Teenage girl is left brain-damaged and blind after smoking synthetic marijuana she bought in a gas station and suffering series of strokes

A teenage girl has narrowly avoided death after smoking 'synthetic marijuana' that she bought from a gas station and suffering a series of strokes.

Seventeen-year-old Emily Bauer, from Cypress, Texas, has been left with brain damage, paralysis and is unable to see after taking the synthetic weed with friends last December.

Her family is now hoping to raise awareness of the dangers of the substance, which is often labelled as 'potpourri', while campaigners battle for stricter laws to make it illegal across the country.

Fake weed, which is also known as 'Spice' or 'K2', is an herbal mixture doused with chemicals that trigger a high similar to smoking marijuana, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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Former life: Seventeen-year-old Emily Bauer started experiencing severe migraines in December, after smoking a synthetic weed she had bought from a gas station

It is often sold as incense or potpourri, and is advertised as a legal alternative to weed. While many states have outlawed it, manufacturers have responded by slightly changing the compound so that it can return to shelves.

Emily smoked the drug last December with friends and within 15 minutes, she told her boyfriend she was suffering from a migraine and needed to lay down.

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She suffered a series of strokes which left her in a psychotic-like state, during which she urinated on herself, ran into walls, hallucinated and acted violently, her sister told CNN's iReport.

The police were called to help restrain her into an ambulance, and she was taken to Northwest Cypress Hospital, where she bit guardrails and attempted to bite medical staff.
 

Struck down: The drug caused her blood vessels to constrict and she suffered a series of strokes

Frightening: Her family decided to take out her breathing tube - yet the teenager fought for life

'We thought once she comes down off the drug, we'd take her home and show her the dangers of this drug,' her older sister, Blake, said.

'We didn't think it was as big of a deal until 24 hours later she was still violent and hurting herself. We realized you're not supposed to stay high this long.'

She was put into an induced coma as doctors carried out tests on her brain.

Doctors soon found Emily's strokes had caused severe vasculitis, meaning contracting blood vessels had constricted the flow of blood and cut off oxygen to her brain.

'In four days' time, we went from thinking everything is going to be OK and we'll put her in drug rehabilitation to now you don't know if she's going to make it,' stepfather Tommy Bryant told CNN.

Danger: Emily bought the legal 'fake weed' Klimax potpourri by Kush, above, from a gas station

Different life: Emily is now blind and largely paralysed but continues to make small improvements

THE 'LEGAL' THREAT ON SALE IN OUR STORES: WHAT IS FAKE WEED?

Synthetic marijuana, which is known as 'Spice' or 'K2', is an herbal mixture sprayed with chemicals that create a high similar to smoking marijuana, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Advertised as a 'legal' alternative to weed, it's often sold as incense or potpourri. When many states outlawed the drug, manufacturers slightly changed the compound so they were no longer illegal.

It was linked to 11,406 drug-related emergency department visits in 2010, a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found. Most were aged 12 to 17.

The first state laws banning synthetic drugs were established in 2010. Now at least 41 states have banned them, but that has not deterred the manufacturers.

'These drug manufacturers slightly change the chemical compound, and it becomes a different substance that's not covered by the law,' said NCSL policy specialist Alison Lawrence.
 

Common side effects from smoking synthetic marijuana include bloodshot eyes, disturbed perceptions, a change in mood, paranoia, raised blood pressure or hallucinations.

Doctors soon found Emily's blood vessels were expanding again and while the family saw it as a sign of improvement, pressure on the teenager's brain grew rapidly - and dangerously.

Surgeons had to drill a hole in her skull and insert a tube to relieve pressure. But her brain was still affected.

'We met with Neurology team who showed us Emily's brain images,' her mother, Tonya Bauer, said. 'They told us that all white areas on images were dead. It looked to us at least 70 per cent of the images were white.'

Doctors said Emily would not be able to recognise her family and would never be able to use her arms or legs again.

With this heart-breaking news, Emily's parents made the tough decision to take out her breathing tube and stopped all nourishment on December 16 - but she continued to fight.

As her mother went to her room one morning, she said, 'Good morning, I love you' and was stunned to hear a hoarse voice saying: 'I love you too.'

'Even though she couldn't move, is blind, and could hardly be aware of what was going on around her, she laughed with us as we made jokes and listened to her soft whisper replies,' Blake said.

'It is my little sister shining through, in every way she can manage, with every ounce of strength.'

Struggle: Emily, pictured hooked up to an ECG, has started eating solid food again in an encouraging sign

New world: Emily is believed to have smoked the fake weed with friends after buying it from a gas station

Emily knows where she is and recognises her family, but every day is still shrouded in confusion.

The family does not know how much control she will recover, but she is already moving her arms and legs, and two weeks ago she started eating solid food again.

Emily's parents have started a nonprofit organization called Synthetic Awareness For Emily to educate teenagers and parents about the dangers of synthetic marijuana use.

'Ee want to let kids and parents know about the warnings signs: migraines and withdrawal,' Bryant said. 'We all know the warning signs of alcohol and cocaine, but with this synthetic weed stuff, it's so new that nobody knows about this stuff. We want to let other parents know about this so they don't have to go what we've been going through.'
 

Lack of awareness: Emily's family said they had no idea how dangerous the fake marijuana could be and are now spreading awareness to educate other teenagers and students

Bryant said he knew Emily used real marijuana occasionally, and told her she would be grounded if he ever caught her smoking.

'Had I thought that there was any chance that she could have been hurt by this stuff, I would have been a lot more vigilant. I had no idea it was so bad,' Bryant told CNN.

'I'd never have thought we'd be in this situation. If she had bought it off the street or from a corner, that's one thing, but she bought it from convenience store.'

For more information about the family's nonprofit organization, Synthetic Awareness For Emily (SAFE), visit their Facebook page.

Scientist accused of playing God after creating artificial life by making designer microbe from scratch - but could it wipe out humanity?

Scientists today lined up to air their fears over a genome pioneer's claims that he has created artificial life in the laboratory.

In a world first, which has alarmed many, maverick biologist and billionaire entrepreneur Craig Venter, built a synthetic cell from scratch. 

The creation of the new life form, which has been nicknamed 'Synthia', paves the way for customised bugs that could revolutionise healthcare and fuel production, according to its maker.

But there are fears that the research, detailed in the journal Science, could be abused to create the ultimate biological weapon, or that one mistake in a lab could lead to millions being wiped out by a plague, in scenes reminiscent of the Will Smith film I Am Legend.

While some hailed the research as 'a defining moment in the history of biology', others attacked it as 'a shot in the dark', with 'unparalleled risks'. The team involved have been accused of 'playing God' and tampering 'with the essence of life'.

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Dr Venter created the lifeform by synthesising a DNA code and injecting it into a single bacteria cell. The cell containing the man-made DNA then grew and divided, creating a hitherto unseen lifeform.

Kenneth Oye, a social scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S., said: 'Right now, we are shooting in the dark as to what the long-term benefits and long-term risks will be.'

Pat Mooney, of the ETC group, a technology watchdog with a special interest in synthetic biology, said: 'This is a Pandora's box moment - like the splitting of the atom or the cloning of Dolly the sheep, we will all have to deal with the fall-out from this alarming experiment.' 

Dr David King, of the Human Genetics Alert watchdog, said: 'What is really dangerous is these scientists' ambitions for total and unrestrained control over nature, which many people describe as 'playing God'. 

'Scientists' understanding of biology falls far short of their technical capabilities. We have learned to our cost the risks that gap brings, for the environment, animal welfare and human health.' 

Professor Julian Savulescu, an Oxford University ethicist, said: 'Venter is creaking open the most profound door in humanity's history, potentially peeking into its destiny. 

'He is not merely copying life artificially or modifying it by genetic engineering. He is going towards the role of God: Creating artificial life that could never have existed.' 

He said the creation of the first designer bug was a step towards 'the creation of living beings with capacities and a nature that could never have naturally evolved'. The risks were 'unparalleled',' he added. 

