About Emma Watson
Early Life & Education
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born on 15 April 1990 in Paris, to English lawyers Chris Watson and Jacqueline Luesby.Watson lived in Maisons-Laffitte near Paris until age five. Her parents divorced when she was young, and Watson moved to England to live with her mother in Oxfordshire while spending weekends at her father's house in London.Watson has said she speaks some French, though "not as well" as she used to.After moving to Oxford with her mother and brother, she attended the Dragon School, remaining there until 2003.From age six, she wanted to become an actress,and trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing, and acting.
By age ten, Watson had performed in Stagecoach productions and school plays including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince,but she had never acted professionally prior to the Harry Potter series. After the Dragon School, Watson moved on to Headington School, Oxford. While on film sets, she and her castmates were tutored for up to five hours a day.In June 2006, she took GCSE school examinations in ten subjects, achieving eight A* and two A grades. In May 2007, she took AS levels in English, Geography, Art, and History of Art. The following year, she dropped History of Art to pursue the three A levels, receiving an A grade in each subject.
Watson took a gap year after finishing secondary school,to film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Parts 1 & 2 beginning in February 2009,but asserted that she intended to continue her studies and later confirmed she had chosen Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.In March 2011, after 18 months at the university, Watson announced she was deferring her course for "a semester or two",though she attended Worcester College, Oxford during the 2011–12 academic year as part of the Visiting Student Programme.In a 2014 interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Watson said just before graduation that it took five years to finish her degree instead of four because, owing to her acting work, she "ended up taking two full semesters off".On 25 May 2014, she graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature.
1999–2009: Harry Potter & Worldwide Recognition
In 1999, casting began for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the film adaptation of British author J. K. Rowling's best-selling novel. Casting agents found Watson through her Oxford theatre teacher, and producers were impressed by her confidence. After eight auditions, producer David Heyman told Watson and fellow applicants Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint that they had been cast in the roles of the school friends Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, respectively. Rowling supported Watson from her first screen test.
The release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001 was Watson's debut screen performance. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and was the highest-grossing film of 2001.Critics singled out Watson for particular acclaim; The Daily Telegraph called her performance "admirable",and IGN said she "stole the show". Watson was nominated for five awards for her performance in Philosopher's Stone, winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress.A year later, Watson reprised her role as Hermione in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second instalment of the series. Reviewers praised the lead actors' performances. The Los Angeles Times said Watson and her co-stars had matured between films,while The Times criticised director Chris Columbus for "under-employing" Watson's hugely popular character.Watson received an Otto Award from the German magazine Bravo for her performance.
In 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released. Watson was appreciative of the more assertive role Hermione played, calling her "charismatic" and "a fantastic role to play". Critics lauded Watson's performance; A. O. Scott of The New York Times remarked: "Luckily Mr. Radcliffe's blandness is offset by Ms. Watson's spiky impatience. Harry may show off his expanding wizardly skills ... but Hermione ... earns the loudest applause with a decidedly unmagical punch to Draco Malfoy's deserving nose."Although Prisoner of Azkaban proved to be the lowest-grossing Harry Potter film in the entire series, Watson's personal performance won her two Otto Awards and the Child Performance of the Year award from Total Film.
With Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), both Watson and the Harry Potter film series reached new milestones. The film set records for a Harry Potter opening weekend and opening weekend in the UK. Critics praised the increasing maturity of Watson and her teenage co-stars; The New York Times called her performance "touchingly earnest",and Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote that "Watson's gutsy, confident performance nicely shows that inside and outside the world of magic there is a growing discrepancy between a teenage girl's status and her accelerating emotional and intellectual development."For Watson, much of the film's humour sprang from the tension among the three lead characters as they matured. She said, "I loved all the arguing. ... I think it's much more realistic that they would argue and that there would be problems."Nominated for three awards for Goblet of Fire, Watson won a bronze Otto Award.
In 2006, Watson played Hermione in The Queen's Handbag, a special mini-episode of Harry Potter in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday.The fifth film in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was released in 2007. A huge financial success, the film set a record worldwide opening-weekend gross of $332.7 million.Watson won the inaugural National Movie Award for Best Female Performance.As the fame of the actress and the series continued to rise, Watson and her Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint left imprints of their hands, feet and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on 9 July 2007.That month, Watson's work on the Harry Potter series was said to have earned her more than £10 million, and she acknowledged she would never have to work for money again.
