Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is a French-born English actress, model, and activist, who is best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise, but has also branched into other roles, such as Princess Pea in the 2008 adaptation of The Tale of Despereaux, Samantha "Sam" Button in Stephen Chbosky's 2012 coming-of-age drama film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Nicki Moore in Sofia Coppola's crime drama film The Bling Ring, a fictionalized version of herself in the apocalyptic comedy film This Is the End (both released in 2013), and as Meg March in Greta Gerwig's 2019 critically acclaimed coming-of-age period drama film Little Women.
History
Early Life
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 before 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, she graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's degree in English literature.
Career
Emma Watson made her film debut as Hermione Granger, having outperformed all the other girls auditioning for the part, while Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint were cast as Harry and Ron, respectively.
Personal Life
When asked about her faith in 2014, Watson described herself as a spiritual universalist. Watson has been in a relationship with American businessman Leo Robinton since 2019. In February 2016, Watson was appointed visiting fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University. Marai Larasi, an activist on violence against women, was her guest at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards.
Watson divides her time between London and New York City. 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."
Roles
Gallery
External links
Emma Watson at the Internet Movie Database- Emma Watson at UN Women's official website
- Emma Watson at Kering's official website
- Emma Watson's 2014 Speech at United Nations Headquarters – Official UN Video