And he warned: 'This could be used in the future to make the most powerful bioweapons imaginable. The challenge is to eat the fruit without the worm.' 

Dr Venter, who was instrumental in sequencing the human genome, had previously succeeded in transplanting one bug's genome - its entire cache of DNA - into another bacterium, effectively changing its species. 

He has taken this one step further, transplanting not a natural genome but a man-made one. To do this, he read the DNA of Mycoplasma mycoides, a bug that infects goats, and recreated it piece by piece.

The fragments were then 'stitched together' and inserted into a bacterium from a different species. 

There, it sprang to life, allowing the bug to grow and multiply, producing generations that were entirely artificial. 

The transferred DNA contained around 850 genes - a fraction of the 20,000 or so contained in a human's genetic blueprint.

 

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In future, bacterial 'factories' could be set up to manufacture artificial organisms designed for specific tasks such as medicines or producing clean biofuels. 

The technology could also be harnessed to create environmentally friendly bugs capable of mopping up carbon dioxide or toxic waste. 

Dr Venter, a 63-year-old Vietnam War veteran known for his showman tendencies, said last night: 'We are entering a new era where we're limited mostly by our imaginations.' 

But the breakthrough, which took 15 years and £27.7million to achieve, opens an ethical Pandora's box. Ethicists said he is 'creaking open the most profound door in humanity's history' - with unparalleled risks. 

Dr Venter, whose team of 20 scientists includes a Nobel laureate, likens the process to booting-up a computer. 

Like a program without a hard drive, the DNA doesn't do anything by itself. But, when the software is loaded into the computer - in this case the second bacterium - amazing things are possible, he said.

'WATERMARKING' DNA

This dramatic development naturally raises fears of the dangers these organisms pose. So one idea, which has been followed through by Venter and his team, is to 'watermark' them.

By weaving these hidden codes in it enables scientists to trace the organisms to their laboratories and prove the recipient bacteria contained the synthetic genome.

Researchers used the 'alphabet' of genes and proteins to spell out messages.

The team created a code that spells out the 26 letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0 to 9 and several punctuation marks. They then wrote a message which reveals the code. A second missive was a string of 'letters' corresponding to the names of 46 people involved in the project. A third gave an e-mail address where people can write once they crack the code and the fourth listed three philosophical quotes.

Now that the scientist, whose J Craig Venter Institute has labs in California and Maryland, has proved the concept, the path is open for him to alter the 'recipe' to create any sort of organism he chooses. 

At the top of his wishlist are bugs capable of producing clean biofuels and of sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Other possibilities include designer microbes that can mop up oil slicks or generate huge quantities of drugs, including the flu vaccine. 

Any such organisms would be deliberately 'crippled' so that they cannot survive outside the lab, he claimed. 

Brushing aside the ethical concerns of his work, Dr Venter wrote in his autobiography that it would allow 'a new creature to enter the world'. 

'We have often been asked if this will be a step too far,' he said. 'I always reply that - so far at least - we are only reconstructing a diminished version of what is out there in nature.'

Last night, he claimed the breakthrough had changed his views on the definition of life. 'We have ended up with the first synthetic cell powered and controlled by a synthetic chromosome and made from four bottles of chemicals,' he said. 

'It is pretty stunning when you just replace the DNA software in a cell and the cell instantly starts reading that new software and starts making a whole new set of proteins, and within a short while all the characteristics of the first species disappear and a new species emerges. 

'That's a pretty important change in how we approach and think about life.'
The process was carried out on one of the simplest types of bacteria, under strict ethical guidelines. The research team insist that they cannot think of a day when the technology could be used to create animals or people from scratch.

Has he created a monster?

By Michael Hanlon, Science Editor

The creation of a living being in a laboratory is one of the staples of science fiction.
Now it is a scientific fact. Yesterday's announcement of the birth of a 'synthetic cell' - made by injecting a bacterium shell with genetic material created from scratch by scientists - raises many questions. 

These range from the mundanely practical - how will this be useful? - to the profoundly philosophical - will we have to redefine what life is? 

Depending on your viewpoint, it is either a powerful testament to human ingenuity or a terrible example of hubris - and the first step on a very dangerous road.

To understand what this development means, we need to discover who the team behind this innovation is. 

It is led by Craig Venter, the world's greatest scientific provocateur, a 63-year-old Utah-born genius, a Vietnam veteran, billionaire, yachtsman, and an explorer. Above all he is a showman. 

A master of self-publicity, he does not do things by halves; he led the private team which competed with scores of publicly funded scientists in the U.S. and UK to 'crack' the human genome by sequencing our DNA. 

His rapid, innovative approach led to the possibility he would beat the scientific establishment.

So, to save face all round, the human genome was presented as a joint achievement. At around the same time, he began talking about making an artificial lifeform in the lab. 

Not a Frankenstein's monster, or even a mouse, but a bacterium, one of the simplest living organisms. His blueprint was to be an unassuming and harmless little germ with only 485 genes (humans have around 25,000). 

Venter talks grandly of a supercharged biotech revolution, with synthetic bacteria designed to produce biofuels, to mine precious metals from rocks and industrial waste, to digest oil slicks and render toxic spills harmless.

WHO IS CRAIG VENTER?

Craig Venter is a controversial biologist and entrepreneur who led the effort by the private sector to sequence the human genome.

He was vilified by the scientific community for turning the project into a competitive race but his efforts did mean that the human genome was mapped three years earlier than expected.

Born in 1946, Dr Venter was an average scholar with a keen interest in surfing.

It was while serving in Vietnam and tending to wounded comrades that he was inspired to become a doctor.

During his medical training he excelled in research and was quick to realise the importance of decoding genes. In 1992 he set up the private Institute for Genomic Research. Then a mere three years later he stunned the scientific establishment by revealing the first complete genome of a free-living organism that causes childhood ear infections and meningitis.

In 2005 he founded the private company Synthetic Genomics, with the aim of engineering new life forms the would produce alternative fuels.

He was listed on Time Magazine's 100 list of the most influential people in both 2007 and 2008.

Scientists could even create bacteria which can produce novel drugs and vaccines, or organisms engineered to live on Mars and other planets. 

The potential is huge - but so are the dangers. An artificial species, created in the lab, might not 'obey the rules' of the natural world - after all, every living being on Earth has evolved over three billion years, when a myriad of competing species have had to share the same increasingly crowded environment. 

It is possible to imagine a synthetic microbe going on the rampage, perhaps wiping out all the world's crop plants or even humanity itself. 

Synthetic biology also challenges our most cherished notions of what life itself actually is. Non-scientists might not realise that we have, as yet, no proper definition of life. 

A diamond is not alive; a baboon clearly is. But what about a virus? Viruses, which are even simpler than bacteria, have a genetic code written in DNA (or its cousin RNA). 

The stuff viruses are made from is the stuff of life - protein coats and so on - yet they cannot reproduce independently. 

Like diamonds, they can be grown into crystals - and you certainly cannot crystallise baboons. Most biologists say viruses are not alive, and that true biology begins with bacteria. 

So is Synthia, Venter's tentative name for his new critter, alive? It is certainly not the result of Darwinian evolution, one of the (many) definitions of life. It is more 'alive' than any virus but it is the product of Man, not of evolution. Its genetic code is simple enough to be stored on a computer (but then again, so is ours). 

Whatever the answer to this fundamental question, Venter's breakthrough is certainly the final rebuttal to the old notion of a vital spark - a mysterious essence that divides the quick from the dead. If you can carry around a genome on a computer memory stick and make a cell using a few simple chemicals, then the old idea of 'vitalism' is truly dead. 

Of course, this is early days. It is not yet clear if Venter can negotiate the final step - creating a whole cell from scratch, using no bits of existing living organisms at all.
His bacterium is likely to be weak and feeble; we are a long way from synthetic super-plagues, and even further from an artificial animal or plant. But it is hard to escape the feeling that a boundary has been crossed. The problem is, it is far from clear where we go from here.

