n April 15th 1990 Emma Watson came into this world. She was born in Paris, France and raised with her younger brother, Alex in Oxfordshire, England. At the age of five, Emma’s parents divorced so she and her brother split time between mom and dad. She learned from her mom’s example to value herself, have purpose in life and know that what one does, thinks and says is more important than physical appearance. Meanwhile, spending time with dad meant getting to do all the things he enjoyed like fishing, cricket, tennis, books, bowling and going on adventures. Thanks to her upbringing, she was taught that her opinion is valuable.

Watson went to Stagecoach Theatre Arts School at Oxford where she studied singing, acting and dance and performed in the school plays. At nine years old, her teachers gave her the idea to audition for an upcoming movie based on some books about a boy wizard. Having started the Harry Potter series a year earlier, Emma knew playing Hermoine was the right fit. She auditioned eight times before being offered the role. It is no surprise to anyone who knows anything about Emma and Hermoine that the two share many qualities. Playing the clever and confident young witch gave Emma the confidence in herself. She quickly learned that it was ok to be comfortable with and open about her love of school and an eagerness to learn.

That eagerness led Watson to take a Shakespeare course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Then the next year in 2009, she enrolled at Brown University. All the while filming the Potter movies and taking on designing for People Tree. After her first semester on the advice of her college advisors she took a leave of absence from Brown to focus on acting. Two years later though, to help her rediscover what it meant to be an actor, Emma ventured back to Brown for an acting class. Eventually she re-enrolled at Brown and in 2014 graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature.

In 2011 Watson read the script to “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” and fell in love with the character Samantha. Even with Emma attached, the movie was having a hard time finding funding. Since she doesn’t do anything half-way, Watson made her way to LA and met with studio heads to pitch the movie and raise money. The next year, in 2012, not only did the movie premiered but she was awarded the Calvin Klein Emerging Star Award at the ELLE Women in Hollywood Awards. In 2013 she was awarded with both the MTV’s Trailblazer Award and GQ’s Women of the year Award.

2014 turned out to be quite the year for Emma Watson as she graduated from college and was awarded British Artist of the Year and Best British Style from the Britannia Awards and British Fashion Awards respectively. Then there is that little matter of becoming a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and giving an inspiring speech at the United Nations. The next year accolades continued with The Observer's Ethical Awards naming Emma the Campaigner of the Year for her work on HeForShe, Time named her one of their 100 most influential people and the Ms Foundation for Women named her Feminist Celebrity of the year. Also that year, she posted on her Twitter page that she would won the role of Belle in Disney’s live action remake of “Beauty and the Beast”, which premiered March of 2017 and earned her the first ever gender neutral award for Best Actor in a movie at the MTV Movie and TV awards.

Emma has starred in numerous other movies: The Ballet Shoes, The Tale of Despereaux, My Week with Marilyn, The Bling Ring, This is the End (in which she played herself), Noah, The Colony (Colonia), Regression and The Circle.

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