Biography

(prefer the shorter bio?)

On the 15th of April, 1990, in the capital of France, Paris, Emma Charlotte Durre Watson was born to parents Chris and Jaqueline Watson. Soon after, her parents moved to France where she lived for five years. When Emma was quite young, her parents divorced, her father remarrying. Later on, in 1993, Alex Watson was born and Emma had a little brother to call her own. Now, Emma wouldn't come into the spotlight until early on in primary school when she appeared in such school plays such as 'Arthur: The Young Years', 'The Happy Prince' and ‘Alice in Wonderland' and won the "Daisy Pratt Poetry Competition" when she was seven.

She came to fame when in 2001 she was cast as Hermione Granger in the upcoming, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Emma didn't originally want to be an actress, but went to a casting audition when her teacher nominated her and a few friends. She only originally went for fun, but soon she went through many rigorous auditions, up against other girls, many of which had acting experience.

After the success of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Emma returned to her role as Hermione Granger in 2002. During the filming of the next addition, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets she gained the nickname "One Take Watson" as she frequently got her takes in one go. As many of us know, life is full of accidents. Emma's came in the form of breaking her wrist.

With Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets taking longer to shoot than the first movie, Emma reprised her role as Hermione Granger in 2004, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Coincidentally, this was also her favourite movie and favourite book, as Hermione wears jeans, instead of the jumpers and skirts she had been wearing in the previous movies (oh, and the fact that Hermione goes all girl-power and punches Malfoy was a definate perk, according to Emma).

Later, towards the end of 2004, beginning of 2005, production on the fourth installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in which romance bounces off the walls and around walls. Hermione experiences her first "boyfriend" (Viktor Krum) and tension flies between both of her best friends (on and off the set) Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint). Goblet of Fire debuted all around the world, earning a spot as one of the highest grossing films of all time.

Along with filming, Emma made her debut on the front cover of Teen Vogue, shooting a special photoshoot in mid-2005. Following closely was her feature in Elle Girl magazine, with another photoshoot. Emma had finally broken into the international spree, with many interviews and photoshoots anticipated to follow.

In 2007, Emma finished filming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and took her GCSEs. (She earned eight A*s and two As.) Emma also filmed Ballet Shoes, a BBC film based on the popular book by Noel Streatfield, that summer and began Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in September. Emma hopes to attend university after taking a gap year. As for her career she wants to continue acting as well as having an academic career. She also wishes to do what she originally did - perform on stage.

In late 2007, Emma launched her official website, EWO.com, to keep in closer touch with her fans. The site, run by former EW.net webmiss Jo, keeps all us Emma fans primed with the upcoming Emma news, and some exclusives, including pictures from her family's collection! It was on this website that Emma announced she had two-half twin sisters, Nina and Lucy, and a half-brother Toby. she also adds that her siblings have often appeared in her movies with her as extras. Emma and Jo add a personal touch by presenting selected fanart to the public, featuring Emma. Emma's personal message service, EMS, keeps fans up-to-date with her thoughts, ranging from winning awards to thoughts on the final Potter book!

The year 2008 marked many special occasions, the highlight of which was Emma's 18th birthday! Streaming a special birthday message in which Emma revealed her favourite breakfast - strawberries and Nutella! - the video was well accepted by Emma fans alike and was reported upon by many Internet and real-life newspapers. 2008 also brought the news that the sixth installment of the 'Potter' series was to be delayed until June 2009, but also was pivotal in the discovery that the final 'Potter' movie would be in two parts. Emma signed onto the last three films. Between films, she voiced the character of Princess Pea in the movie adaption of Kate DiCamillo's award winning book, The Tale of Despereaux, aligning herself with the likes of Hollywood greats Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick and Sigourney Weaver (just to name a few). Christmas 2008 was a joint affair with Emma surprising fans with a make-over at EWO.com, plus an exclusive hand-made card made for all her visitors. Speculation of Emma's acting 'retirement' hung in the air towards the end of 2008, when Emma was spotted visiting American Ivy League schools for her tertiary studies.

Following a star-studded premiere for her first non-Potter flick, Emma went back to England to wrap up filming for the sixth installment of the Potter series and to begin shooting for the final two movies. Reprising her role as Hermione Granger, Emma was spotted on set in Edinburgh with a set of tents pitched up. This was soon followed by a news-packed two weeks in which the Trio shot in Central London for two nights, and then in Wales for some filming on the beach! This being the final Potter movie, all actors and crew are pitching in 110% into their efforts to make the final two movies truely memorable.

Emma kept relatively low-key in the first half of 2009, appearing at the BAFTAs, a Rodare dinner, front row of a William Tempest runway and at a football game. However, once 'Half Blood Prince' release hit single digits, she began appearing all over the world as interviews were released! The month of June marked no less than 15 covers and interviews with various magazines, with Emma even making an appearance on 'Teen Vogue'! This year also marked a change in Emma photos are she appeared to be more risque and completely different from her previous photoshoots - a memorable Emma photoshoot from this year was her first 2009 photoshoot with Ellen von Unwerth for 'Vs. Magazine', where Emma was photographed playing with make-up. This was then followed by a slew of magazine covers and interviews.