She's Shameless! Emmy Rossum stops for lemonade before turning up at Warner Bros. ready to start work on season 6 of the Showtime hit

Showtime dramedy Shameless is gearing up to begin filming its sixth season.

And Emmy Rossum turned up at the Warner Bros. lot in the Burbank district of Los Angeles ready for action on Friday.

The 28-year-old looked both smart and casual in an oatmeal jacket worn over a white T-shirt with cropped ripped skinny jeans turned up at the ankles to show off her high-heeled, caged sandals.

She's ready to go: Emmy Rossum called into Lemonade in West Hollywood for a bite to eat and a cold drink before hitting the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank to start work on season six of Showtime's Shameless

The beautiful brunette pulled her curly tresses back into a high pony tail and she 

accessorisd with a pair of sunglasses with an unusual grey and white striped frame and a white leather handbag. 

Emmy stopped for a bite to eat at Lemonade in West Hollywood and left with one of the cafe chain's famous cold drinks.

Shameless stars William H. Macy as the perpetually drunk Frank Gallagher while Emmy plays his long suffering oldest daughter Fiona, who struggles to look after her five brothers and sisters in the absence of their mother, who has long since walked out.

Casual chic: The 28-year-old wore an oatmeal jacket over a white T-shirt with cropped ripped skinny jeans turned up at the ankles to show off her high-heeled, caged sandals on Saturday

On a mission: The leggy brunette parked her silver SUV outside the trendy eatery

Emmy posted three snaps from the set on Instagram on Friday including one of her sexy sandals, captioned, rather bizarrely, 'Table read 601.'

She followed it up two hours later with a photo showing her in a room with a rack of clothes in the background and a selection of shoes and clothes on the floor around her. 

The actress was already decked out in a Fiona-style denim mini-skirt, a striped T-shirt and heavy black ankle boots and she captioned it, 'Costume fitting w @lynpaolo.' 

Getting down to work: The actress, who plays Fiona Gallagher, was decked out in a Fiona-style denim mini-skirt, a striped T-shirt and heavy black ankle boots in an Instagram she captioned, 'Costume fitting w @lynpaolo'

Clan gathering: Emmy, far left, with her Shameless co-stars in a picture she and Cameron Monaghan, who plays her brother Ian Gallagher, second right, both posted on  Instagram 

She and co-star Cameron Monaghan, who plays her brother Ian in the show, posted the same snap of the cast minus Macy, which he captioned, 'Reunions. #Season6' and she described as 'Squad.'

On Monday, the Phantom Of The Opera star posted a photo of her holding a director's clapperboard to show her excitement at the beginning of pre-production on the show.

The fifth season wrapped on April 5 and the first of 12 episodes in season 6 is due to air in January.  

Stringing her fans along: Emmy posted three Instagram photos on Friday including one of her sexy caged sandals captioned, rather bizarrely, 'Table read 601'

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And...action! On Monday, the Phantom Of The Opera star posted a photo of her holding a director's clapperboard to show her excitement at the beginning of pre-production on the show

Emmy Rossum's now the head of the household on Showtime's 'Shameless'

Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher, who’s reached 23 in the new season of “Shameless.

Prepping to play Fiona Gallagher in Showtime’s strange and fascinating “Shameless” really requires asking just one question, muses Emmy Rossum.

“What would a real-life person act like,” says Rossum, “in an insane situation?”

“Shameless,” which continues its fifth season Sunday at 9 p.m., has insane down to a science.

It tracks the lives of the impoverished Gallagher family, who are trying to make the best from a bad hand in the run-down Canaryville neighborhood of South Side Chicago.

There’s no Mom, just a Dad. That would be Frank (William H. Macy), a self-absorbed alcoholic who is often more of a drain than a help.

This leaves survival up to the six Gallagher kids, the oldest of whom is Rossum’s Fiona. She’s become the de facto head of the household, often sacrificing her own life to salvage some semblance of normalcy and purpose for the others.

After dropping out of high school so she could cobble together some dead-end jobs to put food on the family table, she’s now reached 23.

William H. Macy portrays the alcoholic dad Frank Gallagher in “Shameless.”

And yes, says Rossum, the strain is starting to show.

In Sunday’s episode, which incidentally marks Macy’s television directing debut, Fiona must edge closer to a decision about two men in her life. Jimmy (Justin Chatwin) has been after her forever and Gus (Steve Kazee), came along more recently.

Rossum isn’t completely confident that, either way, things will work out.

“Fiona’s gone a little off the rails,” says Rossum. “I’m a little disappointed in her journey.”

But, Rossum quickly adds, that’s part of what the show is about — just how hard it is to get anywhere when you start so far behind.

“I only feel that disappointment between seasons,” she says. “While we’re shooting, I’ll defend her.”

Dermot Mulroney as Sean, Brandon/Brenden Sims as Liam Gallagher and Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher in "Shameless"

It’s that “insane situation” thing.

“There’s not always a linear progression for Fiona,” says Rossum. “At her age, you’re still putting yourself in the context of your parents, yourself, the world.

“She has love for her father. She wants to take care of him. But she’s starting to see parts of Frank in herself, and that’s part of trying to figure out who she is. Can she be someone else if she has these damaged parts? Can she change that about herself?”

Rossum herself didn’t grow up in exactly the same world as Fiona.

Born in New York to a single mother, she sang in the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus for five years and attended the Spence School and Columbia while developing a dual career as a singer and actress.

She had breakthrough roles as Sean Penn’s tragic daughter in “Mystic River” and the young opera singer in “Phantom of the Opera,” for which she became the youngest actress nominated for a Golden Globe in a musical or comedy.

Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher and Justin Chatwin as Jimmy/Steve “Shameless.”

To play Fiona, she shifts a few gears. Where Rossum is tall and elegant, Fiona is, well, tall.

“I like her to look a little bit haggard,” says Rossum. “She doesn’t have time or interest in beauty and perfection. Her look is part of telling the story.”

Even the logistics of filming the show, she says, serve that end.

“It’s a bubble we live in while we’re shooting,” she says. “We don’t have car service. We drive ourselves to work.”

She laughs. “I don’t even have my own trailer. Only Macy has his own trailer.”

Yet for all that, she says, there’s more of her than you might think in Fiona, and she credits this to creator/showrunner John Wells.

William H. Macy finds himself in an unusual spot as Frank Gallagher in Showtime's "Shameless."

“Before we start every season,” she says, “he sits down with us and talks about what he wants to do with each character. He asks how I feel about it, what I think.

“He also knows a lot about me. He’ll write things that are so similar to something that happened to me when I was 20 that I’ll go, ‘Is this a joke? Have I told you that?’

“But that’s a writer’s job, to write for you, and I trust John Wells completely. He’ll say, ‘This is what I want,’ and we’ll talk about ways to show it.

"We’ll talk for 15 minutes. We propose changes. Probably 60% of it shows up in the script.”

She laughs again.

“It makes us feel more important than we really are.”

Steve Kazee as Gus and Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher in Showtime’s “Shameless.”

In one part of “Shameless,” though, the actors do carry the load: making the Gallaghers engaging and not just tragic.

Toward that end, “Shameless” is one of the new-breed stories, beloved by Showtime, that stomps all over the traditional lines between dark drama and dark comedy.

Finding a way to laugh with the Gallaghers, not at them, involves threading a fine needle. Alcoholic fathers and rudderless children aren’t that inherently funny until “Shameless” finds the outlandish situations into which life tosses them.

“We never play for comedy,” says Rossum, because the Gallaghers don’t think of what they’re doing or saying as jokes. They’re trying to get through the day.

The humor lies more in the rest of us seeing the absurdity — helped along by the occasional exaggeration.

“It’s larger than life,” says Rossum. “The scripts throw all these things at us, and they’re always worse when you’re reading them. When you start shooting, it feels really natural for the characters.”

Emmy Rossum as Fiona Gallagher and Dichen Lachman as Angela in Showtime's "Shameless."

