These days, Emma Stone is one of Hollywood’s most respected actresses.
Winner of two Best Actress Oscars — one for “La La Land,” the other for “Poor Things” — the 37-year-old star came boast of being among the most successful and popular actors of her generation.
The New ‘Partridge Family’
Back in 2004, however, Stone was a teenager with big dreams trying to break into show business.
That desire led her to “In Search of the Partridge Family,” a VH1 reality show that held “American Idol”-style auditions to find the cast of a reboot of hit 1970s TV sitcom “The Partridge Family.”
The original series focused on a single mom (Shirley Jones, who also served as the reality show’s host) who performed in a rock band with her children.
One of those kids was teen idol David Cassidy, who took “The Partridge Family” from network television to the Billboard charts with hits such as “I Think I Love You.”
She Made the Cut
Stone was auditioning to play the part of Laurie Partridge, portrayed by Susan Dey in the original series.
Stone’s talent shone through, both in terms of singing and acting.
As the other wannabe Lauries were sent packing, Stone continued on through the competition until ultimately nabbing the role.
‘A Pivotal Experience’
Stone looked back on that experience decades later, sharing her recollections with “Entertainment Tonight.”
“’In Search of The Partridge Family’ was a VH1 reality search competition, similar to an ‘American Idol,’” Stone recalled.
“There was singing. There were like little scenes we would do, and every week, people would be voted off,” she explained
The fact that nobody remembers “In Search of the Partridge Family” makes it clear that the show was not the big break Stone had hoped it would be. However, it did lead to an important connection that would prove pivotal to her eventual success.
“I made lifelong friends there,” Stone said. “I also ended up meeting my manager, now of 20 years, Doug Wald. It was a pivotal experience in my life, but really intense to be on a reality competition.
A Broken Big Break
During a 2025 appearance on SiriusXM’s “Radio Andy,” Stone shared more details.
As she remembers, she and her fellow contestants holed up in a hotel near Universal Studios in Los Angeles, essentially shut off from the outside world throughout the course of the competition. That experience, she said, gave her some real insight into the inner workings of reality TV.
“It really gave me the understanding of, like, how it must feel to be on ‘The Bachelor’ or ‘The Bachelorette,” she recalled.
As she told host Andy Cohen, she’d initially been blasé about the show — a feeling that changed significantly as the days passed.
“And by five weeks, six weeks in, you go insane! You have, like Stockholm syndrome,” she said. “And I was, like, really crazy by the end of it. It really does feel like you’re trapped in a bubble.”
Stone won the competition, and portrayed Laurie Partridge in a pilot for what was intended to be a new TV series.
“The New Partridge Family,” was not the hit that VH1 had expected. After the pilot aired just one, the show was never heard from again.
“And then it was apparently so disastrous that the writers took their names off of it,” Stone remembered.
