she sang onstage with the chorus and had the chance to perform with other opera greats, such as Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. For anywhere from $5 to $10 a night, Rossum sang in six different languages in 20 different operas, including La bohème, Turandot, a Carnegie Hall presentation of La damnation de Faust, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. She also worked under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli in Carmen.

By age twelve, Rossum had grown too big for children's costumes. An increasing interest in a possible acting career led to her taking classes at The New Actors Workshop in New York City.

Rossum's television debut was in 1997, making a guest appearance on Law & Order. In 1999, she had a recurring role as the original Abigail Williams in the long-running daytime soap opera As the World Turns, and a guest role in Snoops.

Rossum was nominated for a Young Artist Award nomination in 1999 for Best Performance in a TV Movie for her work in the movie, Genius. In 2002, she portrayed a young Audrey Hepburn in the ABC TV movie, The Audrey Hepburn Story.

Rossum made her "big screen" debut in 2000's Songcatcher as Deladis Slocumb, an Appalachian orphan. For her role, Rossum received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance and also sang a duet with Dolly Parton on the Songcatcher soundtrack. Variety magazine named Rossum as "One of the Ten to Watch" in 2000.

In Nola, Rossum played the title character, who was an aspiring songwriter. In her first major studio film, Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, Rossum starred as Katie Markum, the ill-fated daughter of Jimmy Markum, played by Sean Penn. Following Mystic River, Rossum had a breakthrough role as Laura Chapman in the eco-disaster film The Day After Tomorrow.

She then returned to New York, where she was the last to audition, in full costume and make-up, for the coveted role of Christine Daae in the on-screen adaptation of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. For her role in Phantom, Rossum received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a musical or comedy.

Emmy was the youngest actress ever to be nominated for that award. She also received a Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Actress, along with a Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor and other awards.

After other TV and film roles, In December 2009, Rossum joined the cast of the Showtime dramedy series pilot Shameless, as oldest child Fiona Gallagher. In 2012, in addition to filming the third season of Shameless, Rossum signed onto two film projects. The first was a supporting role in Beautiful Creatures, released in 2013, and based on the Young Adult novel of the same name. The second was a lead in the drama You're Not You, opposite Hilary Swank.  

As for her music career, after The Phantom of the Opera, Rossum was offered several deals to record classical albums, but refused, opting to create an album of contemporary, more mainstream music. Rossum's first album Inside Out was released on October 23, 2007 and peaked at 199 in the U.S. charts. Later that year, she was chosen as Yahoo's "Who's Next" artist of the month and a "One to Watch" by MSN.

In December 2007, Rossum released three Christmas songs on the EP Carol of the Bells. In 2010, Rossum sang a song called "Cruel One" on singer Alex Band's debut solo album We've All Been There. On the track she sings with Band, and Chantal Kreviazuk.

In November 2012, Rossum announced that her second album would be released on Warner Bros. Records. Sentimental Journey was released on January 29, 2013. Unlike Inside Out on which Rossum wrote the songs herself, Sentimental Journey is a collection of covers of classic songs that span the ‘20s to the ‘60s.

Rossum designed the album as a musical calendar that takes the listener through an emotional journey over all the months of a year. “Each song needed to either lyrically or emotionally reflect the corresponding month.”

Rossum describes herself as a lyric soprano, though she admits her voice is still developing.She continues to train vocally at ZajacStudio, Inc.

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For more about Emmy, visit her Website at - http://www.emmyrossum.com/

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