Emma Roberts' family hoped she would grow out of acting. The 23-year-old star - whose father is Oscar-nominated actor Eric Roberts and whose aunt is Julia Roberts - admits her relatives didn't want her to pursue a career in showbiz and wanted her to become a doctor instead. Speaking in the June issue of Elle Canada magazine, she said: ''{My mom] just didn't want me to go into it [acting] young. When you come from a family that's in the industry, they're always like, 'Be a doctor! Be a lawyer!' But we end up wanting to be actors.'' When asked if she received any advice from Julia, she added: ''No one said anything to me about acting because they hoped it would just be a phase. But I kept doing it!''
Emma, who shot to fame after taking on the lead role in the Nickelodeon TV show Unfabulous - believes her determination to follow her own dreams comes from being raised single-handily by her mother Kelly Cunningham. She explained: ''I've always been very opinionated. That's what comes from being raised by a single mother. My mom always instilled confidence and told me to have an opinion and to educate myself.''