Still, she admits, there’s something surreal about “Shameless” becoming a multi-season hit in the first place.

“We’re in a much more competitive (TV) world these days,” she says. “Doing this show about a blue-collar family was a nice fantasy, but I didn’t think it would even get picked up.”

Now it’s been renewed for a sixth season, which means more conversations with Wells about where Fiona will be going.

“I couldn’t have imagined Fiona’s current situation when we started,” says Rossum, and she has no more idea where Fiona could end up.

“Fiona’s had chances” to improve her life without abandoning her family, Rossum says. “But she’s sabotaged it every time.”

Bad call for her, maybe. Good call for “Shameless.”

'Shameless' Star Emmy Rossum Says Fiona Is "Stumbling Toward Maturity" in Season 5

The actress talks with THR about whether Fiona and Jimmy will reunite and more — plus watch the premiere now

John Wells' Shameless adaptation for Showtime is a dark comedy that defies many boundaries in terms of what can be done in either genre but continually confuses award committees in the process. Last season, when stars Emmy Rossum and William H. Macy were doing some of their heaviest dramatic work on the show, they were submitted in the comedy categories for Emmy nominations. (The latter, in fact, is also up for a Golden Globe in the comedy field.)

"Most of my favorite shows exist in this place between drama and comedy," Rossum told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of season five. "There have been days when you could laugh hysterically and cry in the same day — where you can experience everything. So for me, it's more true to life in that way."

Rossum certainly got to experience those emotional highs and lows in season four, when Fiona went from a nine-to-fiver raising her young brothers and sisters to a parolee with child endangerment on her record after her youngest brother got into a stash of drugs in the house. Many might hope that the worst is over and that Fiona has learned a lesson that will allow her to stay on the straight and narrow, but wherever there is a Gallagher, chaos is soon to follow. And truth be told, Rossum wouldn't want it any other way. THR caught up with Rossum to preview season five as well as discuss what keeps her on her toes all these years in.

See more THR's Cover Shoot With the Stars of Showtime

You're five seasons into a very demanding role. How has your approach to the more emotional scenes changed?

So many things have happened to me personally since we started filming that the things I may have used to make me angry or make me cry in season one are very different than the things I use to generate those same feelings now. And also, the character has grown, and I'm trying to show her stumbling her way toward maturity — a maturity that I don't even have myself yet. I get to show different things. I still get to show the same kind of colors, the same instincts, but maybe she starts questioning those instincts, questioning those impulses. And I'm excited for something that I'm going to get to do this season in episode six [along those lines], because she's kind of teetering over a cliff into a bad situation, and just as she's jumping, she says, "Stop." That will be a really interesting place to go to because I'm so used to careening off the cliff with her.

Do you find that you more easily anticipate certain elements of the character or certain situations she finds herself in now?

I can see how to play it much easier than I could five years ago, because I feel like I can understand her almost like a textbook, like I've studied her. I understand all of these things she's been through in her life over the five years that I've lived her and all of the little moments of backstory that have peppered my subconscious and that I use when I think of the character as a whole. So, when she goes someplace where somebody doesn't give her a tip, I know that that's going to set her to a hundred right away. She's been wronged so many times in her life. Whereas, if I were just reading a character in a random scene, I might question how she'd react to something like that [and] if the person is someone who would get really mad or be able to shrug it off. But I know Fiona, and I know what she would do, so navigating those questions is easier for me now.

Read more 'Shameless' Boss on the Surprising Finale: Fans Demanded More

Has your approach to playing up or down certain comedic moments changed at all with time or with awards in the back of your mind?

I don't make choices to play up comedy or drama. I always make the choice to play the reality of the character's emotional state and kind of think about where I start at the beginning of the episode and where I need to get at the end of the episode and what moments I can pepper in between to tell that story as completely and believably as possible. I don't think I ever play anything for comedy, but I feel like the things are still funny because of the situations. It's funny because she has a frying pan, and she's taking her own ankle monitor off, or because Carl is smuggling drugs, or because Frank is — this season — trying to make the world's strongest beer. We're still living in a depressed society with characters who are dealing with being gay on the Southside, where it's still not accepted, struggling financially, struggling with sobriety. These aren't funny things, but there are a lot of funny things that come out of them.

Shameless left Fiona with a lot of plates to juggle again at the end of season four, between realizing her brother Ian (Cameron Monaghan) has inherited their mother's mental disease and taking on a new job while still raising the youngest Gallagher kids plus now having to prove she can stay clean and sober. Where is her focus when the new season starts?

It's three or four months later, and she's settled into her job. Her job has kind of become the new Gallagher kitchen [in that] she takes over. She knows all her customers. She's kind of got this flirtation going with a couple of different guys, of course, including her manager, Sean (Dermot Mulroney). She's also flirting with these guys in a band, who are some of her regular customers. It's summer, she has her ankle monitor off and she's also looking forward to kind of going forward with her life, but she's still displaying tendencies toward being very impulsive. So, we're seeing some of her issues still there. But she is going to NA.

Unfortunately for Fiona, she's not really taking NA all that seriously. She still doesn't believe that she has a problem, and I'm not actually sure if she is a drug addict. I think she's addicted to situations and people and energies that aren't necessarily going to put her in the position to win, and I think she's more comfortable in chaos than she is in flatlining, normal, happy situations.

There was a moment at the end of season four where Fiona expressed concern that she, too, could have inherited bipolar disorder. Is that weighing on her at all when she thinks about her future?

She's definitely not worried about her future! I don't think the things she does — like we see in episode two she removes her own ankle monitor on a Sunday because the parole officer's office isn't open yet. So, she takes a screwdriver to it and takes it off because that's the time they told her she'd get it off. Most people who are going through things like that wouldn't do that; they'd go through the correct channels [but] she's the kind of person who will just decide. And while she doesn't get in trouble for that, it's not the most careful road to finding stability in her life, and she does a lot of things like that this season.

We're definitely exploring the impulsive fighter instinct [this season], but we're also exploring her trying to wrap her head around the idea of getting better, being better and being around the right people.

The very tail end of the season-four finale revealed that Jimmy/Steve/Jack (Justin Chatwin) is very much alive and in Chicago. How solidly do you feel Fiona moved on from him when she thought he left her, and do you think she can handle it when he resurfaces in her life?

I think a lot of her behavior last year came from again feeling abandoned by a man, feeling that she didn't find her place [and] that she'd never feel that heat and that safety that she had with him. She certainly didn't find it with her boss, and she certainly wasn't finding it with his brother! Then she went into this tailspin, and I think subliminally this year we're going to see her work through that, and maybe she blames Jimmy a little bit for the things that happened.

He will present himself in her life again, and it will be very tempting for her not to fall back into that old dynamic. He has a real physical pull for her, [and] it will be interesting! I kind of want to see her with Jimmy, but I don't want to see her get screwed over. He's not the most honest guy. (Laughs.)

You mentioned getting Fiona to a certain maturity. What does that look like in your mind for a show like Shameless?

For me, we can't just take her one way for four years and then make her a different character — or make what she's attracted to different — in season five without having all those steps in between. So, my job as the person who has to play it is to find all those moments that legitimize the growth and change in the character — to find those things for myself. I want to make sure that even though we have her in the beginning of the season in a happier situation, we get to show the complexities of that. We don't just go, "Oh, she's out of jail, [so] she's happy now!" It's not written that way at all, but the temptation of that can be to go, "Oh, it's season five. I know the character. I can coast." But I want to keep digging, keep pushing, keep exploring further.

What do you like most about Fiona at this point in the series?

What I like about her still is her desire to win, and that's kind of throughout all of the characters, even if you think about Frank. He's so persistent about destroying his body and drinking; he just doesn't give up. These are characters that do not give up. Even Mickey, deciding to come out in front of his family at this thuggy, dirty Irish bar. There's just a refusal to quit, and that's something I respect in all the characters and something I continue to enjoy to play. No matter how many times they get beat up, lose their house, get separated, go into foster care — they still come together; they don't really get bogged down the way life can bog you down. They're fighters.

