Emma Watson
In this success story, we are going to share Emma Watson biography, born Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson, a young British actress, rising model, and activist.
Emma Watson gained her popularity when she was only nine years old, thanks to the leading role of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series where she starred together with Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. Her appearance in the all eight film series brought her various awards, worldwide fame and over £10 million fortune (US$14 million).
Despite the young age, Emma Watson has become very popular, and her career in the movie industry develops quite rapidly. During her relatively short career, she won 25 awards and was nominated 35 times.
Early Life
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born on April 15, 1990, in a respectable suburb of Paris, Maisons-Laffitte. She was born to a family of English lawyers Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson. Emma was named after the paternal grandmother. First five years of her life the girl spent in France (her mother Jacqueline Luesby is French), but later, in 1995, the family moved to the Oxfordshire, England (the birthplace of her father, Chris Watson). The marriage of Chris and Jacqueline didn’t last long and soon fell apart. Emma stayed with her mother and younger brother Alex, who is three years younger than she.
Emma’s acting career began at the Dragon School in Oxford remaining there until 2003. She was actively participating in school plays. By the age of ten she already performed in roles of an evil witch in Arthur: the Young Years, the role of a swallow in The Swallow and The Prince, the angry cook in the Alice in Wonderland, and also the leading female role in The Happy Prince. When she was six, she started attending a part-time theater school Stagecoach Theatre Arts, where she studied acting, dancing, and singing. When Emma Watson was seven years old, she won in the school competition of reciters, and by that time, she already had a strong belief that she would become an actress.
Emma studied diligently at the school. She was fond of literature and sports. The girl played hockey since she was four, so at the school, she joined the hockey team. Besides that, she has always been involved in various competitions in athletics and rowing. According to her teachers, she was very active and cheerful.
Since she was a child, Emma loved singing and dancing; that’s why she dreamt about playing roles in musicals. Her childhood idols were famous actresses such as Goldie Hawn, Julia Roberts, and Sandra Bullock. Another passion of the young star was reading, although she never had such a fanatical love to books as her heroine Hermione.
In 1999, thanks to the head of the theater group, Emma Watson came to the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone casting. At that time, she was only nine years old, and she couldn’t even imagine that she could get one of the leading roles. Film producers were surprised by her confidence. Finally, after eight auditions, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint were informed that they had been approved for the roles of Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley. J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter book series, personally approved the selected candidates.
Nine-year-old Emma did not know that this audition would tie her to the Harry Potter film series from 2001 to 2011 and bring her worldwide fame.
Actress Career
The first movie featuring young Emma Watson was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which appeared on the screens in 2001. This film broke records for opening-day sales and instantly earned immense popularity. It became the highest-grossing film in commercial distribution in 2001. For the excellent acting performance, Emma Watson was nominated for five awards and winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress.
Only on November 15, 2002, an army of fans, who were eagerly waiting for the continuation of the story about the young wizards, had a chance to watch a new movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This project did not cause the unanimous admiration of critics. Critics reviews were different: the Los Angeles Times magazine stated that the actors had matured within a year, while The Times magazine criticized the film director Chris Columbus for “under-employing” Emma Watson’s incredibly popular character. However, the film was considered rather successful. In the second part of the Harry Potter film series, Emma Watson was awarded the Otto Award from the German edition of the Bravo magazine for the role of Hermione.
I've got about eight pairs of shoes, and that's it. – Emma Watson Click To TweetIn 2004, Emma Watson appeared in the third part of the movie series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This time, critics much-admired the acting talent of Emma Watson. They noted that the young actress gained more professionalism and seemed more confident in her role. Although Prisoner of Azkaban was the lowest-grossing film of the entire series with the box office of $796.7 million, Emma Watson received two awards: the Otto Award, and the Child Performance of the Year from the UK-based film magazine, Total Film.
The Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth installment of the Harry Potter film series, was released in 2005. This motion picture reached new milestones than the previous movie series. The film set new records of the box office in its opening weekend in May, a non-May opening weekend in the US, and in an opening weekend in the UK. For the role in the Goblet of Fire, Watson was nominated for three awards, and once again she won the Otto Award. In the same year, Watson became the youngest actress whose photo appeared on the cover of famous Teen Vogue magazine.
