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Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress. She rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger, one of three starring roles in the Harry Potter film series. Watson was cast for the role at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays. From 2001 to 2007, she starred in five Harry Potter film installments alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. She will return for the final two installments: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due to be released in 2008, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Watson's work in the Harry Potter series has earned her several awards and more than £10 million. In 2007 she announced her involvement in two non-Harry Potter productions: the made-for-television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes was screened on Boxing Day 2007 to an audience of 5.2 million, and an animated film, The Tale of Despereaux, will be released in 2008.

Early life
Emma Watson was born in Paris, France, the daughter of Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, English lawyers who have since divorced. She has a brother, Alexander, who is three years younger, and one of their grandmothers is French. She lived in Paris until the age of five, when she moved with her mother and brother to Oxford, England, after her parents' divorce.

From the age of three, Watson expressed a desire to become an actress. By age ten, she had starred in several school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince. She had never acted in any professional capacity prior to being cast in the Harry Potter series. "I had no idea of the scale of the film [series]", she said in a 2007 interview with Parade magazine; "[if I had] I would have been completely overwhelmed".

Hermione Granger casting
In 1999, casting began for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States), the film adaptation of British author J.K. Rowling's bestselling novel. Of paramount importance to the casting directors were the lead role of Harry Potter and the two supporting roles of Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Harry's two best friends at school. All three characters are 11 at the start of the school year depicted in the film. Impressed with her school play performances, Watson's Oxford theatre teacher passed her name to casting agents, and she was taken into consideration. The producers were impressed by Watson's self-confidence – after eight auditions, producer David Heyman told Watson and fellow applicants Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint that they had been cast for the roles of Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Rowling was said to be supportive of Watson from the time of her first screen test.

Harry Potter (2001–08)
Watson was 11 years old when Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released. The film broke box-office records for opening-day sales and opening weekend takings and was the highest-grossing film of 2001. Critics praised the performances of the three leads, often singling out Watson for particular acclaim. The Daily Telegraph called her performance "admirable", and IGN said she "stole the show". Watson was nominated for five awards for her performance in Philosopher's Stone, winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress.

In her first major interview, with the BBC in 2001, Watson said she particularly enjoyed the film's stunts, especially a scene in which her character is attacked by a troll and has to dart under sinks and run through the legs of bigger actors. In 2007, Watson added that during production she had lost several baby teeth and had to wear dentures to avoid continuity issues.

A year later, Watson again starred as Hermione in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the film series' second installment. Though the film received mixed reviews because of its pace and direction, critics were generally positive about the performances. The Los Angeles Times said that Watson and her peers had matured between films, while The Times criticized director Chris Columbus for "under-employing" Watson's hugely popular character. Watson received an Otto Award from the German magazine Die Welt for her performance.

thumb|250px|left|Watson as [[Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]] In 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released; Watson was appreciative of the more assertive role Hermione played in this film, calling her "charismatic" and "a fantastic role to play". She said she enjoyed filming a scene in which Hermione punches Harry's nemesis Draco Malfoy (played by Tom Felton) and another in which she angrily storms out of class when she becomes frustrated with divination professor Sybill Trelawney (Emma Thompson). Although critics largely turned away from Radcliffe's acting talent, increasingly labeling him as wooden, Watson continued to be praised; The New York Times lauded her performance, saying "Luckily Mr. Radcliffe's blandness is offset by Ms. Watson's spiky impatience. Harry may show off his expanding wizardly skills, ... but Hermione ... earns the loudest applause with a decidedly unmagical punch to Draco Malfoy's deserving nose". Although Prisoner of Azkaban remains the lowest-grossing Harry Potter film as of January 2008, it was Watson's most successful, winning her two Otto Awards and the Child Performance of the Year award from Total Film.

Later that year, Watson joined Pierce Brosnan, Chamber of Secrets co-star Kenneth Branagh, and Samantha Morton on a panel in London to award the 2004 First Light Film Awards to teenage filmmakers.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was released in 2005; Watson reprised her role as Hermione Granger. She called director Mike Newell "fantastic" and denied rumours that she and colleagues Radcliffe and Grint might be replaced in the following movies. For Watson, much of the humour of the film sprang from the tension among the three lead characters as they matured. She said, "I loved all the arguing &hellip; I think it's much more realistic that they would argue and that there would be problems." The film set new records for a Harry Potter opening weekend, a non-May opening weekend in the USA, and an opening weekend in the UK. Critics praised the increasing maturity of Watson and her teenage co-stars; the New York Times called her performance "touchingly earnest". Watson, nominated for three awards for Goblet of Fire, won a bronze Otto Award.

Later that year, Watson became the youngest person to appear on the cover of Teen Vogue magazine, until the subsequent appearance of American actress Willa Holland. In 2006, Watson played Hermione in The Queen's Handbag, a special mini-episode of Harry Potter in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday.

