BIOGRAPHY

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born in Paris, France to parents, Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson. When Emma was five her parents divorced, and she then moved to Oxfordshire, England with her mother and younger brother, Alexander. Since the divorce, Emma's extended family has grown as her parents both have new partners. Her father has a son named Toby, and identical twin daughters, Nina and Lucy, and her mother's partner has two sons. Emma spent much of her childhood residing in England with her mother and stepfather, younger brother, and two stepbrothers. From the age of six, Emma knew that she wanted to be an actress and, for a number of years, she trained at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts, a part-time theatre school where she studied singing, dancing and acting. By the age of ten, she had performed and taken the lead in various Stagecoach productions and school plays, including "Arthur: The Young Years" and "The Happy Prince". In 1999, casting began for Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal (2001), the film adaptation of British author J.K. Rowling's bestselling novel. Casting agents found Emma through her Oxford theatre teacher. After eight consistent auditions, producer David Heyman told Emma and fellow applicants, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, that they had been cast for the roles of the three leads, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. The release of Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal (2001) was Emma's cinematic screen debut. The film broke records for opening-day sales and opening-weekend takings and was the highestgrossing film of 2001. Critics praised the film and the performances of the three leading young actors. The highly distributed British newspaper, 'The Daily Telegraph', called her performance "admirable". Later, Emma was nominated for five awards for her performance in the film, winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film. Since the release of the first film of the highly successful franchise, Emma has quickly become one of the most well-known actresses in the world. She continued to play the role of Hermione Granger for nearly ten years, in all of the following Harry Potter films: Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal (2001), Harry Potter y la cmara secreta (2002), Harry Potter y el prisionero de Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter y el cliz de fuego (2005), Harry Potter y la orden del Fnix (2007), Harry Potter y el misterio del prncipe (2009), Harry Potter y las reliquias de la muerte (1 parte) (2010), and Harry Potter y las reliquias de la muerte 2 (2011). In addition, Emma has began to branch out into other films, with Mi semana con Marilyn (2011), Las ventajas de ser invisible (2012), and the upcoming Ladrones de la Fama (2013) and Noah (2014).

In 2008, 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. 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. She also appeared in Burberry's 2010 Spring/Summer campaign alongside her brother Alex, musicians George Craig and Matt Gilmour, and model Max Hurd. In February 2011, Watson was awarded the Style Icon award from British Elle by Dame Vivienne Westwood. Watson continued her involvement in fashion advertising when she announced she had been chosen as the face of Lancme in March 2011. After leaving school, Watson took a gap year to film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows beginning in February 2009, but said she "definitely want to go to university". The Providence Journal reported that Watson had confirmed that she had chosen Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island. In March 2011, after 18 months at the university, Watson announced that she was deferring her course for "a semester or two. Watson was a visitor student at Worcester College, Oxford for the 20112012 academic year.