Her maternal great-grandmother was Betty Tsarivan from Telenesti, Bessarabia. Emmy Rossum's television debut was in August 1997, as the original Abigail Williams in the daytime soap opera As the World Turns. She also had a guest role as Caroline Beels in Snoops. Rossum was nominated for a Young Artist Award in 1999 for Best Performance in a TV movie for her work in the made-for-TV movie Genius. She then portrayed a young Audrey Hepburn in the ABC television film The Audrey Hepburn Story (2000). Rossum made her film debut at 13, in 2000's Songcatcher, as Deladis Slocumb, an Appalachian orphan. Debuting at the Sun- dance Film Festival, the film won the Special Jury Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. For her role, Rossum received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance and also had the opportunity to sing a duet with Dolly Parton on the Songcatcher soundtrack. Variety magazine named Rossum as "One of the Ten to Watch" in 2000. In Nola (2003), Rossum played thetitle character, an aspi- ring songwriter. In her first major studio film, Clint Eastwood's Mystic River (2003), Rossum starred as Katie Markum, the ill-fated daughter of small-business owner Jimmy Markum, played by Sean Penn. For her performance, Rossum received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a musical or comedy. She also received a Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Actress.