Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born to Jacqueline and Chris at 6.00pm on 15th April, 1990 in Paris, France. Jacqueline and Chris both work as lawyers. Emma, her parents and her brother Alex (three years Emma’s junior) moved back to England when Emma was five years old. Emma grew up in Oxfordshire but now lives in London during her university holidays.
In September 1995, at the age of five, Emma attended Lynams School, the nursery school for the prestigious Dragon School in Oxford. Emma first demonstrated her talent for acting at Lynams School when, at the age of seven, she won the Daisy Pratt poetry competition for her recital of The Sea by James Reeves.
September 1999
The big audition
In September 1998 at the age of eight, Emma moved to the main Dragon School where she would spend a very happy five years between films. In 1999 at the age of nine, Emma was given the opportunity to audition for a role in the upcoming Harry Potter film. The rest, as they say, is history.
In 2000 when she was ten, Emma began filming for the first time with 11 year old Daniel Radcliffe and 12 year old Rupert Grint. She was extremely nervous! But, she had no reason to fear as, on its opening day, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone broke records all over the world and Emma won great critical acclaim for her performance as Hermione Granger.
The Harry Potter years
Ten years and six films later, Emma continues to play the role she has made her own and is currently filming the last two films in the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2. During this time Emma’s global popularity has won her many awards such as the AOL Moviegoer’s Award for Best Actress (won on two occasions and runner-up on another) and countless magazine covers. She was the youngest actress to grace both the covers of Teen Vogue (2005) and the UK’s Tatler magazine (2007) and has since appeared on covers and in magazines such as V, Italian Vogue and Elle.
In 2007 Emma accepted her first role outside of the Harry Potter films playing Pauline Fossil in the BBC’s drama Ballet Shoes. The drama was incredibly well received and was viewed by a staggering 5.2 million people. The following year, Emma voiced her first animated character (playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Sigourney Weaver and Matthew Broderick) with the role of Princess Pea in Universal Pictures' The Tale of Despereaux.
Education
Her education remains a passion equally close to Emma’s heart and she has continued to excel in all aspects of school life particularly exams! Aged 13 years old she joined Headington School in Oxfordshire and went on to achieve eight A* and two A Grades in her GCSE Examinations at the age of 16. In 2009 Emma achieved three A levels in English Lit, Art and Geography, and an AS level in History of Art.
Emma is studying for a Liberal Arts degree at Brown University in the United States and has decided to major in English Literature, studying authors such as Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen and W B Yeats among others. She is currently completing a year at Oxford University as part of her degree.
An eye for fashion
Emma is also widely respected for her knowledge and interest in fashion, and for the support she has given the British Fashion Industry. She has twice been chosen by Christopher Bailey to feature as the face of Burberry in their Autumn/Winter campaign in 2009 and Spring/Summer campaign in 2010. As well as appearing on the cover of numerous magazines she has been photographed by the world’s top fashion photographers including Karl Lagerfeld, Mario Testino, Nick Knight and Patrick Demarchelier.
Emma has also worked closely with organic and fair trade pioneer People Tree, helping founder Safia Minney develop a teenage range for Spring/Summer 2010. As well as promoting fair trade and organic fashion, Emma has been heavily involved in the design and look of the company’s Spring/Summer range 2010 and is credited as Creative Adviser. Her relationship with People Tree continues as she collaborates with the company on their Spring/Summer collection for 2011.
Early Life
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born on April 15, 1990, in Paris. Her parents, both British lawyers, are Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson. Her brother, Alex, was born three years later. Her parents divorced when Watson was five, and she moved back to Oxfordshire in England when Emma with her mother and brother.
Watson's natural instinct for acting first came out when she was seven, when she won a poetry competition for reciting James Reeves' "The Sea".
Watson attended the Stagecoach Theatre Arts school at Oxford. She studied singing, acting and dancing, and performed in school plays. Watson had never acted professionally when her theater teachers suggested her to agents looking to cast an upcoming movie based on the first novel of the best-selling Harry Potter series.
Nine-year-old Watson auditioned eight times for the role that would make her an international star. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who was deeply involved in the film process to make sure it stayed true to the book, wanted Watson for the role of Hermione from her first screen test.
Hermione Granger
Watson sufficiently impressed casting agents and the film's producers, and won the role of Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's smart, bossy best friend and voice of reason. Harry Potter was portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint was cast as Ron Weasley, Harry's other best friend. The trio of British child actors would become known around the globe for their roles as young wizards fighting a battle between good and evil. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released in November 2001.
Eleven-year-old Emma Watson's film debut was an enormous success. It grossed more than $974 million worldwide. On opening day in the United States, the film made a record-breaking $33.3 million. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, and seven BAFTA Awards. Watson's performance received critical praise, and her status as an up-and-coming young film star was made.
For the next decade Watson stayed busy filming the Potter series. In 2002 she reprised the role of Hermione for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in 2004 for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and continued to star in the eight-part series through the final film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, in 2011.
Coming of Age
Though Watson's been closely identified with her Harry Potter character, as an adolescent the young actress wanted to be seen as more. In 2007 Emma Watson starred in another film based on a children's novel, Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield. The film was aired on BBC One, and with Watson in the lead role, garnered decent, if not stellar, reviews.
In 2008, Watson branched out into animated work, voicing the character of Princess Pea in The Tale of Despereaux.
Though they spent their adolescence on film sets, Watson and costars Radcliffe and Grint kept up with their lessons, with five hours of tutoring each day. She took high school equivalency exams, and made high scores in every subject. Watson took a year off from school to film the final two Potter movies, but maintained that she was committed to furthering her education.
Watson has tried hard to shed her child star image, one that's so closely tied to the Potter franchise. “I have lived in a complete bubble. They found me and picked me for the part. And now I’m desperately trying to find my way through it,” she said in an interview with Vogue.
New Directions
As a teenager coming of age as an established movie star, Watson has also emerged as a fashionista. Her style has caught the eye of many major figures in the fashion industry. "I love fashion. I think it`s so important, because it's how you show yourself to the world," said Watson.
In September 2009 Watson announced that she was working with People Tree, a fashion label that promotes fair trade. Watson catapulted into the world of high fashion and modeling when she was chosen as the face of Burberry's Autumn/Winter 2009 collection, and again for the 2010 Spring/Summer collection.
Watson took fans by surprise when she chopped off her long locks, and debuted a pixie haircut in August 2010. The new 'do helped her shed the child star image of her Potter days, and in July 2011, Watson graced the cover of Vogue. The next month, she starred in a commercial for Lancôme perfume.
Maintaining her commitment to her education, Watson enrolled as a freshman at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in the fall of 2009. Watson claimed she chose an American university over a British education because the American system allows students to study many subjects at once. Brown was also a place, Watson said, where she could more easily blend in. “I want to be normal,” she said. "I really want anonymity."
In March 2011 Watson announced that she was deferring her schooling to work on the Potter finale. In July 2011, Watson announced her plans to return to Brown for a year to complete her degree after studying at Oxford University in the fall.
Whatever Watson chooses to do in the future, she has a head start on her peers, having earned $15 million a piece from just the last two Harry Potter films. Watson will star in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, slated for release in 2012— alongside
