Emma Stone Reveals She Briefly Went by Stage Name ‘Riley Stone’
Los Angeles, USA – October 24, 2025: Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone revealed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that she once adopted a stage name, Riley Stone, for six months early in her career after discovering she couldn’t use her birth name, Emily Stone, in Hollywood.
Stone, 36, explained, “I actually adopted a stage name for, I would say, like six months. Because the Screen Actors Guild, it’s like the Business Bureau. You can only have one person with that name.”
She continued, “I was 16, and I decided I wanted to be Riley for like six months. So I was Riley Stone, which is a beautiful name.”
Struggles With a New Name
Despite liking the name, Stone admitted she struggled to respond to it professionally. “I did an episode, like a guest part, on Malcolm in the Middle, and they kept going like: ‘Riley! Riley!’ And I had no idea who they were talking to. Truly. And I was like: ‘I cannot be Riley.’ Like, it’s such a … It came out of nowhere.”
Eventually, she decided to adopt the name Emma, which sounded closer to her birth name, Emily. “So I then changed it to ‘Emma’ because it’s close enough to ‘Emily,’” she said.
A Fondness for Her Real Name
Despite her worldwide fame as Emma Stone, the actress has expressed a desire to sometimes be called Emily. In an earlier interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she said, “When I get to know them, people that I work with do (call me Emily). It’s just because my name was taken (by another actress). Then I freaked out a couple of years ago. For some reason, I was like, 'I can’t do it anymore. Just call me Emily.'”
Asked if she would correct a fan who called her Emily instead of Emma, Stone replied with a smile: “No. That would be so nice. I would like to be Emily.”