Emmy Rossum

 

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Emmy Rossum here...you may know me as Fiona Gallagher from Shameless. AMA!

Hey Emmy, What has been you oddest fan encounter?

Once on a press tour in Germany, a fan of THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW snuck into the hotel & followed me into the elevator.

I think they almost invited themselves into my room - but I had to say goodnight!

Hi! Love you!
What's your favourite vegetable?

Does anybody have a favorite vegetable? Right?

Hi Emmy! I was wondering.... What do you enjoy doing more? Acting or singing?

I see them as kind of the same thing. They're both artistic expressions & ways of telling a story.

Has playing Fiona changed your perspective on the world in any ways?

Yes. It changed my perspective on female beauty, because Fiona isn't a very glamorous character, yet most fans see her as really sexy, so to play a woman on TV who doesn't wear a lot of makeup or fancy clothes, and to have that seen as a desirable woman is a really positive thing.

Also we get to go into all of these neighborhoods in Chicago that are so different from how i grew up in NYC, and the West Side and the South Side, which are lower-income neighborhoods that have a lot of violence in them - the people that we meet in those homes are remarkably gregarious, kind, fun, welcoming, warm... so it's very different than I might have thought of "The South Side" or "The West Side" before I went there.

What's it like being my most favourite person in the world?

That's cute.

You and my mother.

Do you have any funny stories about filming Shameless?

Yes. This year, I was doing a scene with Jeremy Allen White, who plays Lip, and in the scene, his character and my character are trying to remove my ankle-monitor that I got while I was in prison, and while filming the scene, Jeremy realized that I hadn't shaved my legs, so he decided to use the pliers that were a prop in the scene to individually remove my leg hair.

Hashtag: Shameless

Will you marry me?

How about a drink first?

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Hi Emmy! I love your cat pictures on Twitter :) How did you get involved with Best Friends Animal Society?

Fiona (the cat) I actually rescued from the West Side in Chicago from under the porch of the house that the Gallaghers live in. Now she lives in Los Angeles with me. But she's still a bit of a Chicago troublemaker. I got involved with Best Friends Animal Society a couple years ago, and this year (during my hiatus from filming Shameless) had the opportunity to visit their Sanctuary in Utah, where they have thousands of rescued animals. And I'm such a huge admirer of all the work they do, especially being the leader of the no-kill movement in LA.

And now i got another dog from them, which brings the headcount to 3 dogs and a cat. So basically, now I live in a zoo. The new dog, named Pepper, is destroying her 3rd toy of the day.

Hi! Are you contracted to ever sing opera on Shameless? It would be like having Arnold Schwarzenegger on the show without him breaking anything. Happy Hanukkah!

HAHAHAHA!

Um... no, in fact, they try to make sure I don't have singing or dancing scenes, because they think it wouldn't be very "Fiona" if all of a sudden I busted out something.

How similar are you to Fiona and if you are very similar to Fiona, has that caused any challenging scenes for you to film due to personal reasonings?

We're similar in some ways, and very different in others. I'm an only child. I grew up in New York, single mom. Fiona's from Chicago, and the oldest of so many siblings. So definitely a different energy & upbringing. But I think we have a similar combination of toughness & vulnerability. Sometimes art does mirror life in strange ways. In season 3, I think it was, Fiona's grandmother passes away (suddenly) and it was right after my grandmother whom I'd only met a couple times passed away. So it was a strange experience for me to play a scene where I'd be getting a phone call that my grandmother passed away, when that happened to me 2 weeks ago. And whereas I usually find emotion comes very easily to me when I play pretend - this time, I was so shut off from the feeling because it had just happened that i had to pretend something completely else than a family member or a grandmother passing away because it was too hard for me in that moment.

So weird.

There is going to be a flashback for Frank next season. Would you like to see more flashbacks in the next seasons? It would be really amazing to see for example what Fiona was like as a child. Thoughts? :)

I suppose I imagine her a little bit like Debbie's character - somewhat precocious, in control, and a take-charge attitude. I personally want to see a flash-FORWARD so that I can see that things are going to get better for her.

Between TV and Movies, which do you prefer working on?

I've really enjoyed being on the TV show because I've gotten to follow a character's evolution for so many years. But I do look forward to the projects that i get when I'm on hiatus, when I get to do something unexpected and different.

You've mentioned in past interviews and what not that you have celiac. Does your work ever make it difficult to follow a gluten free diet? Food you miss most that doesn't have a gluten-free equal?

I'm allergic to gluten, but I'm not technically celiac. It gives me really bad canker sores. So I've been gluten free since I was 15.

The worst part is that I actually REMEMBER what real pizza and bagels taste like.

And the gluten free alternatives aren't ever really the same.

Hi Emmy! I saw that you were in DC recently. Did you eat at Georgetown cupcakes?

I did not. I ate at The Capital Grille, and I visited some museums, and then I had the great opportunity of eating lamb chops at the White House (which I have to say were some really good lamb chops. Obama knows what he's doing with a lamb chop!)

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What's your favourite film?

Oh gosh.

I love WHEN HARRY MET SALLY. I like THE GODFATHER. I like MRS. DOUBTFIRE, when I was a kid, that was one of my favorites. I like IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. right now Christmas movies are coming to mind, because I love holiday movies. I love NOTTING HILL, I love LOVE, ACTUALLY. There are so many that come to mind!

What do you enjoy doing the most outside of acting? :)

I love to travel. I like to see new places. I find travel really inspiring. Learning about new cultures... tasting new foods... seeing different art around the world. I love taking pictures & sharing my experiences from traveling with people on instagram.

Hi Emmy! Have you met any of the cast of the UK version of Shameless?

Yes, I've met David, who plays the UK version of Frank Gallagher. He came to visit our set, and that was a really surreal experience, to have two Franks on the same set!

Truth be told, I've only seen one episode of the UK version, which I watched before I auditioned.

Would you ever come to Maine?

Yes. I hear they have great lobster!

And the East Coast is my jam, so absolutely.

what's your perfect first date?

Enter (link) to find out ;)

So what's going on this weekend?

This weekend I'm packing for my holiday vacation, which will be with a lot of snow and bison.

What is your favorite meal to cook?

I make a really good pad thai, I had some thai cooking lessons. I make a really good roast chicken. And I make adult gluten-free fish fingers with panko.

I also really like making soup in the winter. I make a carrot-ginger soup that's really good. And i stole a recipe off the internet for Olive garden minestrone, and that's pretty good too.

Hey Emmy Who are your favorite stand up comedians?

I don't have any favorite standup comedians. I dated a couple, and that was enough.

Hello Emmy!! While I love you on Shameless, I have to say your favorite role for me was Christine in Phantom of the Opera. YOU WERE PERFECT!!! That movie re-lit my passion for theater, and you brought my 14-year-old self endless amounts of joy in listening to that album/movie. Would you ever consider doing theater or another musical role?

I would love to go back to Broadway and go onstage again. I don't know if I would do a musical. Unless it was really amazing. Because it's SO much work physically. But I would love to do a straight play, and a musical if I really fell in love with it.

Ask anything?! Alright then. Hm.....What Hogwarts house would you be in?

Gryffindor. Whatever Hermione's in, so I can hang out with her. And until I saw the movie, I thought her name was pronounced Her-my-owney, until I saw the movies, and then it blew my mind!!

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You all have such great chemistry in the show, and there's quite the substantial number of cast members! How close are you to everyone else? Have you made any really good friends on set?

We're super close while we're shooting, and we often go out for drinks or dinner after shooting. During hiatuses, everyone goes their separate ways, but the second we get back together for filming, it's like old family again.

I would say I'm particularly close to Jeremy and Emma. Emma is an only child and I kind of have taken it upon myself to mentor her a little bit, including sometimes monitoring her text messages and snapchats.