In the 2007 film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Watson returned as Hermione Granger for the fifth time in seven years. She said that her favourite scenes involved the two wizard duels in which Hermione took part, especially when she practiced combat magic with Grint's character Ron Weasley. When Ron patronises her, she blows him backwards into a wall with a spell. Watson said, "It was a real 'girl power' moment." She was impressed with newcomer Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood, and noted actress Imelda Staunton, who played the villain, Dolores Umbridge. The film, an enormous financial success, set a record, worldwide, opening-weekend gross of $333 million. For her work in Order of the Phoenix, Watson won the inaugural National Movie Award for Best Female Performance.

Watson was a target of friendly ridicule on the set because of her straight-A General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam results and was unnerved by the film's climax featuring flashback clips from earlier Harry Potter movies. "It's just like having your baby pictures blown up on a 20-foot screen and placed in 37 countries," she said... "You see yourself and you say, 'God, who is that girl?' "

On July 9, 2007, Watson and fellow Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint left imprints of their hands, feet, and wands in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Ballet Shoes
In August 2007, it was announced that Watson would star in the BBC's adaptation of Ballet Shoes, playing Pauline Fossil, the eldest of the three Fossil sisters around whom the story revolves. (The film had originally been an ITV production.) Watson had expressed an interest in the role, which required her to bleach her hair white-blonde, after a search by producer Piers Wenger had failed to find a young actress to play the role. Writer Heidi Thomas said, "We saw every blonde actress in London, and not one of them was right... It was like a nightmare". Director Sandra Goldbacher was "delighted" by Watson's interest, saying, "Emma was perfect for Pauline... She has a piercing, delicate aura that makes you want to gaze and gaze at her". Watson herself was said to be "intrigued" by the role, saying, "I was all set to go back to school after finishing Harry Potter [and the Order of the Phoenix] but couldn't resist Ballet Shoes. I really loved it".

Ballet Shoes was broadcast on Boxing Day in the United Kingdom to an estimated audience of 5.2 million (22 percent of the viewing total). The film, adapted from Noel Streatfeild's original novel, received generally poor critical reviews; The Times described it as "progress[ing] with little emotional investment, or magic, or dramatic momentum". However, the acting abilities of its all-star cast were generally praised; The Telegraph said the film "was certainly well done, not least because it confirmed how good child-actors are these days".

Future plans
Despite rumours alleging that she refused to appear in the last two Harry Potter installments, Watson's commitment to the final two films was confirmed in March 2007 by Warner Brothers. She said, "I could never let [the role of] Hermione go – she is my hero! I love her too much and love what playing her has meant to me. I am excited and honoured to be finishing what I started and playing her in all seven of the films." Later, she explained that people underestimated the scope of this decision, as she was aware that filming would dominate her life for the next three to four years; in the end, "the pluses outweighed the minuses." Filming for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince began on December 18, 2007.

On July 19, 2007, Watson announced her involvement in The Tale of Despereaux, an animated film to be released in 2008 in which she will voice the character of Princess Pea. Although Radcliffe and Grint have confirmed their commitment to an acting career, Watson has expressed uncertainty about her future plans. Speaking to Newsweek magazine in 2006, she said, "Daniel and Rupert seem so sure... I love to perform, but there are so many [other] things I love doing."

Personal life
In recent years, Watson's extended family has grown as her divorced parents both have children by new partners. Her father has identical twin girls, Nina and Lucy, and a four-year old son, Toby. From her mother's new marriage, she also has two half-brothers who "regularly stay with [her]". Watson's full brother, Alexander, has appeared as an extra in two Harry Potter films, and her sisters, Nina and Lucy, were cast as the young Pauline Fossil in the BBC's Ballet Shoes adaptation.

After moving to Oxford with her mother and brother, Watson attended The Dragon School, a private preparatory school, until June 2003 and then moved to Headington School, a private all-girls school, also in Oxford. While on film sets, Watson and her peers were tutored for about four hours per day; despite the focus on filming, her academic achievements were good. In June 2006, she took GCSE examinations in 10 subjects, achieving eight A* and two A grades. The following year she received four A grades in her AS levels (advanced level examinations) in English, geography, art and art history. The only one of the Harry Potter trio of stars who intends to study at university, Watson has entertained thoughts of applying to read philosophy at Cambridge or philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford.

Watson's work in the Harry Potter series has brought her more than £10 million; She has acknowledged that she will never have to work again for money. However, she has declined to quit school to become a full-time actress, saying "People can’t understand why I don’t want to,... but school life keeps me in touch with my friends. It keeps me in touch with reality." Watson has formed a close friendship with her fellow Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, describing them as a "unique support system" for the stresses of shooting the films. She has also been positive about the experience of working as a child actor, saying that her parents helped make her feel comfortable, and citing several of the actors, directors and crew she worked with as friendly and helpful.

Watson lists her interests as dancing, singing, field hockey, tennis and art. She calls herself a feminist, has a cat called "Bubbles", admires Johnny Depp and Julia Roberts, and lists France as her favourite holiday destination.