Prior to the release of Order of the Phoenix, the future of the Harry Potter series was in jeopardy, as all three lead actors were hesitant to sign on to continue their roles for the final instalments.Watson was considerably more ambivalent than her co-stars during renegotiations.She explained that the decision was significant, as the films represented a further four-year commitment to the role, but eventually conceded that she "could never let [the role of] Hermione go",signing for the role on 23 March 2007.
Watson's first non-Potter role was the 2007 BBC film Ballet Shoes, an adaptation of the novel of the same title by Noel Streatfeild.The film's director, Sandra Goldbacher, commented that Watson was "perfect" for the starring role of aspiring actress Pauline Fossil: "She has a piercing, delicate aura that makes you want to gaze and gaze at her."Ballet Shoes was broadcast in the UK on Boxing Day to 5.7 million viewers, to mixed reviews.The following year, she voiced the character Princess Pea in the animation The Tale of Despereaux, a children's comedy starring Matthew Broderick, with Harry Potter co-star Robbie Coltrane also starring in the film.The Tale of Despereaux was released in December 2008 and grossed $87 million worldwide.
Principal photography for the sixth Harry Potter film began in late 2007, with Watson's part being filmed from 18 December to 17 May 2008.Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince premiered on 15 July 2009,having been delayed from November 2008.With the lead actors in their late teens, critics were increasingly willing to review them on the same level as the rest of the franchise's all-star cast, which the Los Angeles Times described as "a comprehensive guide to contemporary UK acting".The Washington Post felt Watson had given "[her] most charming performance to date",while The Daily Telegraph described the lead actors as "newly liberated and energised, eager to give all they have to what's left of the series".
Watson's filming for the final instalment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, began on 18 February 2009 and ended on 12 June 2010.For financial and scripting reasons, the original book was divided into two films which were shot consecutively.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was released in November 2010 while the second film was released in July 2011.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 became a commercial and critical success. The highest-grossing film in the franchise, it grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide and proved to be Watson's most commercially successful film to date.
2010–2016: Independent Films & Mainstream Work
Watson appeared in a music video for One Night Only, after meeting lead singer George Craig at the 2010 Winter/Summer Burberry advertising campaign. The video, "Say You Don't Want It", was screened on Channel 4 on 26 June 2010 and released on 16 August.In her first post-Harry Potter film, Watson appeared in My Week with Marilyn (2011) as Lucy, a wardrobe assistant who briefly dates protagonist Colin Clark, portrayed by Eddie Redmayne.
In May 2010, Watson was reported to be in talks to star in Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower,based on the 1999 novel of the same name. Filming began in summer of 2011, and the film was released in September 2012.Watson starred opposite Logan Lerman as Sam, a high school senior who befriends a fellow student called Charlie (Lerman), and helps him through his freshman year. The film opened to favourable reviews; David Sexton of the Evening Standard opined that Watson's performance was "plausible and touching",while The Atlantic reviewer thought that Watson "sheds the memory of a decade playing Hermione in the Harry Potter series with an about-face as a flirtatious but insecure free spirit.
In 2013, Watson starred in the satirical crime film The Bling Ring. The Sofia Coppola-directed film is based on the real-life Bling Ring robberies, with Watson playing a fictionalised version of Alexis Neiers, a television personality who was one of seven teenagers involved in the robberies. While the film mostly received mixed reviews, critics gave almost unanimous praise for Watson's performance. Adam White of The Independent later stated that "She prove[d] remarkable.... Watson oozes casual disdain. Her sticky American vocal fry is clipped and monotone, as if she's swallowed a Kardashian for breakfast."Watson also had a supporting role in the apocalyptic comedy This Is the End (2013), in which she, Seth Rogen, James Franco and many others played "exaggerated versions of themselves" and Watson memorably dropped the "f-bomb".She said she could not pass up the opportunity to make her first comedy and "work with some of the best comedians [...] in the world right now".
In June 2012, Watson was confirmed for the role as Ila, Shem's wife, in Darren Aronofsky's Noah, which began filming the following month, and was released in March 2014.Watson referred to the role as "physically very demanding" given the usage of special effects and did extensive research on childbirth to effectively portray a scene in the film.The film, a box office success, received mixed reviews for its direction and casting; Vanity Fair wrote that "Watson anchors the film's rawest emotional scenes.... Sitting on an Icelandic beach with Russell Crowe, her hair wild and eyes burning, Watson is quiet but ferocious.In March 2013, it was reported that Watson was in negotiations to star as the title character in Kenneth Branagh's live-action Disney adaptation of Cinderella.Watson was offered the role, but turned it down because she did not connect with the character.The role ultimately went to Lily James.