Which god do you liken yourself in mythology?

Maybe Athena?

Freya's a badass too!

Hey Emmy, love your work&your style you are indeed a beautiful woman. Question any xmas music this year? I totally enjoyed your tunes last year

I love oldies Christmas songs, like all of the Frank Sinatra Christmas songs, Judy Garland, but there's an original Christmas song... pulling it up now... called "Little Soldier" by Mindy Deldhill and I really really like that song. It's an original. Very sweet.

If I share some of my fake internet points with you... can Shameless go on forever?

Well, right now we're signed for 7 seasons, so hopefully it will go that long! Season 5 starts January 11th!

A question dealing with the present trend of comic book movies & series. Have you been approached to do a film or series inspired by a comic book from Marvel, DC, Dark Horse or another independent press?

Yes. I've always been really interested in collaborating with Neil Gaiman on something. But nothing has really come to fruition yet...

How great is Shameless season 5 gonna be? what should we expect??

Frank Gallagher will fall in love for the first time. Fiona Gallagher will get rejected for the first time. Debbie is finally a woman, if you know what I mean. And Carl has a broken leg because the actor Ethan who plays Carl actually broke his leg in real life, while dancing a party (or so that's what he told us).

How do you break your leg dancing?

Emmy! I really enjoyed you in "You're Not You"! What was your "Holy crap, I made it!" moment?

Working on MYSTIC RIVER with Sean Penn, Clint Eastwood and Tim Robbins. That's the kind of moment where I have to remind myself to keep breathing oxygen, because i was about to pass out numerous times simply from being in their presence.

Hi Emmy, Really love your work. I think I've been in love with you as an actress for years. What do you find the most inspiring about Shameless?

I guess the coolest thing about being on SHAMELESS is that it's a show about a lower-class struggling family. And there are so few shows on TV that are not aspirational in some way. So I think we're speaking for part of America that doesn't get featured a lot on TV, and I really like that. Of course, we are a very very dark comedy / satire, so we're not trying to depict things completely realistically, but I do like that our show stands on its own, in terms of tone, mix of drama / comedy, and the blue collar nature of the character and their world.

Are you tougher than you look? You look tough in the series.

No, I'm a lot less tough than I look.

Emmy you're adorable. South sider here - thanks for the show that takes me back to growing up. Is it weird meeting your fans who are likely perverts like myself, knowing they'd seen you in a nude seen?

I suppose that... I've never been terribly self-conscious about nudity. You can just ask my family. Until the age of 8, I didn't like to wear clothing at all. And for me, people getting to see my body isn't actually revealing something about MYSELF. How much can you learn about somebody without their clothes on? You can't learn their humor, fears, thoughts. So I suppose being nude, in character, for a television show, where I'm trying to tell the truth about that person isn't that big of a deal for me. And if it makes sense in the scene then it doesn't phase me at all.

What's your favorite episode of Shameless and why?

My favorite episode was episode 6, season 4. Because it was very challenging for me emotionally. I enjoyed our director, James, who directed a film called THE SPECTACULAR NOW (which you should check out if you haven't seen already, with Shailene Woodley). I thought it was really well written, really challenging. Pretty much the last 6 episodes of last year were my favorites on the show.

After accomishing so much in your acting career and personal life, what dreams do you STILL have to fulfill?

Too many to possibly list here. I would love to build a house someday. I would like to move back to New York full time. I would like to relearn French. I would like to like to learn more about politics. I'd like to... go to New Zealand. I'd like to go on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic - because I've always wanted to go to space since I was a little kid.

Too many to possibly list here.

Do you want to be a director ?

I always used to say NO but now I'm getting more inspired to say yes. I always enjoy watching actors work. I love taking pictures. The thing I wouldn't like about it is having to answer 50,000 questions a day, but i love the creative process. Maybe I could dip my toe in with SHAMELESS? Bill H. Macy directed an episode this year, and it was a very interesting experience for the whole cast.

But it's not up to me. It's up to my bosses.

Do u think it would of made a difference if shameless took place in new York or another major city than Chicago?

I suppose what's interesting about the show is that it's about the blue collar - I think it would be the same with any urban environment. Which is why I think it works in the UK. Which is why I think it could work in any kind of urban environment. Chicago has such intense seasons, too, and the way the winter plays in as a character itself - it is a big part of the show. So I think any kind of urban environment that has all 4 seasons would be very similar to Chicago. At one point, they wanted to set the show in Detroit, which could have been similar. Initially, Shameless was set up at a different network, with Woody Harrelson in the lead role, and they wanted to set the show in the south, and our show runner John Wells thought it was too stereotypical of a lower-income southern family, so he set it in Chicago...

What is your biggest regret and why is it Dragonball Evolution?

HAHAHA! Because it's such a terrible movie! LOL!

The best thing that came out of it was I met Justin Chatwin, who's become one of my greatest partners in life, and I wouldn't have given up that experience for the world.

We were stuck in Mexico, in Durango, for MONTHS and MONTHS. And my only entertainment would be going to the local Wal-Mart, getting drunk, and buying DVDs of any American show i could find. The only one i could find was Nip/Tuck. So I watched all of it while filming DRAGONBALL in Mexico. Thank God Justin was there to keep me sane.

But I wouldn't call it a regret I made the movie. It's just not very good. I don't really regret any career choice I've made. I've made them all and learned from all those decisions. Even if they were mistakes, or regrets, I call them "choices" and make different ones in the future.

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I had to privilege of sitting behind you at the Knicks game on Wednesday. When I called your name and waved to you, you waved back. This was at the same time the cameras put you on TV. I thought the side by side comparison of the pictures was cool. (link) Thank you for waving back. I am assuming you found me more important than being on TV - which is awesome. Anyway, what has been your favorite memory of working on the set of Shameless?

My favorite memory from working on SHAMELESs was one day we were doing a scene in the kitchen, and Steve Howey was (for some reason) saying one random line in the middle of the scene in a Jamaican accent. And I don't know if we were all low blood sugar, it was right before lunch, but we all got a bad case of the giggles and actually had to break for lunch before finishing the scene because we couldn't get through it without remembering the Jamaican accent, even when he was doing it!

And by the way, it wasn't scripted at all - it was something he decided to do in the moment.

Thanks for doing this AMA. In high school I finally worked up the nerve to ask the girl I was “in love” with on a date to see Phantom of the Opera. We were too young to appreciate the film but we both agreed you were unbelievably talented. And beautiful. Having grown up in a family very similar to Shameless, I love the show because it’s so cathartic. It’s amazing how personal some of the scenes in the show are, and how therapeutic it is for some reason to watch it on screen. This last season both Fiona and Ian started to show signs of their parents’ diseases, and that theme hit so close to home it made me stop lying to myself about my behavior and get some professional help. The doctors said I was well on my way to an early death (I’m in my mid 20’s). Many months later I’m in the best physical and mental health I can ever remember being. So thank you for that. As to my question: In preparation for the show did you tall to any children from alcoholic households? Were there any recurring themes or stories that stuck with you and that you think of while acting? I ask because your acting is so "fall off a motorcycle at 60 mph" raw sometimes it makes me cry. And I'm a big burly dude. Anyway thanks a million, looking forward to the new season!

WOW.

That almost made me cry.

Thank you for all your kind words.

I'm glad that our work could have a positive impact on even one person. That makes everything totally worth it.

In preparation for the role, I did meet with a counselor, a therapist, who works with specifically children that have grown up with alcoholic parents. And it was really informative in terms of the roles that get adopted by children when they grow up in that kind of environment, like one child is a clown, one is the parent, one is the screw up... and how those roles can shift like musical chairs throughout the years.

So for me, I played Fiona from the beginning as a parent, but her role started to shift in the 3rd and 4th season with her tendencies towards drugs & alcohol. And she became the screw up, and Lip became the parent in her absence. I find that dynamic, that shift, so fascinating.

I know the cast was left in the dark about the season 4 finale....so what was your exact reaction to finding out Jimmy/Steve was back?