The film set a new worldwide opening-weekend gross record of $332.7 million. Emma Watson won the National Movie Award for Best Female Performance. Hermione, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley characters became incredibly popular. On July 09, 2007, the famous trio left imprints of their hands, feet, and magic wands in front of the TCL Chinese Theatre on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
By July 2007, Emma Watson earned more than £10 million ($13 million) for the work in the Harry Potter film series, and she stated that she was rich enough to retire and never work for money again. Despite the success of Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix, all the lead actors were in doubt if to sign the contracts to continue their roles for the final two episodes. Nevertheless, soon all of them signed the contracts and Emma Watson eventually signed for the role on March 23, 2007.
Apart from the role in the Harry Potter film series, Emma Watson also received the leading role of Pauline Fossil in a 2007 BBC film Ballet Shoes, which was a novel adaptation Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild written yet in 1936. The film director, Sandra Goldbacher, commented that Watson was perfect for that role as Watson had all the qualities that perfectly described the aspiring character Pauline Fossil. It was broadcasted in the UK to a 5.7 million TV audience. However, the film did not become very popular and received mixed reviews.
Emma Watson took part in the creation of an animated children’s film The Tale of Despereaux. Emma lent her voice to the character of Princess Pea. This animated comedy was released in December 2008 and grossed $87 million globally.
In her real life, Emma Watson is as curious and demanding, as her character Hermione Granger. The actress successfully combines her studies with a busy shooting schedule. In 2009, Watson enrolled at the Brown University, and in the same year, the sixth part of the movie series Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released, where Emma was brilliant, as always. For this role, Emma was nominated for three film awards such as Best Female Performance, Favorite On-Screen Team, and Choice Movie Actress: Fantasy but did not win any of them. In 2009, Watson appeared in the pages of the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-grossing actress of the decade.
Watson’s filming for the final part, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, began on February 18, 2009 and finished on June 12, 2010. Due to the scripting part, the film adaptation of the book was divided into two parts. Therefore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was released in November 2010 and the second movie was released in July 2011. Thanks to the final parts of the film, Emma Watson won four awards: Favorite Ensemble Movie Cast, Choice Movie Liplock, Choice Summer Movie Star: Female, and Choice Movie Actress: Sci-Fi/Fantasy.
In 2010, Emma Watson starred in the music video for the song Say You Don`t Want It by One Night Only after meeting lead singer George Craig at the Winter/Summer Burberry advertising campaign in 2010.
In 2011, Emma Watson starred as Lucy in My Week with Marilyn; it was her first post-Harry Potter film. Her character, Lucy, was a wardrobe assistant who is flirted with by Colin Clark, the main character in the movie, and had several dates with him.
The actress won People’s Choice Award in the Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress nomination for her role in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) film, which was a 1999 epistolary novel adaptation of the same name written by Stephen Chbosky. Filming started in the summer of 2011, and the film was released in September 2012. In 2012, at ELLE’s 19th annual Women in Hollywood Awards, Emma Watson was honored with the Calvin Klein Emerging Star Spotlight Award for iconic performance in moving pictures.
In March 2013, Watson had negotiations regarding playing the role of Cinderella in a Disney’s screenplay adaptation of Cinderella. She was offered to play the role of the main character. However, she later declined this proposal.
As an actress I take roles I find interesting. – Emma Watson Click To TweetIn April 2013, Watson received a special Trailblazer Award at the MTV Movie Awards ceremony; this prize is presented to individuals, who serve as an example for inspiration for the young generation and who has made their mark in the entertainment industry. In October 2013, Emma Watson became a Woman of the Year according to the famous men’s magazine British GQ. In 2013, Emma Watson appeared in the role of Nicki Moore in the film The Bling Ring (2013). The film was based on real events of Bling Ring robberies. While the movie picture received mixed critics reviews, Emma Watson was praised for her portrayal performance of Nicky. Watson had a supporting role in the apocalyptic comedy, This is the End (2013), where she starred with famous actors such as Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Channing Tatum.
In March 2014, Emma Watson appeared in the movie Noah (2014) directed by Darren Aronofsky. She played the role of Ila, Noah’s daughter-in-law and worked with such actors as Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, and others.
