#WCW: 4 obvious reasons why we’re completely obsessed with Emily Osment

Emily Osment of ABC Family’s ‘Young & Hungry’ poses in the Getty Images Portrait Studio at the 2016 Winter Television Critics Association press tour at the Langham Hotel on January 9, 2016 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Maarten de Boer/Getty Images Portraits)

You know Emily Osment from ‘Hannah Montana,’ you love her on ‘Young & Hungry,’ and you’ll be completely obsessed with our #WCW because of these four reasons.

More from Entertainment

• 10 Thanksgiving movies on Disney+ for your holiday watch list
• Strictly spoilers and results 2023: Who is leaving on Strictly Come Dancing Week 9?
• CMT Smashing Glass performers honoring groundbreaking women in music
• Jamie Lynn Spears joins I’m A Celebrity season 23: Who else is set to appear in the British reality series?
• Strictly spoilers and results 2023: Who is leaving on Strictly Come Dancing Week 8?

In a recent tweet, I made this long overdue declaration: “Emily Osment is the most underrated comedic actress of our time.” I have done the research and can definitively inform you that this statement is gospel. But rather than continuing to shout the truth out into the ether, I’d like to present the world with cold, hard facts. If you’ve been sleeping on Emily Osment, consider this your alarm clock.

Many of Emily Osment’s fans grew up watching her in the Spy Kids sequels and, more than likely, the Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana. Since the series’ wrap, she has been a shining example of a child star leading with talent, grace, and a good head on her shoulders. Osment pursued music, attended college, and continued her career in comedy with Freeform’s Young & Hungry. After every episode of the sitcom, I walk away blown away by Osment’s commitment to comedy and presenting an ambitious albeit misguided woman with hilarious complexity. She’s an underappreciated artist and comedian and our ultimate #WomanCrushWednesday. These reasons might seem obvious, but here’s why we’re completely obsessed with Emily Osment.

She defined our childhoods.

Duh! Before her course charted toward the House of Mouse, Osment co-starred in Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over as the devious Gerti Giggles. But we really got to know Emily Osment in a little show that made absolutely zero impact on the ’00s zeitgeist in any way. I kid, of course.

On the Disney Channel’s pop culture phenomenon Hannah Montana, Osment starred opposite Miley Cyrus as Lilly Truscott, the titular part-time pop star’s happy-go-lucky best friend. Osment stole many a scene as Lilly, even as early as the pilot. (“Halfway there” still inspires a chuckle to this day.) Watch the clip above and try to handle the nostalgia.

She’s got a killer voice.

Don’t write her off as another Disney darling who grabbed a recording contract out of requirement from the network. No, she’s got powerhouse pipes and can write catchy bangers and beautiful acoustic ballads. Osment made her music on her own terms and created, dare I say, one of the best pop albums of the current decade.

Fight or Flight, her debut album, took flight in 2010 with earworms produced by Nellee Hooper and Toby Gad. It’s worth noting that Wikipedia calls “Let’s Be Friends” one of the most “iconic songs of today,” and we can’t argue. Wikipedia doesn’t lie, right? But we must keep waiting for EO2 to save the music industry.

She’s an underrated comedy queen.

Listen up, kids. If you aren’t watching Emily Osment on Young & Hungry, you’re missing one of the greatest comedic performances on television. It’s about time she gets the credit she deserves. Reminiscent of Lucille Ball and Osment’s Young & Hungry guest star and Golden girl Betty White, Osment grounds Gabi Diamond’s zaniest antics in a place of ambition and strength of character.

She’s a dreamer, a spitfire, and a loose cannon, traits Osment sinks her teeth into with riotous abandon. In Season 5’s midseason finale (and the series’ best episode to date), Osment scores the biggest laughs for Gabi’s full-blown meltdown. Whether in drama mode for Cyberbully or Mom or in comedy queen mode on Young & Hungry, watching Osment act is always a delight.

Next: Q&A: 'Young & Hungry's Jonathan Sadowski teases Gabi and Josh's slow burn

And finally, this tweet.

It’s just one impeccable example of Osment’s excellent social media presence. She cracks jokes and communicates with fans, but her most admirable online quality is using her voice and platform to speak on important issues. Whether it’s wearing her preference for pizza to the patriarchy on her sleeve (as seen on Snapchat) or calling out harmful inconsistencies, she’s refreshingly honest. Now, how do we get on the guest list to Emily Osment’s whiskey nights?

Catch Emily Osment in Young & Hungry, available to stream on Netflix and returning to Freeform later this year!