Emmy Rossum already possessed an established presence in both singing and acting by the time her debut album appeared in 2007, when the New York City native was 21. Born on September 12, 1986, as an only child, she was identified by her grade-school choir director as possessing perfect pitch, an assessment that secured her an audition and a five-year stint in Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus. There she performed in multiple operas and shared the stage with Luciano Pavarotti and other leading artists. At age 12 she departed the chorus to concentrate on acting, securing an immediate guest appearance on Law & Order. Subsequent television work included made-for-TV films and a recurring part on the daytime soap As the World Turns. Her first feature-film credit came in Songcatcher, opposite Dolly Parton, with whom she also recorded a duet for the soundtrack. Additional screen roles followed, among them a part in Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River, the lead in The Day After Tomorrow, and a Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of Christine in the film version of The Phantom of the Opera. Rossum entered the studio in 2006 with producers Glen Ballard, Stuart Brawley, and Moby to record a pop album; the resulting Inside Out appeared on Geffen in October 2007. She joined the cast of the Showtime drama series Shameless in 2009. Four years later she released her second album, Sentimental Journey, a collection of standards spanning the 1920s through the 1960s.
