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Emily Junk is the tritagonist in Pitch Perfect 2 and Pitch Perfect 3 . She is a freshman who is the daughter of a former Bella, Katherine Junk, making her a "Legacy Bella." She hopes to and eventually joins the Barden Bellas. She is portrayed by actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld.

Biography

Pitch Perfect 2

Emily Junk makes her debut as a freshman at Barden University when she walks to a music orientation with her mother, Katherine Junk, who is a former Bella herself. She hopes to follow her mother's path as a Bella. Excited, Emily goes to find the Bellas so she can audition for them but fails to find them at the music orientation. Outside the building, she meets Jesse and Benji. Benji immediately develops crush on her but only makes things more awkward between them. Therefore, she heads to the Bellas' house on campus. She is confused when Fat Amy informs her at the front door that the Bellas are not accepting any auditions. She holds the door, and Cynthia-Rose asks her to come in. She explains that her last name is Junk (she goes with her mother's maiden name because Hardon, her father's last name, is worse) and Chloe quickly recognizes her mother, in surprise, who was a Bella that invented the booty shake and had a five octave back in the past. Chloe accepts the audition, and Emily sings her original song, "Flashlight", which is not 100% completed, as she is stuck at one part of the song. When the Bellas try to discuss if Emily should be in the group, they all agree that she has a nice voice and that they need new people for substitution if one Bella falls out. As they accept her, they go to the acapella party.

During the acapella party, Emily meets Benji again, who asks her on a date (he is so anxious that he says some things that aren't words). She politely rejects him, because she's just getting started with college. She and the Bellas are having fun all night long during the party. Later, Emily is present during her first rehearsal as a Bella. She asks Beca why there is no singing during the rehearsal, to which Beca didn't answer properly because she is rushing to her intern office, and she instead compliments Emily, which makes Emily happy. She and the other Bellas attend the riff-off and when the Bellas make it to the final round, where the songs category is "90's Hip Hop Jamz", Emily is pointed to by the host and abruptly sings "Flashlight", which is the reason The Bellas lost, much to their disappointment. She and the Bellas perform in the convention center just to be crushed with Cynthia-Rose's hair accidentally being burned. On their way back, inside the bus, Fat Amy briefly blames her when everyone starts to blame each other, calling her the "Legacy." Chloe later sets them to a retreat center instead of coming back home. At the retreat place, which is now run by Aubrey, she is greeted by her saying "You must be Emily". She participates the exercise Aubrey instructs to them, and sings Cups with the others at the bonfire night. Emily meets Benji again when he is painting the bus, telling him that he spelled it wrong. Benji tries to touch her, but due to his dirty hands, he stops. He asks her if he can do it when his hands are clean, and Emily blushingly says yes. Emily is also seen talking to her mother via the phone and hands her phone to Beca, who talks to Katherine on the phone when Fat Amy runs to Bumper. Beca takes Emily to the music studio where she is currently having an internship, and produces her song "Flashlight". They later give it to Beca's boss, who is impressed with both of them. She took a picture of all of her fellow Bellas, who are seniors, getting ready for graduation. After the graduation, The Bellas go to Copenhagen for the Worlds competition. While preparing there, Benji comes to Emily, which surprises her, and when Benji tries to show something to her, she kisses him, much to his delight. She performs with the Bellas, and the last song in their setlist is "Flashlight", in which she and Beca share solo leads. Near the end of the song, all the former Barden Bellas members, including her mother, Katherine, and Aubrey, join the performance. She closes the performance, happy that her song is finally a success. At the end of the film, Emily is shown to finally get a proper Bellas initiation, taking the Bella oath, and, as instructed by Fat Amy, slide down the house stairs. As she is about to take her turn, the film ends.

Pitch Perfect 3

In Pitch Perfect 3, Emily invites the Bellas to a "reunion", but leaving out the fact that she's inviting them to watch her sing, not sing together. She then leads the "New Bellas" in a performance of "Sit Still, Look Pretty." Emily apologies to them for what happened, when Aubrey announce they will perform in the USO Tour, Emily takes Stacie place after she announced that she's Eight months Pregnant.

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Personality

Being a new member of the Bellas, Emily is a bit shy around the members there, and she can be very nervous when it comes to singing. As Katherine Junk's (a former reigning Bella) daughter, she is technically a "Legacy Bella," but later in the movie she states she wants to be a true Bella, not a Legacy, which shows that her excitement during the beginning of the movie is pure, as she is genuinely wants to be a Barden Bella. She was good at adapting to joining the Bellas slowly overtime and by the end of the movie, she was very confident and excited about being a Bella. When she was confident and excited, she seemed very happy and up for doing everything and she laughed a lot. She has a gift to be able to write down things when she feels something and later turn the words into a song, as shown in the bus during the Bellas way to Aubrey's retreat place.