Despite the fact that almost all of her childhood Emma Watson spent on various film sets, the actress quite rarely was offered the leading roles. Nevertheless, the career of famous British actress continued to evolve quite rapidly.
Watson starred as Lena in a true-story movie called Colonia (2015). In the center of the plot of Colonia is a young couple from Germany – Lena and Daniel. Young people appear at the heart of the Chilean military coup of 1973, the result of which is the rise to power of General Augusto Pinochet. Daniel is kidnapped by workforces of the secret police, and Lena starts searching for her lover to rescue him. As a result of her search, she comes to the charitable and educational society called “Colonia Dignidad.”
According to Emma’s words, the work on Colonia excited her the most. For her, it was an opportunity to try herself in a European historical drama.
Emma Watson is going to star as Belle in the new adaptation of the famous Disney fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, which is planned to be released in 2017. Emma Watson even took several singing lessons for the role of Belle. The director of the new film adaptation of the Oscar-winning tale is Bill Condon, the film director of The Fifth Estate (2013), Tilda (2011), and the last two parts of The Twilight Saga.
Emma Watson also starred in such movies as My Week with Marilyn (2011), Regression (2015) and The Circle (2016).
Modeling Career
Unlike Radcliffe and Grint, who are mostly concentrated on their acting career, Watson tries herself in other areas. In 2009, she demonstrated a collection of clothes from Burberry. In 2010, Emma Watson became a face of the spring collection by Burberry, together with her brother Alex, model Max Hurd, and musicians George Craig and Matt Gilmour.
Later Emma signed a contract with People Tree, a brand that specializes in the ethnic clothes.
In March 2011, Emma Watson became a face and a representative of the famous French house Lancôme. In September 2011, she appeared in the advertising of the new perfume Lancôme Trésor Midnight Rose.
Emma was growing up, and becoming more and more attractive. In May 2013, Watson was featured on the cover of British GQ in the image of Julia Roberts in the movie Pretty Woman (1990).
Later Watson posed naked for the project Natural Beauty by photographer and activist James Houston, to call attention to the protection of nature.
Emma Watson appeared nine times on the covers of ELLE magazine in different countries. In April 2014, she graced two covers at the same time on ELLE: in the United States and Australia.
Many people even predicted her brilliant future as a model. Although Emma often attends photo shoots for various glossy magazines, she does not plan to get seriously engaged in this business and considers it just as a passing fad.
Education
Despite quite a successful actress career, Emma Watson pays a lot of attention to her education. In her life, she has gone through several educational stages.
From September 1995 to June 1998, Emma Watson attended Lynams kindergarten, which was a part of Dragon School. Lynams is one of the most prestigious kindergartens in England. Attending it is a pre-stage of schooling. Emma showed her talent at the age of 7 years, she read a poem by James Reeves Sea and took first place in the recitation competition.
In 1998, Emma started her studies at the Dragon School in Oxford. This school is considered as one of the best private schools in England. Many graduates who attended the Dragon School became famous in different areas and achieved incredible success in their lives. She played field hockey club in Oxford.
From 2003 to 2007, after studying at the Dragon School, Watson enrolled at Headington School, Oxford private girls’ school.
This place may seem quite unusual for the modern generation because all students here are females. Also, each student must participate in every single one school event, which was rather difficult for young Emma Watson due to her intensive schedule. The girl met her best friends: top-model Sophie Sumner and Amy Vaver.
Because of the constant shooting and participation in various public events, Emma Watson was always exhausted, and she simply did not have enough energy or time to study properly and attend school. After the work on the fifth part of the Harry Potter film series was over, Emma was determined to go back to school. However, when she received an offer to play one of the major roles in the Ballet Shoes she couldn’t refuse. Of course, because of her popularity teachers forgave the girl for her absences in classes and delays with her homework, so Emma graduated from the school without any difficulties.
In 2008, Emma Watson finished summer acting courses at The Royal Academy of Dramatic (RADA) in London. RADA is one of the most prestigious and influential theater schools in the whole world. After graduation, Emma took a sabbatical year from her studies to continue filming in the Harry Potter film series.
