Emma Roberts Is A Fierce, Tireless Young Talent And We Should All Bow Down

24-year-old Emma Roberts seems to be popping up everywhere lately. Between her strong indie presence in festival hits like Palo Alto, Justin Kelly’s melodramatic biopic I Am Michael, upcoming rom-com Ashby, and her soon-to-premiere horror comedy series Scream Queens, the actress is not only wittily avoiding typecasting, but stealthily building a solid career foundation.

You could argue her work ethic is innate. Roberts’ father, Eric Roberts, a prolific character actor, will have appeared in over sixty — yes, sixty — projects in 2015 alone. Her aunt, Julia Roberts, meanwhile, has made at least one movie almost every year since 1987. Though she’s cut from the same Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning cloth, Emma Roberts has made a point to shed her child-star skin (remember Unfabulous, anyone?) and carve out her own career path by not sticking to one particular genre and by taking on tough female characters who are not to be reckoned with.

Premiering this Tuesday on FOX is Scream Queens, Ryan Murphy’s latest camp horror endeavor following the sorority sisters of Kappa House at the fictional Wallace University. At the orders of the anti-Kappa campus overlord Dean Cathy Munsch (played by original scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis), the elitist sorority is forced to open its doors to everyone this semester, not just those with trust funds. The news sends sorority leader Chanel Oberlin (Roberts) into a turbulent hissy fit. Lo and behold, however, a masked killer named Red Devil is out for anyone associated with Kappa and begins to pick off pledges one by one, seeking revenge for a hazing gone wrong twenty years ago.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FtenR69qmk]

To say Roberts excels in the role of the queen-bee bitch in Scream Queens is a gross understatement. She’s enthralling, yet off-putting; captivating but, at times, frightening. And, like any memorable bitch in the history of bitches, you really want her approval. Bring in the mini-Chanels of Kappa (played by Abigail Breslin, Billie Lourde, and Ariana Grande), whose current college curricular revolves around finding ways to please Miss Oberlin, who’s the embodiment of the anti-Elle Woods.

Though Roberts has poignantly enacted the role of introvert in the past as Noelle in mental health dramedy It’s Kind of a Funny Story, as April in Gia Coppola’s debut Palo Alto, and as vulnerable Amy in Adult World, the actress completely comes out of her shell and forces us audiences members to pay attention when cast as the not-to-be-trusted femme fatale, which we got a taste of in Murphy’s American Horror Story: Coven and Freak Show. Roberts ability to weave in and out of indie film, big-budget comedies (We’re the Millers wasn’t that bad, you guys), and Ryan Murphy-led anthology series has given her a unique edge in a large pool of Hollywood’s emerging talent. What sets Roberts even further apart from her contemporaries, however, is her ability to believably portray both the demure girl next door and the unnerving villain. Given her eclectic track record, it’s tough to determine where we’ll see the tireless talent after Scream Queens and Nerve (out next year), but regardless of which direction she takes, we’ll definitely be watching.

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Photos: FOX/Everett Collection