I was honestly infuriated. Because I had been campaigning for that ALL season. I was really unhappy with the resolution of that storyline. I felt it was confusing, and unresolved, and I had asked both the network & our producers if we could reintroduce the character to clear that all up (both for me and for the audience).

But they were seemingly unresponsive to my requests / pleas.

Little did i Know, they actually FLEW Justin to Chicago, hired a different crew, kept him in a different hotel, and filmed - UNBEKNOWNST TO ANY OF US- a scene that would end season 4.

It was so top secret that it wasn't until it aired that i Knew it happened.

And in that moment, I was so mad about being kept in the dark that i was speechless.

Of course, I was happy, overjoyed that his character was going to be reintroduced. I felt that was great for his character and the audience. But i felt so confused / hurt as to why nobody told me that this was going to happen, or be in the show! I felt like "Did my boss think I wasn't trustworthy or that i would spill the beans on twitter?"

And the second after it aired, David (who runs SHOWTIME) sent me an email that said one word: GOTCHA.

And all my anger and stupidness went out the window, and I was overjoyed that we got to see Justin's character again.

Hi Emmy! I'm a huge fan of shameless! What scene in shameless was the hardest to film?

By far the hardest to film was I think in ep 11 of season 4, when Fiona is outside at a gas station, in the cold, without a coat and without shoes. We were shooting super-late at night somewhere outside of Chicago, and i just remember it was - 18. And I was out there, in socks. And there was really no place to even keep warm. And i just remember thinking if this isn't a really great scene, I'm going to be so pissed off because i was so cold & miserable. But in fact it is, the shot looked really cool, and it really does show what a shitty situation she's gotten herself in. SO I was really glad that I did it, and sometimes you have to go through that when you're filming to get a good scene.

It's a lot less glamorous than it looks.

Hi Emmy, Shameless News here, this past year there has been a lot chatter regarding the switch from drama to comedy, do you feel attaching labels hinders the show or helps it in the long run?

Well, I think that some of my favorite shows on TV don't really fit into any "category."

We're not really a drama. But we're not completely a comedy. We're in some gray middle ground of dramedy.

But a lot of Fiona's storylines are more dramatic than comedic. That switch has been beneficial for awards nominations, seeing as Bill H. Macy has been getting a lot of nominations now that we are in comedy. John Wells always thought we were more of a comedy than a drama.

But some of my favorite shows - like TRANS/PARENT -don't really fit in any category at all. So I think there needs to be a new category.

what's your favorite place to eat in NYC?

My favorite place to eat in NYC is E.J.'s Luncheonette. It's not very fancy, but I grew up eating there, the annoying thing is that it's cash only and I never carry cash. So i have to stop at the ATM on the way there.

But it's totally worth it. They know me by name. It's not like there's anything particularly amazing about it - they have great coleslaw - but i really like the vibe and it's right near where i grew up.

You always look fab on your IG posts! Can you share your skincare routine?

It's always changing.

I usually wash my face with a bar soap or a cleanser. I like Arcona. And I also like this soap that is from the Soap Kitchen in Pasadena, CA - they make all their soaps there, in this little soap factory. It's fun to check that out. My one indulgence is I like facials. I get facials at The Face Place in LA, and I use La Mer eye cream. But other than that, I keep it pretty simple.

First of all, let me just say you're the only reason I watched Shameless and now I'm obsessed! My question for you is, since you started with The Phantom of the Opera, do you still sing in your spare time? Or just around your house you'll just break out into an aria?

Not quite as often as Zooey Deschanel on THE NEW GIRL. But yes, I do sing around the house sometimes. I often find myself talking to myself in my house, which, THANK GOD, it's very embarrassing speaking to myself in silly accents to my pets or myself.

So yes, I suppose i am pretty animated.

Hey Emmy! Is making another record / album in your future plans?

You know, I often believe that things happen for a reason. And I was just sitting on a plane yesterday next to a record producer. We were talking about my last record, and he had just recorded with Willie Nelson. They had heard a cover of the Willie Nelson I covered on my last record, called "Pretty Paper." It's a very sad Christmas song about somebody who's homeless. It's a cool song, check it out. And I had an idea to maybe make a holiday record. But I would love to hear people's opinions on that idea. I love holiday music more than anything, and i would love to hear if people would be interested in hearing that.

So let's hear what people have to say.

Emmy, you do a wonderful job portraying Fiona. Do you and the cast ever get to attend theater in Chicago while shooting there?

No, we usually film about 18 hours a day, so we don't get to do much besides eat in the lobby of our hotel.

But the last time I was in Chicago, we got to eat at Alinea, which was insanely expensive, Zagat said it's the best restaurant in the entire world, but I'd still go back to E.J's.

A lot of people have said for years they'd like to see you cast as Marvel's goddess of fidelity, Sigyn, who marries Loki, if they ever bring Sigyn to life in the Thor series. How do you feel about this?

She sounds awesome and yes.

What is your favorite avocado?

Are there more than 1 different kinds of avocado? Is guacamole an answer?

I just want to let you know, I saw Comet last night, and I don't think I've ever been on such an emotional roller coaster from a movie. What was it like making one of the most profound romance films of the century?

WOW.

Um, it was pretty scary. Because the script is so dense, and it's pretty much only my character and Justin Long's character for the whole film - there's nothing to fall back on besides the chemistry, the performances and the writing. There's a solid chance it could be really boring. So I'm glad people are responding to it in a positive way. It was a script I read & fell in love with, there was no male lead attached, so I came onboard and suggested Justin, whom I had just met at an Awards show, I texted him asking if he would read the script, and he responded saying yes, so he loved it and we were making the movie 6 weeks later.

is gerard butler a good kisser?

I don't remember. I was 18. I didn't have much to compare it to.

If you could sum up your general philosophy on life and the best approach to living it in a few sentences or so, what would it be?

My mom always raised me with the motto of "stay focused & have fun."

I also subscribe to "Whatever is, is."

And I truly believe if you put positive energy out there, it does come back to you.

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How did you get to guest judge on Top Chef (and how can I)?

I had been basically stalking them for the past 3 seasons.

I knew my only shot getting on the show was convincing them to do a gluten-free challenge, and I think they knew after me stalking them for 3 seasons, they had no choice but to say yes.

What's so funny about those shows is the editing: we must've eaten for 6 hours, I said tons of great things about the food, but they only edited in the criticism I had about the food, so when I was watching the show, my mom texted me Could you have said ANYTHING POSITIVE? but they only wanted to hear the guest judge's critiques! I think I was probably nicer than I came off on the show.

I entered the contest to attend the premiere with the cast (or rather, donated to the cause). Will the cast really be partying like you'd expect the Gallaghers to party, or will you all be on your best behavior?

We don't get blackout drunk, because we just play that on TV. But we do know how to have a good time.

So "our best behavior" doesn't really exist.

Hopefully see you there!

Which Game of Thrones house would you belong to?

I would probably be Arya. She's a badass.

I love you. Will you give me a high five if I ever run in to you?

As long as you don't have cooties.

You have gotten a little taste of life as both a sibling and an only child from your show to your personal life. Now that you understand both lifestyles would you ever want a big family of your own?

I've wanted a big family of my own since i was a little kid. So hopefully I will be able to create that with my children and whomever i end up with. And what's nice is having that family on the show - I know it's not real, but sometimes it feels real.

Hi Emmy! I'm a huge Shameless fan! My question for you is, what antic from the show shocked/surprised you the most? Was there anything that you didn't want to do or thought was too much?

I didn't love the town hall meeting that Fiona has with the women from the supermarket where she works. I thought that storyline, with that sexual harassment was a little weird. That was not my favorite.

Any fun stories from the set of 'The Day After Tomorrow'?

Yes.

The first day that we were filming, we filmed in the museum, which is one of the first scenes that you see my & Jake's characters in. And I remember 2 days before filming, I felt a weird pain between my eyebrows, almost like a pimple.

