Browning's acting career began at the age of 8 years old when she was noticed by a classmate's father at a school play and he recommended that she pursue acting as a profession. Shortly afterwards, she won a role alongside Judy Davis in the Hallmark Television movie, The Echo of Thunder. A successful career in Australian film and television productions soon followed, including The Man Who Sued God, in which she played the daughter of Billy Connolly's character. She later co-starred again with Connolly in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, in which she played the role of Violet Baudelaire. She was scared she was going to get fired during filming, because of laughing too frequently at co-star Jim Carrey. Browning had a recurring role as Hayley Fulton on the popular television series 'Blue Heelers' from 2000 until 2002. She also played "Katie Harwood" in the 2002 horror film Ghost Ship; the same year she won Australian Film Institute Award for Best Young Actress, and was nominated the following year.
In 2006, Browning appeared in the music video for Evermore's Light Surrounding You. In the making of video for the clip, the band stated, "...we suck as actors, so we decided to get Emily."
She attended the L'Oreal Fashion Festival as festival ambassador on February 1, 2007. She is now working on the film, The Uninvited, which is being filmed in Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada and Vancouver and will be released in 2008.
She has stated interest in doing a sequel of the movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events although if a sequel was made, she would most likely not be cast as she has grown out of the role. Emily's new upcoming film, The Uninvited (formerly known as 'A Tale of Two Sisters') is a thriller as she stars alongside Arielle Kebbel as she plays Anna which is due to hit screens in 2008.
