Emmy Rossum - Company Magazine January Issue Pictures

For those of you who still associate Emmy Rossum to the simpering Christine in Phantom of the Opera, think again. The star of the TV drama Shameless is no shrinking violet. In the January issue of Company magazine, Rossum's feisty personality is front and center: “I’m kind of a ball-buster," she says. "If people don’t know me very well, they tend to think I’m sarcastic and cutting…Hilary [Swank] would give me some input on a scene on You’re Not You and I’d say, 'Okay, I guess I should listen to you because you’ve got an Oscar or two!' People were like, 'I can’t believe she’s talking to Hilary that way!' But, she totally got me and we became really close friends.”

Also, the article reveals that Rossum's spot-on fashion sense is wholly her own. Unlike other starlets, this actress does her own call-ins and uses social media to get sartorial inspiration, too. She says, “Yes, [I don’t have a stylist]. And I love it. I feel like I know my body and know what I like. I think I can sometimes get the pieces I want, because I’m calling the designers directly. I think they know that when stylists call they’re not going to put the client in it anyway. I pull two or three options per event, I don’t give myself a rack of 30 dresses. I look at Pinterest for ideas for hair and make-up. It’s like playing pretend — so fun.”

Rossum’s refreshingly independent spirit doesn’t end there. “To this day, I’ve never done a hard drug," she reveals. "I’ve never done cocaine, I’ve never done heroin, I’ve never done ecstasy, which is literally everywhere. It just was never interesting to me. The feeling of being out of control or doing anything that could potentially harm me was just not my cup of tea. I would literally rather run down the street naked and I’ve done almost that.”

We're pretty sure we've found our new BFF. For more Rossum, click here for exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of her stunning cover shoot, or pick up the latest issue of Company, on newsstands today.