Emma Stone could win her second Academy Award on Sunday night. She's nominated for best actress in a supporting role for her work in "The Favourite." But Stone, who won her first Oscar for in 2017 for her performance in "La La Land," hasn't always been in the spotlight.
Before her breakout role in the 2007 comedy "Superbad," Stone was a high school dropout struggling to land acting gigs in Los Angeles.
In ninth grade, she presented a PowerPoint to her parents detailing why they should let her leave school to pursue an acting career in L.A. Her pitch, which she titled "Project Hollywood," worked.
"It's nuts that they agreed to it," Stone told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017. "I don't condone it. Everybody should go through high school and graduate."
She and her mom moved from Scottsdale, Arizona, to an apartment complex just south of Hollywood. The move was meant to be temporary. "Like, 'We're going to be there through pilot season, not forever.' I auditioned for three months pretty steadily, got absolutely nothing," she told Rolling Stone in 2016.
Acting wasn't paying the bills, but the teen wasn't ready to call it quits and needed a reason to stay in L.A. She took a side job at a dog-biscuit bakery, "because I was, like, 'Now I'm working, see? I'm not getting auditions, but I gotta stay here,'" she told Rolling Stone.
Several years later, Stone caught her first real break as Jonah Hill's love interest in "Superbad."
Today, the 30-year old Hollywood star is also one of the highest-earning. In 2017, she was named the world's highest-paid actress after earning $26 million before taxes.
Her best career advice for big dreamers? Don't give up when you encounter obstacles.
"If you're going through hell, keep going," Stone told ABC, citing a Winston Churchill quote. "Just keep going."
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