Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress and activist. She has gained recognition for her roles in both blockbusters and independent films, as well as her women’s rights work. Watson has been 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.
Born in Paris and raised in Oxfordshire, 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 acted only in school plays previously. Watson also starred in the 2007 television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes and 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 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 the biblical epic Noah. That same year, Watson was honoured by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, winning British Artist of the Year. She starred as Belle in the musical romantic fantasy Beauty and the Beast (2017), which ranks among the highest-grossing films of all time, and Meg March in the 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. In the same year, she was appointed a UN Women Goodwill ambassador and helped launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which advocates for gender equality. 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 line of clothing for sustainable brand People Tree. In 2020, she joined the board of directors of Kering, a luxury brand group, in her capacity as an advocate for sustainable fashion.
“The less you reveal the more people can wonder.”—Emma Watson
“I don’t want other people to decide who I am.”—Emma Watson
“Love yourself and feel good about how you are.”—Emma Watson
“All I can do is follow my instincts, because I’ll never please everyone.”—Emma Watson
“Fear of failure cannot stop me from doing what I really care about.”—Emma Watson
“Girls should never be afraid to be smart.”—Emma Watson
“I want to paint, and I want to write, and I want to act, and I want to just do everything.”—Emma Watson
“I have enough money to never have to work again.”—Emma Watson
“There’s honestly nothing that’s gonna intimidate me!”—Emma Watson
“I want to be normal.”—Emma Watson
“Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t do or achieve.”—Emma Watson
“I give 100 percent.”—Emma Watson
“I’m in my head a lot.”—Emma Watson
“I was always kind of bossy.”—Emma Watson
“I think it’s important to have that extra adrenaline. It gives you that extra zing.”—Emma Watson
“Do what you want to do and be who you want to be.”—Emma Watson
“I have to really enjoy the good things because it makes the bad things OK.”—Emma Watson
“As an actress I take roles I find interesting.”—Emma Watson
“It’s all about acting, and I think that has been the best bit for me.”—Emma Watson
“I love painting and have a need to do it.”—Emma Watson
“It’s not the absence of fear, it’s overcoming it.”—Emma Watson
“I’m a perfectionist, so my bossiness definitely comes out.”—Emma Watson
“Constantly feeling abnormal is quite difficult.”—Emma Watson
“I do worry about the expectation to look a certain way.”—Emma Watson
“I think the actresses who are really successful are the ones who are comfortable in their own skins and still look human.”—Emma Watson
“Sometimes you’ve got to blast through and have faith.”—Emma Watson
“I want to avoid becoming too styled, too ‘done’ and too generic.”—Emma Watson
“Don’t feel stupid if you don’t like what everyone else pretends to love.”—Emma Watson
“Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong…it is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideas.”—Emma Watson
“If not me, who?
If not now, when?”—Emma Watson
“Follow your dreams.”—Emma Watson
“Feeling beautiful has nothing to do with what you look like, I promise.”—Emma Watson
“I’m willing to be seen.
I’m willing to speak up.
I’m willing to keep going.
I’m willing to listen to what others have to say.
I’m willing to go to bed each night at peace with myself.
I’m willing to be my biggest bestest most powerful self.”—Emma Watson
“The saddest thing a girl can do is dumb herself down for a guy.”—Emma Watson
“What gets scary is when your self-worth is tied up in what strangers think of you.”—Emma Watson
“You have to go out there and make your own mistakes in order to learn.”—Emma Watson
“I don’t want other people to decide what I am. I want to decide that for myself.”—Emma Watson
“If you truly pour your heart into what you believe in, even if it makes you vulnerable, amazing things can and will happen.”—Emma Watson
“Just encourage and include each other.”—Emma Watson
“Don’t ostracize the gender in front of you.”—Emma Watson
“It’s a journey and the sad thing is you only learn from experience.”—Emma Watson
“I’m more interested in women who aren’t perfect.”—Emma Watson
“There’s nothing interesting about looking perfect.”—Emma Watson
“Beauty is the face of who cried and now
smiles.”—Emma Watson
“Beauty is what we feel in the inside
which also shows outside us.”—Emma Watson
