Background and career
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress. In the 2010s, she was ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses by Forbes and Vanity Fair, and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2015.
Watson attended the Dragon School and trained in acting at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts. As a child, she rose to stardom after landing her first professional acting role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, having previously acted only in school plays. Watson made her first major foray beyond the Potter franchise starring in Ballet Shoes (2007), and she lent her voice to The Tale of Despereaux (2008). After the final Harry Potter film, she took on a supporting role in My Week with Marilyn (2011), before starring as Sam, a flirtatious, free-spirited student in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), to critical success. Further acclaim came from portraying Alexis Neiers in Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring (2013) and the titular character's adoptive daughter in Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah (2014). That same year, Watson was honoured by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, winning British Artist of the Year. She also starred as Belle in the live-action musical romantic fantasy Beauty and the Beast (2017), and as Meg March in Greta Gerwig's coming-of-age drama Little Women (2019).
From 2011 to 2014, Watson split her time between working on films and continuing her education, graduating from Brown University with a bachelor's degree in English literature in May 2014. That year, she was appointed a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and helped launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which advocates for gender equality. In 2015 and 2016, Watson was selected twice for the annual Forbes 30 under 30 list. In 2018, she helped launch Time's Up UK as a founding member. Watson was appointed to a G7 advisory body for women's rights in 2019, consulting with leaders on foreign policy. Her modelling work has included campaigns for Burberry and Lancôme. She also lent her name to a clothing line for the sustainable brand People Tree. From 2020 to 2023, she sat on the board of directors of Kering, a luxury brand group, as an advocate for sustainable fashion.
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born on 15 April 1990 in Paris, France, to English lawyers Chris Watson and Jacqueline Luesby. Watson lived in Maisons-Laffitte until age five, when her parents divorced. She moved to England to live with her mother in Oxfordshire and spent weekends at her father's house in London. After moving to Oxford with her mother and younger brother, she was educated at the Dragon School until 2003. She wanted to become an actress from the age of six, and trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied acting, dancing, and singing. By age 10, she had performed in Stagecoach productions and school plays including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince. After the Dragon School, Watson attended Headington School Oxford. While shooting the Harry Potter films, she was tutored on set for up to five hours a day.
How Emma Watson makes money
A huge financial success, the film set a record worldwide opening-weekend gross of $332.7 million. The Tale of Despereaux was released in December 2008 and grossed $87 million worldwide.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (2026-03-06), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
