DOB: 15 April, 1990
Hometown: Oxfordshire, England
Star sign: Aries
Emma Watson is like a friend you've had your whole life and in the last 10 years we've seen her grow and change so much. She's gone from being the unknown nine-year-old girl who took the world by storm playing Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, to becoming arguably the world's top teen actress at 19 years of age.
Now the time is coming for Emma to say goodbye to Hermione for good when filming wraps for the last of the Harry Potter films this year. What's next for Emma? Read on to find out.
As soon as she was old enough to know what acting was, Emma Watson knew that's what she wanted to do. For a number of years, she trained part-time at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a theatre school where she studied singing, dancing and acting. Although she had lead roles in several school plays, Emma had never acted professionally until she scored the role of Hermione in the Harry Potter series.
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Once Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone hit the big screen, there was no turning back for Emma. Her performance in the film was critically acclaimed, and she received several awards for her performance, including the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress. With each new Harry Potter film, Emma's credibility as an actor has grown with her.
In 2007 the future of the Harry Potter films was in doubt when Emma, Daniel Radcliffe (who plays Harry Potter) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) were hesitant to sign on for the last two films in the series. They were reluctant to commit to the roles for another four years.
But luckily for us, Emma was persuaded to stay on and she was reportedly offered more than £4 million ($8 million) to appear in the last two films! It wasn't just the money that made Emma want to see the series through, though. "I could never let Hermione go," she said in a statement when her involvement was confirmed. "I love her too much and love what playing her has meant to me."
This year the filming for the last Harry Potter films will wrap up, and Emma's journey as Hermione will be over! So what's next for the girl we've come to adore over the last 10 years? Well, according to Emma herself, it's not necessarily acting! Eeek!
"There's not like a burning passion in me that I have to act and I don't care what I do," she told Teen Vogue magazine.
"Until something comes along that I feel as strongly about as I did Hermione — like, I felt that it was life or death — I don't want to act again."
So what will she be up to in the meantime? Emma obviously has her head screwed on properly, because she wants to go to university and further her education.
She's off to an exclusive Ivy League college, Brown University, in the US. That information comes courtesy of co-star Daniel Radcliffe's big mouth! He accidentally spilled the beans on a secret Emma was trying to keep, well, secret!
Let's hope Emma's love affair with acting continues, so our love affair with her can!
Random facts about Emma