By the time we got to filming, it looked like a 3rd eye! the night before, I decided I had to pop it, because it was going to look really bad, and it was my first big studio movie, and I was worried I was going to get fired for having bad skin.

So I tried to pop it, but of course, nothing happened. And the next morning, I woke up, day of filming, it was even WORSE.

And I'm pretty sure Jake Gyllenhaal called me "Three-eyes."

It was a HUGE stress-zit! I was so stressed out about my first day on a studio movie I just got a huge zit... it went away after a few days, and interestingly enough, that scene had to be re-shot a few weeks later, although it wasn't because of my pimple, they said it was because of a "dialogue re-write."

What's your current favorite song?

Oh, I heard Sam Smith sing "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" on the radio last night & that was kind of nice.

Would Satuday or Sunday work better for getting coffee together?

I prefer tea, thank you!

Before you disappear, got any indie film projects coming up?

COMET is out on VOD right now, as is YOU'RE NOT YOU with Hilary Swank. And also a film that I made called BEFORE I DISAPPEAR Is also out on VOD as well.

Thanks again for helping support NKLA at the last event. If there were no legal limits in CA, how many cats, dogs, etc would you own?

Well, first I'd have to get a bigger house. But right now, where i live, I'm zoned to be able to have 5 dogs, 5 cats, a horse and a pig.

The fact that I own that shows what an animal-hoarding problem I have.

What is your opinion on avocados?

I like them on toast.

Hi Emmy, recently watched You're Not You and Comet. What was the significance of the two rising Suns at the end of Comet? Was it Dell and Kimberly finally both being in the moment? How was it working with Hilary Swank and seeing her transformation into someone diagnosed with ALS? Can you please do some movies where you have a happy ending? The last few have been downers

I think so. The writer / director is pretty out there, so I think you're supposed to interpret it however you want, but i do think they end up together at the end.

It was incredibly emotional to work on the film, because we got to meet and talk to a lot of patients that have ALS, and talk to the nurses as well that take care of those patients. When you do a movie with real-life significance, it takes on additional weight to bring it to life with honesty & dignity. It was heavy and emotional in a way, but I think the ultimate message was uplifting in that you need to seize the moment, and don't leave something for being on your bucket list - do it now. And I found that idea very inspiring.

I'll work on it.

What's it like acting with what I assume is William H. Macy under all that hair?

He's incredible, and he did cut off all his hair on the last day of filming this year because he couldn't wait to get rid of it.

Should really do this under a throwaway account, but I guess I've just come out as the only straight man on the planet who knows all the words to "Phantom". Thought you were magnificent in it & I greatly enjoy the movie, derivative as it was. Did Gerard Butler actually sing in that? If so he's a perfectly serviceable tenor.

Is "perfectly serviceable" supposed to be a compliment?

Yes, he did sing and I thought he did a great job.

Emmy, thank you for the incredible work you've given us over the years. Shameless is nothing short of fantastic. Was there ever a project you had to turn down that you wish you could have done? Something that ended up being highly successful or acclaimed?

I passed on TWILIGHT 'cuz I didn't like the script.

Have you ever been mistaken for another celebrity and how did you handle it?

Yes. Natalie Portman. And I was very flattered.

How did you feel at the end of last season, when Frank puts the bottle to his lips?

I felt like it was kind of heartbreaking, but typical.

This year we'll get to see more of the effects of alcohol on his new liver.

Hi Emmy, love your photography! Any photographers in particular you like to follow?

There's a cinematographer named Reed Morano, on instagram. I also like to follow NatGeo. And I do collect black & white photography. And my mother's a photographer, so it's only logical that i grew up loving that.

Wine or beer?

I like sparkling cider. Or spiked / hard cider. I like wine. And I like tequila.

Now that Justin Chatwin is signed on to work on Orphan Black, does that rule Jimmy!Steve out again?

No, he's definitely in season 5.

do animals have accents like does a siberian tiger have a russian accent and does a bengal tiger have an indian kind of an accent? if so which tiger would you be more scared of?

I'm scared of cats in general, which is strange, cuz I have one.

But I definitely think that my chihuahua speaks spanish. And my yorkshire terrier has a british accent.

And my new poodle mix is from East LA, so she has a Chola accent.

And I'm scared of any tiger.

Who is the best kisser on Shameless?

Chatwin!

Did you read Mystic River before doing the movie?

Yeah. It's a great book.

Being how famous and unbelievably talented and beyond gorgeous ...how do you handle the paparazzi?

I put sunglasses on and try to be as nice as they can be. They don't bother me as much in New York. Hence why I want to move back to New York full time.

What makes the perfect hot dog?

Dirty water and ketchup.

Just donated $250 to Omaze. If I win will you sing "Angel of Music" with me?

Yes, I won't make you pay extra for that.

What's your perfect Sunday?

Sunday night TV is usually the best. I love HOMELAND and THE AFFAIR and not just because they're on Showtime. Also, sometimes the Housewives are on - hello! I like to cook on Sunday afternoons. I also love going to open houses, and imagining myself living in different places. I love working out in the morning and going out to brunch. One of my favorite places to eat in LA is John O'Groats, and they make gluten-free lemon curd pancakes that blow your mind.

In regards to the many amazing guest stars on Shameless, who was your favorite and why?

I think people will be excited to see Dermott Mulroney this year. I think he plays a very interesting character.

Girl, I'd go straight for you. :I Ahem, on a more serious matter. Care to tease us something from the new season? Playing in shameless, how did it affect your daily life?

People sometimes call me "Fiona" in the supermarket, but i like it.

One spoiler for the season ahead - one of the Gallaghers is pregnant.

Emmy! Our NY sports teams are struggling.. If you were in charge what would you do with the Knicks?

Give them the rest of the season off and start fresh. I mean, I think we're 5 to 22 at this point. But I still want to see them any chance i can. I might go to see them New Year's Eve, because I like them that much.

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I don't love Chipotle. It's okay, but in LA, there are so many great little taco stands that are incredible. I love Tito's Tacos, they have a salsa that i will get my the gallon and keep in my fridge, I will put it on eggs or almost anything. But i usually get the burrito bowl, if I do chipotle.

Is the "Fuck Off" sleep mask something you brought in or was it the show's idea? EDIT: Downvoted for asking a legitimate question in an AMA? One that she found interesting enough to answer? Fuck Off indeed, reddit.

Oh, that was not my idea, but i would love to claim it as my own.

I think they sell it on the website. i asked if I was getting a % of the profits from that, and I think they laughed at me.

Hi there! I loved the Phantom of the Opera! You were amazing! I also love watching your YouTube videos of you singing on stage! I have naturally curly hair and I believe you have naturally curly hair too, right? What do you do to make your curls less frizzy? What is your go to hair product?

Sometimes I do the Keratin treatments. Mostly, though, I just try to add a lot of moisture back into my curls - lots of conditioner, sometimes i sleep with conditioner in, and there's an iron called the Beachwaver by Sarah Potempa, and it rotates and it's pretty amazing.

And I love the OGX products - they are super-cheap, and i use the brown bottle / copper colored bottle. I love it!

You have hidden talents? Please tell me you can put your foot behind your head

I do that in season 1 of Shameless.

I was a dancer as a kid, so yes, I can human-pretzel. But it's not cute.

Hidden talents would be being the loudest, most competitive person during a game of charades. If you can call that a "hidden talent."

Would you ever get a horse? (Icelandic horses are incredible plus so cute and fluffy!)

I would love a horse. And I am zoned for them. And they are SO expensive. I have to save my money so I can put my kids through school someday, in 20 years!

Whose your favorite backstreet boys?, let's be honest it's howie D.

I feel like i wasn't into BSB or N-Sync. I was SUPER into Spice Girls. My first email address was an anagram of my favorite Spice Girl.

I saw SPICE WORLD the day it came out. And I was in a movie that Alan Cumming was in, called DARE, and I think he almost quit because i asked him so many questions about SPICE WORLD.