Emmy Rossum Says ‘Shameless’ Nudity Made Dating ‘Quite Tricky’

• Emmy Rossum, 40, said on Maria Sharapova’s podcast, Pretty Tough, that the nudity on Shameless made dating “quite tricky.”
• She played Fiona Gallagher for nine seasons and now stars in and executive produces Hulu’s Furious, which was renewed for a second season in August.
• To play FBI agent Alice Black, she paid for her own training camp in Texas and taught herself to do everything left-handed.

Nine seasons of Shameless followed Emmy Rossum onto her dates. The actress, 40, said on the Sept. 16 episode of Maria Sharapova’s podcast, Pretty Tough, that the show’s nude scenes shaped what the men she went out with expected from her.

She was talking about her 20s, when she played Fiona Gallagher on the Showtime series. Now she’s the star and an executive producer of Furious, Hulu’s breakout thriller of the summer. Here’s what she said, and what she’s doing next.

What did Emmy Rossum say about dating after ‘Shameless’?

It got quite tricky because of the nudity on the show. All of the guys that I would go out with had preconceived notions of who I was or how I was sexually.

Emmy Rossum, on Pretty Tough with Maria Sharapova, Sept. 16, 2026

“I think growing up in your 20s, you’re dating and you’re trying to figure out who you are,” she said. “There’s also all these preconceived notions about you that are out there because your body is your art, right?”

Her example came from a flight. A man seated near her told her he wanted to be president someday and asked whether dating someone who’d “been exposed in the way that you have” would be “tricky” for him. “This is an insane conversation to have,” Rossum said she answered.

Rossum has been married since 2017 to Sam Esmail, the creator of Mr. Robot. The full conversation, which also covers her start in the Metropolitan Opera’s children’s chorus and working with Sean Penn at 16, is below.

What is Emmy Rossum’s new show?

Furious, on Hulu. Rossum plays Alice Black, a former NYPD homicide detective stuck on the bottom rung of the FBI as a probationary agent, who hunts a serial killer named Catherine, played by Lola Petticrew. Hulu describes Catherine as “calm, chameleonic, and terrifyingly deliberate.”

The eight-episode series premiered July 27, created and written by Elizabeth Meriwether of New Girl, with Jake Lacy, Scoot McNairy and Quincy Tyler Bernstine in the cast. Rossum executive produced through her own company, Composition 8.

Hulu renewed it for a second season in August, before the Aug. 31 finale, saying viewership had grown week over week. No return date has been announced. All eight episodes stream on Hulu and on Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers.

How did Emmy Rossum train to play an FBI agent?

With habits no viewer would notice. She taught herself to do everyday things, like picking up her phone or opening the car door, with her left hand, so her right hand would stay free to reach for a gun, Sharapova recounted after the episode.

She also worked with a vocal coach to flatten her naturally musical voice.

Then she flew to Texas for a boot camp, on her own dime. An ex-military consultant chased her around a range in the pouring rain and ambushed her with training ammunition. What she learned, she told Sharapova, was how “soft” she actually is.

The equal pay fight

The episode also goes back to Shameless, where Rossum pushed for pay equal to her co-star, William H. Macy, and returned to the negotiating table after her first attempt didn’t land. Sharapova wrote that people close to Rossum had told her to stick to acting before she built her production company.

More actors, unfiltered: Matthew Rhys says Dustin Hoffman snubbed him backstage in 2000, and Sylvester Stallone opened up about what he did to his body for Rocky. On TV, Marshals Season 2 starts Oct. 4. More in Celebrities.

— Bruno Monteiro

Sources: Pretty Tough with Maria Sharapova, “Emmy Rossum on making Furious and Surviving an FBI Boot Camp” (Sept. 16, 2026), and Maria Sharapova’s recaps on the show’s Substack (September 2026); Parade, by Holly Riordan (Sept. 25, 2026); Explore Disney+, “Furious: Hulu’s Gripping New Crime Thriller Is Now Streaming” (July 27, 2026); Deadline and Variety on the Season 2 renewal (August 2026).