I'm a perfectionist, so my bossiness definitely comes out. – Emma Watson Click To TweetIn 2009, Emma Watson decided to pursue her education and applied to Brown University, one of the oldest universities in the USA. This institution is a part of the system of the best educational establishments in the United States, so-called the Ivy League. Emma’s primary focus was the study of history, philosophy, and English literature. However, due to her participation in the creation of the last part of the Harry Potter movie series, Emma Watson had to pause her education in 2010.
From 2011 to 2012, the actress continued to gather knowledge and self-improve at the Worcester College. This institution is a great mix of old traditions and modern views. The primary difference of this college from other establishments is that it does not have any limitations regarding the age of their students, it is open for everyone who have passed the exams. Emma Watson chose the Worcester College because of the student exchange programs that allowed scholars to transfer to the Brown University. She was there for only one year, studying English literature, but she never regretted about her staying there.
In 2012, Watson enrolled into the Brown University for the second time after taking a 2-year break. Despite all the difficulties and hurdles on her way, she finished her education in May 2014 and earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. As she admitted herself, the university study was accompanied by inevitable hassles, but the students and teachers always treated her with understanding and were ready to help her.
Family and Personal Life
As for the family of Emma Watson, apart from her brother Alex, she has twin stepsisters Nina Watson and Lucy Watson, and brother Toby Watson. On mother’s side, she also has brothers, David and Andy. Despite the fact that the actress does not see them very often, for her, the family is always in the first place.
Emma’s father, Chris Watson, was born in 1958, in Britain. He graduated from Oxford University and obtained a law degree. During his studies, Chris Watson met Emma’s mother-to-be, Jacqueline Luesby, who also studies at the University of Oxford. In the late 80’s, they moved to France. For some reason, the relationship between Chris and Jacqueline looked more like a friendship than love, and the couple decided to divorce in 1995.
Today, Chris Watson is a partner and one of the executives at the CMS Cameron McKenna company. He speaks several languages including English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian. He has a vast professional experience. Chris was an intern in Iran and France, and his articles are often published in law magazines.
Chris Watson played a huge role in Emma’s life. After the divorce, Emma came back to Britain together with her brother Alex and mother. The financial situation in the family was shaky because Jacqueline and Chris did not earn a lot of money. However, Mr. Watson was determined to give his daughter an excellent education and insisted on her attendance of one of the most prestigious schools in England. Emma always says that she is very grateful to her father for it; she tried to study as perfect as she could to demonstrate her dad how grateful she was. Now Emma and Chris often spend time together, they go for walks and attend various exhibitions. Chris Watson almost always accompanies Emma at different events and premieres.
Emma’s mother, Jacqueline Luesby, was born in 1959, in France. Just like Chris Watson, she graduated from Oxford University with a degree in law. Jacqueline prefers to stay away from the cameras, so she is not often seen with Emma. But, according to Emma’s words, her mother is the one who influenced her style by her French elegance and charm. In every interview, Emma Watson speaks about her mother with incredible tenderness, warmth, and love.
Alexander Chris Watson was born on December 15, 1992, in Paris, France. Now he is building his modeling career. Together with Emma, he took part in photo shoots for Burberry and People Tree advertising campaigns. Alex Watson starred in the music video of a famous English singer, Pixie Lott. Also, on his account are few bit parts in several movies and several photo shoots for British magazines. Emma and Alex have good and friendly relationships. Alex considers that Emma is a great support for him: she gives valuable tips that help his career development. She is not just his sister but also is his best friend.
Nina Watson and Lucy Watson are daughters of Chris Watson and his new wife, Julie. Twins were born on September 17, 2004. They also appeared in the movie the Ballet Shoes in episodic roles and played little Pauline Fossil. Toby Watson was born in 2003. He is also a child of Chris and Julie. He was seen several times in London together with Emma. In 2010, Emma Watson took him to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. On the premier of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, all guests were touched when they saw how Emma hugs Toby, Nina, and Lucy. Emma likes to be an older sister for her rather numerous brothers and sisters.
From mother’s side, Emma also has stepbrothers David and Andy Taylor. They are sons of Emma’s stepfather.
Love Affairs
Emma Watson prefers not to discuss her private life, so she rarely mentions her love affairs. The actress prefers to reply to such questions with general phrases about what qualities she likes in men and what kind of family she wants. However, apart from long relationships, Emma Watson also had numerous admirers, and she rarely lacks men’s attention.
