Emmerich’s breakout performance was in Ted Demme’s cult hit Beautiful Girls (Natalie Portman, Uma Thurman, Matt Dillon), followed by a role opposite Jim Carrey in Peter Weir’s Academy Award® nominated The Truman Show, which firmly established his outstanding talent.
His film work includes Todd Field’s Academy Award® nominated Little Children (Kate Winslet), J.J. Abrams' Super 8, Gavin O'Connor's Pride & Glory (Edward Norton, Colin Farrell), Doug Liman’s Fair Game (Naomi Watts, Sean Penn), Sympathy for Delicious (Mark Ruffalo), Miracle (Kurt Russell), Frequency (Dennis Quaid), Beyond Borders (Angelina Jolie, Clive Owen), Windtalkers (Nicolas Cage), Life (Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence), Copland (Sylvester Stallone, Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel), Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties (Marion Cotillard, Clive Owen, and Zoe Saldana), Warrior (Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton), and Jane Got A Gun (Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor). He recently finished shooting Damian Harris’ Wilde Wedding, starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich.
On television, Emmerich also appeared to great acclaim as "Dr. Jenner" in Frank Darabont's breakout hit The Walking Dead. He's guest starred on shows including The West Wing, Monk and White Collar.
Emmerich began directing episodes of The Americans in its third season. Showtime’s Billions, starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis, also had him on to direct its fourth episode in the second season.
His recent stage work includes Stephen Belber's Fault Lines at the Cherry Lane (directed by David Schwimmer) and the Kennedy Center's production of A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Patricia Clarkson.
Emmerich received an honors degree in history from Yale University and studied filmmaking at New York University. He was born and raised in New York City, where he currently lives.