Big was born 'Emma Chukker' on the 8th of April 1973, in San Diego California.

She began to study theatre as a teen at the La Jolla Playhouse and the renowned Old Globe Theatre, where she won the honour of "Excellence in Theatre Arts." She says she was "a big musical theatre nerd" as a teen. Emma's mother is a professional singer.

She went on to major in Psychology at San Francisco State University but gave up her place to go into acting, after being stopped on the street in L.A. by an agent.

Emma was briefly married when she was 'very young', the relationship didn't last and they became divorced.

One of Big's earliest roles was that of Susan Keats in the long-running TV series, 'Beverly Hills - 90210' in 1995-96. From there, she went on to play a regular role as Lorraine Miller in the daytime soap opera 'General Hospital'.

In addition to those roles, Emma has had guest parts on 'Nash Bridges', 'Silk Stalkings', 'Weird Science', 'Renegade' and 'Saved by the Bell: The New Class'.

She began the role of Anya in the third season episode, "The Wish" as the Patron Saint of Scorned Women - Anyanka, who was posing as a high school student.

She was then asked to reprise Anya for a later episode, "Doppelgangland", and then again in later episodes as they developed her character as a 1,200 year old creature trapped in the body of a high school girl.

Her role then developed further and she became a regular cast member during season five. "It's a fun character to play," says Caulfield. "Anya remains mortal and ambivalent. She's just struggling with being human, and really, don't we all struggle with that from time to time? It's fun. She's very irreverent - and definitely bitter." She remained a regular cast member until the show ended with its seventh season.

"I don't know that I want to act 15 years from now. I mean, I love the process of acting, but not the masochism. No matter how successful you get in Hollywood, you cannot rest. Your new movie doesn't open well; they're looking for the next person to replace you; it's always something. You never have true peace." - Emma.

Emma completed filming her first feature film whilst simultaneously filming for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 'Darkness Falls' got to number one in the US box office and number 4 in the UK box office.