During the filming of the first movie, she liked Tom Felton, who played the role of Draco Malfoy. Later Emma Watson confessed that when she was ten – twelve years old, she had a terrible crush on Tom Felton, who did not pay any attention to her. Tom saw Emma as his little sister and it broke her heart. The first love is not always mutual.
I'm very romantic and of course I want to be in love. – Emma Watson Click To TweetThe first serious love of Emma Watson was a rugby player, Tom Ducker. The couple started dating when Emma was 17, but, as it often happens in their age, the relationships didn’t last too long.
In the summer of 2009, Emma Watson met a 27-years-old bank clerk, Jay Barrymore, with whom Emma developed her first lasting relationships: the couple had been together for over two years.
Little information is available on Will Adamowicz, except that he was born approximately between 1989-1991 and that he likes rowing. Once the first pictures of the couple appeared in the press, Will Adamowicz deleted his all social profiles from the internet. In 2012, Will visited Emma at the film set of The Bling Ring, after which the couple attended Coachella festival where they celebrated Emma’s birthday and just had a lot of fun. In January 2014, fans and the press found out about the end of their relationships, right after journalists raised a fuss because of the photo of Will with the package of a white powder. Later it became known that Will and Emma had parted yet in the summer of 2013. According to their friends, the reason was the busy schedule of the actress.
At the beginning of 2014, there were only rumors about new relationships with an Oxford rugby player, Matthew Janney. However, some time later, the couple was caught together on the island of Antigua, Caribbean, and this was the first time they were seen together. 22-years-old then Matt played in the Oxford rugby team and was the best team player. Therefore, it explains why Emma Watson started to attend rugby matches more often at the end of 2013. In November 2014, the couple ended their a year-long relationship. The official reason for the break up was the busy schedule of both Emma and Matt. After the break up with ex Matt Janney, Emma Watson commented in the interview for the September 2015 issue of Vogue UK: “I went on a silent retreat, because I really wanted to figure out how to be at home with myself.”
The press and numerous fans always talk about Emma’s relationships with a variety of handsome guys. This is not surprising because the actress is guarding her private life so carefully that it only stirs up curiosity. As the Western media reports, Emma Watson is now in love. And her choice did not stop at some famous actor, model or singer. The name of Emma’s protégé is William ‘Mack’ Knight, and who describes himself as a US tech and business entrepreneur. Mack has been working for four years as a senior manager at Medallia company, which sells software to improve the customer experience. A source of The Sun magazine told them: “Mack is just a normal, down-to-earth guy.” It remains unknown how William Knight got acquainted with Emma Watson. However, Mack visited Emma in her hometown of Oxford for New Year 2016.
Social Activity
Emma Watson can boast not only of stylish photo shoots and memorable roles in modern films but also of her social activities.
Emma Watson actively fights for women’s rights. Watson had visited Bangladesh and Zambia to promote the education of girls in these countries.
In June 2014, Watson became a Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women. This entity started its work in January 2011 and was created to combat discrimination against women in twelve major areas of modern life such as education, health, employment, human rights and others.
In September 2014, Emma Watson gave a speech at the UN headquarters in New York to support the launch of HeForShe campaign that encourages men to stand for gender equality.
I'm a very heady person; I'm in my head a lot. – Emma Watson Click To TweetAlso, in September, Watson visited Uruguay for the first time as the Goodwill Ambassador of UN Women. There she gave a speech, in which she emphasized the need for women’s participation in politics.
The HeForShe campaign had a huge success on the Internet. Thanks to this campaign, the #HeForShe hashtag was mentioned more than 1.3 billion times in social networks raising the question of inequality between men and women. In 2015, Emma Watson was named as The Campaigner of the Year and received Observer Ethical Award of 2015.
Emma Watson wants to devote herself to social activities in 2016, as the Goodwill Ambassador for the UN. In January 2016, she started the feminist Goodreads book club: Our Shared Shelf, which is aimed to raise a topic of gender inequality by discussing scientific articles and books on this subject.
Emma Watson life story is vivid, bright, but at the same time challenging. Despite her young age, she is already involved in the social activity and joined the women’s rights movement. We hope you have enjoyed exploring Emma Watson biography and her success story, and it has inspired you to new discoveries.
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