Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson[2] (born 15 April 1990)[3] is a British actress, model, and activist. Born in Paris and brought up in Oxfordshire, Watson attended the Dragon School as a child and trained as an actress at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts. She rose to prominence after landing her first professional acting role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, appearing in all eight Harry Potter films from 2001 to 2011, previously having acted only in school plays.[4] The franchise earned Watson worldwide fame, critical accolades, and more than £10 million.[5] She continued to work outside of the Harry Potter films, first lending her voice to The Tale of Despereaux and appearing in the television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes. Since then, she has taken on starring roles in The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Bling Ring, made a brief appearance as an "exaggerated" version of herself in This Is the End,[6] and portrayed the title character's adopted daughter in Noah.[7]

From 2011 to 2014, Watson split her time between working on film projects and continuing her education, studying at Brown University and Worcester College, Oxford and graduating from Brown with a bachelor's degree in English literature in May 2014.[8] Her modelling work has included campaigns for Burberry and Lancôme.[9][10] As a fashion consultant, she helped create a line of clothing for People Tree.[11] She was honoured by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2014, winning for British Artist of the Year.[12] That same year, she was appointed as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and helped launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which calls for men to advocate gender equality.[13]

Watson was born in Paris, France, the daughter of English lawyers Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson.[14][15][16] Watson lived in Paris until the age of five. Her parents separated when she was young; following their divorce, Watson moved back to England to live with her mother in Oxfordshire while spending weekends at her father's house in London.[14][17] Watson has stated that she speaks some French, though "not as well" as she used to.[18] After moving to Oxford with her mother and brother, she attended the Dragon School in Oxford, remaining there until 2003.[14] From the age of six, she wanted to become an actress,[19] and trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing, and acting.[20]

By the age of ten, Watson had performed in various Stagecoach productions and school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince,[21] but she had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series. Following the Dragon School, Watson moved on to Headington School.[14] While on film sets, she and her peers were tutored for up to five hours a day.[22] In June 2006, she took GCSE school examinations in ten subjects, achieving eight A* and two A grades.[14][23]
In 2005, Watson began her modelling career with a photo shoot for Teen Vogue and was the youngest star to grace its cover.[3] Three years later, the British press reported that Watson was to replace Keira Knightley as the face of the fashion house Chanel, but this was denied by both parties.[94] In June 2009, following several months of rumours, Watson confirmed that she would be partnering with Burberry as the face of their Autumn/Winter 2009 campaign, for which she received an estimated six-figure fee.[9][95] She also appeared in Burberry's 2010 Spring/Summer campaign alongside her brother Alex, musicians George Craig and Matt Gilmour, and model Max Hurd.[96] In February 2011, Watson was awarded the Style Icon award from British Elle by Dame Vivienne Westwood.[97] Watson continued her involvement in fashion advertising when she announced she had been chosen as the face of Lancôme in March 2011.[10]

In September 2009, Watson announced her involvement with People Tree, a Fair Trade fashion brand.[11] Watson worked as a creative advisor for People Tree to create a spring line of clothing, which was released in February 2010;[11][98] the range featured styles inspired by southern France and London.[98][99] The collection, described by The Times as "very clever" despite their "quiet hope that [she] would become tangled at the first hemp-woven hurdle",[100] was widely publicised in magazines such as Teen Vogue,[101] Cosmopolitan, and People. Watson, who was not paid for the collaboration,[102] admitted that competition for the range was minimal,[100] but argued that "Fashion is a great way to empower people and give them skills; rather than give cash to charity you can help people by buying the clothes they make and supporting things they take pride in"; adding, "I think young people like me are becoming increasingly aware of the humanitarian issues surrounding fast fashion and want to make good choices but there aren't many options out there."[100]