Emma Kenney

Precocious child actress Emma Kenney hit many career milestones early. By the age of 4, she was already taking improv classes and soon landed work in commercials for companies including Stouffer's frozen foods and oil corporation ExxonMobil, as well as receiving roles in student films. At 8, she achieved another goal ahead of schedule by creating her own film. While watching an episode of the sitcom "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch" in which the characters make a movie about vampires, Kenney was inspired to make one of her own, directing, shooting, and editing the four-minute short film "The New Girl In Town." Kenney wanted the story of a young vampire invited to a sleepover to be frightening, but the charming, inadvertently funny results, along with her youth, won over the judges at the New Jersey International Film Festival, which selected it to be part of their competition, making the young actress the subject of attention for local newspapers and television stations. Her national reputation was raised much higher in 2011 when she was cast on the Showtime drama "Shameless" as Debbie Gallagher, the fourth-youngest child out of six in a family fathered by a shiftless drunk (William H. Macy). In 2011, she also acted in an episode of the HBO prohibition drama "Boardwalk Empire." In addition to her interest in acting, Kenney loves animals and hopes to someday open an animal shelter.