Watson joined Judi Dench, Robert Downey Jr., Mike Leigh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Mark Ruffalo as recipients of the 2014 Britannia Awards, presented on 30 October in Los Angeles. Watson was awarded British Artist of the Year and she dedicated the prize to Millie, her pet hamster who died as Watson was filming Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.Watson starred in two 2015 releases, the thrillers Colonia, opposite Daniel Brühl and Michael Nyqvist; and Regression by Alejandro Amenábar, alongside Ethan Hawke and her Harry Potter co-star David Thewlis.Both of these films received generally negative reviews;The Daily Telegraph critic blamed Regression's script for her "pure dramatic cardboard" role.She also appeared in an episode of BBC's The Vicar of Dibley, in which she played Reverend Iris.In February 2016, Watson announced she was taking a year-long break from acting. She planned to spend the time on her "personal development" and her women's rights work.
2017–present: Recent Career
Watson starred as Belle in the 2017 live-action Disney adaptation of Beauty and the Beast directed by Bill Condon, and starring opposite Dan Stevens as the Beast.She was given autonomy within Belle's portrayal; she re-characterised her as an assistant to her inventor father and incorporated bloomers and boots into her wardrobe.The film grossed over $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office and emerged as the second-highest-grossing film of 2017 and the 17th-highest-grossing film of all time.Her reported fee was $3 million upfront with profit participation, bringing her salary up to $15 million.The film garnered positive reviews; Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times thought her performance was "all pluck and spunk and sass and smarts and fierce independence as Belle".Watson later said "When I finished the film, it kind of felt like I had made that transition into being a woman on-screen".
In the same year, she starred opposite Tom Hanks in the film adaptation of Dave Eggers' novel The Circle as Mae Holland, who begins working at a powerful tech corporation and enters a perilous situation concerning surveillance and freedom.The film received negative reviews but was a moderate box office success.In 2019, Watson starred as Meg March in Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women, co-starring with Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, and Meryl Streep.On the premise, Watson has stated "I think [Little Women] was good literary device to explain that there's not one way to be a feminist.... [Meg's] way of being a feminist is making the choice – because that's really, for me anyway, what feminism is about. Her choice is that she wants to be a full-time mother and wife."Forbes stated that "Watson has perhaps the most challenging [...] role, as the proverbial straight woman of the sisters who is put on the defensive when her dreams end up being the most conventional of the lot."The film was critically acclaimed and grossed over $218 million against its $40 million budget.
In 2020, Watson discussed her future career plans, stating: "Having been so public in making films and being so active on social [media] in my activism, I am curious to embrace a role where I work to amplify more voices, to continue to learn from those with different experiences", adding that her work would include "fewer red carpets and more conference meetings".In 2021, various reports surfaced stating that Watson was engaged or retiring.Watson and her representatives refuted these reports; she later labelled the speculation as clickbait and cited her relative public absence to continued social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.In 2022, Watson reunited with multiple cast members of the Harry Potter film series for an HBO Max special titled Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.The following year, Watson revealed in an interview with the Financial Times that a reason why she had not acted in almost five years was because she "wasn't very happy" with the profession and that she felt "a bit caged". However, she went on to say that she will "absolutely" return to acting while also saying, "But I'm happy to sit and wait for the next right thing. I love what I do. It’s finding a way to do it where I don't have to fracture myself into different faces and people. And I just don’t want to switch into robot mode any more."
Personal Life
In a 2019 interview, Watson stated she divides her time between London and New York City.She refuses to publicly discuss her romantic relationships, stating, "I can't talk about my boyfriend in an interview and then expect people not to take paparazzi pictures of me walking around outside my home. You can't have it both ways."She began a relationship with American businessman Leo Robinton in 2019;they split in 2021, at which point she became linked to Brandon Green, son of controversial billionaire Sir Philip Green.
When asked about her faith in 2014, Watson described herself as a spiritual universalist.In February 2016, Watson was appointed visiting fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University.
On coping with intense fame from a young age, she has said that remaining rooted in her own identity helped her eventually "find peace".In 2013, she had become certified to teach yoga and meditation. As part of this certification, she attended a week-long meditation course at a Canadian facility, in which residents are not allowed to speak, in order "to figure out how to be at home with myself".Regarding her meditation training, she stated in an interview with Elle Australia that an uncertain future meant finding "a way to always feel safe and at home within myself. Because I can never rely on a physical place."
As of March 2024, she has amassed 75.3 million followers on her Instagram platform.