Relationships

Benji Applebaum

Benji immediately takes a liking to her at first sight when Emily approaches him and Jesse after the student's orientation, but he makes things between him and Emily increasingly awkward. Later at the acapella college party, Benji tries to take her on a date, but again, due to his awkwardness, he fails to deliver the words properly. Emily understands his intentions, but politely refuses him, since she is new to the place. They meet again when Benji is painting the bus, telling him that he spelled it wrong. Benji tries to touch her, but due to his dirty hands, he stops. He asks her if he can do it when his hands are clean, and Emily blushingly says yes. Their last onscreen interaction was in Copenhagen, when Benji comes to accompany Jesse (who will watch Beca) and watch her perform. He tries to approach her with a magic trick; however, he was instead interrupted by a kiss from Emily, in which he pulls the sheets out from his mouth unexpectedly. As he apologizes because he thought it went the other way, Beca smiles as she leaves them off with a kiss before jumping on stage for the World Championship.

Beca Mitchell

Emily first met Beca at the party, the same night as Emily got into the Bellas. Since Emily came to join the Bellas when Beca wasn't there, she excitedly introduces herself to Beca, whom she idolizes for making a change to the Bellas, and tells her she is a Legacy Bella, which Beca hasn't ever heard about. Later, Emily asks Beca why during their first rehearsal they didn't sing and Beca, rushing for her internship, politely rebuffs her, not before complimenting her, making Emily pleased. During the secret riff-off, Emily, who didn't knew the riff-off system, flubs her song "Flashlight" in the 90's hip-hop jam. While Chloe scolds her, Beca defends her, impressed by her ability to write original songs. When Beca's mash-up demos are rejected by her boss as he needs an original material, Beca approaches Emily and asks if she wants to record and produce her song, to which Emily happily agrees and they began to work. Their effort is successful as Beca's boss likes the result. Beca, as the current leader of the Bellas, also has some unrevealed talks with Emily's mother, Katherine, via phone. After graduation, Beca includes Flashlight in their final World Championship setlist, which get an acclaim by the audiences, and eventually win the competition. 

The Barden Bellas

Emily first met Fat Amy when she visited the Bellas' house, intending to audition. Amy initially rejects her because they aren't allowed to hold an audition, but it's Emily who came to them. She doesn't act really kind towards Emily, like when Emily's complimenting Amy's vagina, she simply says "thank you, proceed" with serious facial expression. She was also one of the Bellas who did not agree with Emily joining but eventually smiles when she is in. She also directly says that Emily is the dumbest person alive in front of her. After a disastrous appearance by the Bellas where Cynthia Rose's hair got burned, when the girls are blaming each other, Fat Amy blames Emily for no reason. But Fat Amy also shows a kind side to her, such as holding Emily's hand when she flubs her song Flashlight in the wrong category during a riff-off and showing her how to slide down the house's stairs as an initiation.

Chloe recognizes her mother as Katherine Junk, a legendary former Bella. She is in favor of accepting Emily to the group and announces she's in. Later, she is furious with Emily when the Bellas lose the riff-off to Das Sound Machine because Emily sings her original song Flashlight in the 90's hip-hop jam category (the same way Aubrey Posen scolds Beca for changing their semi finals set list on stage, except it's brief) but Beca defends Emily.

Though no longer a member of the Bellas, Aubrey apparently keeps in touch with Chloe, as Aubrey greets Emily by saying "Hi, you must be Emily." This possibly means Aubrey was informed by Chloe every time a new kid joined the Bellas.

Trivia

  • Her last name "Junk" is actually her mother's maiden name. She gets a lot of nonsense from people about this name but her parents went with this last name intentionally because her father's last name, "Hardon", would have been even worse. (This is actually just a joke she tells that nobody laughed at.)
  • Emily is the first known member of the Bellas that writes an original song, and she later provides her song to be performed by the Bellas.
  • In the third film, her passport reveals that Emily's birthday is November 11, 1996 and she was born in Columbus, Ohio.
  • In the third film, she could only go to the USO tour because Stacie can't make it.
  • It's possible that she has at least one younger or older brother. When she first appears with her mother, Katherine, the latter remarks "My only daughter, leaving the nest." This implies that Mrs. Junk has other children (with Mr. Hardon) because if Emily was an only child, Katherine would simply say "My only child leaving the nest."
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