The highlight of 2009 however was the confirmation and launch of Emma as the new, fresh face of the Autumn/Winter 2009 Burberry campaign; this is and was Emma's first modelling endeavour. The campaign also brought to light the use of internet marketing as a tool for fashion houses, with Emma's photographs making headlines all over the world. She appeared once more, affectionately alongside her brother Alex Watson, in the Spring/Summer 2010 campaign and Christopher Bailey, the head designer of Burberry, has proclaimed Emma to be his "design muse". Emma returned once more to Burberry as the face of their Spring/Summer 2010 campaign, where she modelled alongside her (now) close friend, George Craig, and her own little brother, Alex Watson! However, after two consecutive campaigns, it was announced that Burberry had replaced Emma with another celebrity face, the Brit mode/actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley who was also cast in the upcoming "Transformers" sequel. We only hope that Burberry will once again use Emma as their face, with reports showing that Emma's campaigns raising Burberry sales by over 20%!

At the end of 2009 it was announced that Emma had taken on the role of Creative Consultant alongside fairtrade brand 'People Tree'. Emma provided insight and designed a fair few articles of clothing, all of which were made under and sold under fairtrade standards. Her clothing line launched in February 2010 and brought a whole slew of brand new publicity not only on Emma but also on the harsh realities of clothing development and unfair treatment of clothing production workers. Her range was a hit with the under-25s with most of her more popular clothing (the ones which Emma herself modelled in the catalogue) selling out within a few days. Emma enthused that she had designed a range that was not only fashion wise but also ethically savvy.

The end of 2009 also brought about another dimension to Emma's life - she began teritary studies abroad! After expressing interest in American Ivy League schools it was reported in the middle of that year that she had been admitted and accepted into Brown; this rumour was later confirmed when co-star Daniel Radcliffe spilled the information in a junket interview during the 'Half Blood Prince' press tour. Emma herself confirmed the enrollment and in September 2009 she started her first semester at Brown University. She willingly participated in "Freshmen Orientation Week", getting to know her fellow Brown peers and experiencing campus life. She lives on campus in one of the resident dormitories and is rumoured to be a generally down-to-Earth and shy member of the first year cohort. During breaks from her studies, Emma jets across the world to visit her mother, father, brother and step-siblings in London, as well as catching up with friends and keeping it low. We wish Emma the very best in her studies and hope she continues to enjoy University life!

The next year brought along many changes and events: the first of which, and most importantly, was the wrapping up of the "Potter" sequel and filming in general. After likening the end of filming to "a friend dying", Emma and the crew spent an emotional couple of days filming their last scenes for the two-parter movie climax. The cast and crew completed filming in June 2010 with the movie placed into post-production with an anticipated November 2010 release; however, they would not be separated long with a carnival festival build on the Leavesden studio lot for the day for those involved with the "Potter" flicks to say good-bye officially. They'll all be reunited a few times more for promotionals and interviews for the final two films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts One and Two.

It would seem that 2010 would also be a big fashion year for Emma: not only did she snag an invite to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Costume Institute Ball" in May, appearing on the arm of Burberry exec, Christopher Bailey, in a custom made white goddess gown that sent tongues wagging. She also appeared in her very first solo feature for 'Vanity Fair' after meeting Anna Wintour at a cocktail party for emerging British fashion designers. By August, it was confirmed that Emma would appear on six cover shoots for the October/November issues of numerous magazines for her promotion of the first part of Deathly Hallows, including top fashion bibles 'Marie Claire', 'Teen Vogue' and 'Elle'. Emma has grown evermore closer to her fanbase, establishing a multitude of social networking sites which she updates when possible. The year 2010 saw the revamping of her official site (emmawatson.com) and also the introduction of her official Twitter (@EmWatson) and official Facebook.

Emma appeared once more as the face of People Tree and personally endorsed their new autumn/winter line - this endorsement also saw Emma travelling all the way to Bangladesh to tour the poverty-ridden country, with Emma donning a sari and touring the slums of Dharka; however, her trip was not entirely depressing, with Emma working as a teacher for a day in a primary school and bought and handed out packaged lunches for the children. She has reiterated the need for more fair trade establishments to arise and help out the under-paid and under-appreciated factory workers in developed countries. Emma admited that she didn't oversee the autumn/winter campaign as she did with her "Love from Emma" spring/summer range, but did contribute a few fashion tidbits to the youth line (ie. the daisy artwork visible on one of the autumn/winter shirts). As she did with her first collaboration with People Tree, Emma modelled her favourite pieces from the range - it is worthwhile to note that those particular pieces, some three outfits, were the first items of clothing to be sold out from the autumn/winter range!

However, her most iconic move of 2010 came in August when Emma was spotted out and about with noticeably shorter hair. The fandom was sent into a whirl: did she or did she not cut her hair? Emma herself set the matter straight and Tweeted from her official Twitter and Facebook accounts that she had indeed cut off her hair and embraced a very chic and mode pixie cut. She commented that the drastic change was one that had been a long time coming and was exceptionally "liberating" and "incredible". Her new do was debuted in the August edition of 'Entertainment Weekly' in their annual fall movie preview bumper edition; she has since then been featured on a number of fashion lists focussed on pixie cuts. The cut effectively divided the online Emma world but since then, more and more people have become more accepting of the cut - it is, after all, her decision and hair does grow back!

What's new? Well, watch this space.