Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress and model. Watson rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potterfilm series. She was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays.^[2] From 2001 to 2011, she starred in all eight Harry Potterfilms alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint.^[3] Watson"s work on the Harry Potter series has earned her several awards and more than £10 million.^[4] She made her modelling debut for Burberry"s Autumn/Winter campaign in 2009.

In 2007, Watson announced her involvement in two productions: the television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes and an animated film, The Tale of Despereaux.Ballet Shoes was broadcast on 26 December 2007 to an audience of 5.2 million, and The Tale of Despereaux, based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo, was released in 2008 and grossed over US $86 million in worldwide sales.^[5] In 2012, she was confirmed for the role of Ila in Darren Aronofsky"s biblical epic Noah.^[6]

Early life

Emma Watson was born in Paris, to Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, both British lawyers.^[7][8][9] Watson lived in Paris until the age of five. Her parents separated when she was young; following their divorce, she moved with her mother and younger brother to Oxfordshire, spending weekends in her father"s house in London.^[7][10] Watson has stated that she speaks some French, though "not as well" as she used to.^[11]

From the age of six, Watson had wanted to become an actress,^[12] and for a number of years she trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing and acting.^[13] By the age of ten, she had performed in various Stagecoach productions and school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince,^[14] but she had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series. "I had no idea of the scale of the film series," she stated in a 2007 interview with Parade; "If I had I would have been completely overwhelmed."