Emma Watson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Emma Watson
Watson in 2013
Born	Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (1990-04-15) 15 April 1990 (age 34) Paris, France
Nationality	British
Education	Brown University (BA) Oxford University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999–present
Awards	Full list
Signature

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress and model. She is most known for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movie series alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint.

She is also well known for her leading role in Beauty and the Beast. Watson became the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in July 2014. She is also an activist for gender equality.

Watson has received a selection of accolades, including a Young Artist Award and three MTV Movie Awards. She has been ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses by Forbes.

Early life and education

Emma Watson was born on 15 April 1990 in Paris, to English parents Chris Watson and Jacqueline Luesby. She lived in Maisons-Laffitte near Paris until the age of 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. 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.

Watson graduated from Brown University with a bachelor's degree in English literature in May 2014.

Acting career

Watson at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in November 2005

Watson rose to stardom after landing her first professional acting role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series. Casting agents found Watson through her Oxford theatre teacher, and producers were impressed by her confidence.

The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and was the highest-grossing film of 2001. 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.

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.

Watson with co-stars Daniel Radcliffe (left) and Rupert Grint (right) at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in July 2011

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 was broadcast in the UK on Boxing Day to 5.7 million viewers, to mixed reviews.

Watson attending the 2013 Cannes Film Festival

In 2013, Watson played one of the leading characters in The Bling Ring, a crime film based on a real-life gang known as the Bling Ring convicted of multiple high-profile thefts. While the film mostly received mixed reviews, critics gave almost unanimous praise for Watson's performance. That same year, Watson was honoured by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, winning British Artist of the Year. She dedicated the prize to Millie, her pet hamster who died as Watson was filming Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Watson also starred as Belle in the live-action musical romantic fantasy Beauty and the Beast (2017). 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.

Watson promoting The Circle in 2017

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. The film was critically acclaimed and grossed over $218 million against its $40 million budget.

In 2021, Watson revealed in an interview 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."

Fashion career

In 2005, Watson began her modelling career with a photo shoot for Teen Vogue, which made her the youngest person to cover the magazine.

In September 2008, she told a blogger, "I've been focusing on art a lot, and fashion's a great extension of that."

Watson worked as a creative adviser for People Tree, a fair trade fashion brand, to create a spring line of clothing, which was released in February 2010.

Watson's wax figure at Madame Tussauds wearing an Elie Saab design

Watson has been described as "an early adopter of sustainable fashion" and is noted for dressing ethically on the red carpet.

In January 2020, she partnered with consignment website ThredUP to launch a "Fashion Footprint Calculator", which allows website visitors to calculate the carbon impact of their wardrobes and ways to reduce it.

In June 2020, Watson was appointed the youngest member of the board of directors of Kering, the owner of various fashion brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.

In August 2022, Watson became the face of Prada Beauty's new fragrance Paradoxe. She starred in, directed, wrote and narrated the short film for the fragrance's promotional campaign. In January 2024, Watson became the face of Prada's Re-Nylon collection, the sustainable product line of the brand.

Activism and advocacy

Watson is an outspoken feminist. She has promoted education for girls, travelling to Bangladesh and Zambia to do so. In July 2014, she was appointed a UN Women Goodwill ambassador.

Watson's butterfly themed "Flutterby Bear" (right), one of fifty Paddington Bears along 'The Paddington Trail' in London, auctioned for the NSPCC

In January 2016, Watson started a feminist Goodreads book club: Our Shared Shelf. The goal of the club is to share feminist ideas and encourage discussion on the topic. One book is selected per month and is discussed in the last week of that month. Our Shared Shelf ceased updates in January 2020, but continues to be open as a discussion board for recommendations.

Watson delivering an address at the Legislative Palace of Uruguay as a UN Women Ambassador in 2014

In July 2020, she partnered with Lodge and the WOW Foundation to spearhead a project reimagining the London Underground Map, renaming the 270 stops to spotlight women and non-binary people who have shaped the city's history.

Watson is an activist for environmental justice and climate change mitigation.

Personal life

Emma Watson has one brother, Alex, as well as one stepbrother, Toby, and two stepsisters, Lucy and Nina.

Recognition and accolades

Throughout her career, Watson has received several awards and nominations, including a Young Artist Award for her portrayal of Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001). Additionally, she received nominations for three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, four Empire Awards, 14 MTV Movie & TV Awards (winning three), six People's Choice Awards (winning two), 12 Teen Choice Awards (winning eight).

Watson's efforts in activism and philanthropy, most notably her support of women's rights and her role in launching the UN Women campaign HeForShe, has received widespread media recognition and acclaim. She has received several recognitions for her style, from the Teen Choice Awards and British Fashion Awards.

Interesting facts about Emma Watson

• Watson had never acted professionally prior to the Harry Potter series.
• She took a gap year after finishing secondary school to film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Parts 1 & 2.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide and proved to be Watson's most commercially successful film to date.
• In 2013, Watson became certified to teach yoga and meditation.
• She also lent her name to a clothing line for the sustainable brand People Tree.
• She has said she speaks some French, though "not as well" as she used to.
• In November 2014, Watson designed a Paddington Bear statue, one of fifty located around London prior to the release of the film Paddington, which was auctioned to raise funds for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).
• She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2015.
• In 2013, Madame Tussauds in London unveiled a wax statue of Watson.
• In 2019, Swedish researchers from Lund University analyzed the carbon footprints of ten celebrities including Watson's. Watson's carbon footprint was the lowest of the celebrities analyzed.
• Watson has cited Gloria Steinem and Maya Angelou as influences.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

See also

In Spanish: Emma Watson para niños

• List of Harry Potter cast members
• List of women's rights activists#United Kingdom