January 1995 Family Background
Watson lived in Maisons-Laffitte near Paris until age five.
Her parents divorced when she was young, and Watson moved to England to live with her
mother and younger brother in Oxfordshire while spending weekends at her father’s house in London.
March 1996 Childhood
From a very young age, she dreamt of becoming an actress and took up coaching classes at the
Stagecoach Theatre Arts to pursue her dreams, while attending Dragon School, in Oxford.
January 1998 Acting as a Child
Her natural instinct for acting first came out when she won a poetry competition
for reciting James Reeves’ “The Sea” at age 7.
By the age of 10, she had performed in a number of stage productions and plays.
January 1999 Grabbing Major Role
It was at the behest of her school teachers that she decided to audition for the role of
Harry’s best friend, Hermione Granger. She got the role after auditioning for it eight times.
Interestingly, right from the audition, she won the heart of the author herself, J.K. Rowling.
November 2001 Breakthrough with Harry Potter
Watson’s film debut was an enormous success.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone grossed $975 million worldwide.
Her debut-screen performance garnered the attention of critics and audiences from around
the globe and avid fans soon related Watson to the character of ‘Hermione Granger’ in the book.
February 2003 Balancing School and Work
She left Dragon School and as a result of her busy filming schedules,
she was tutored for her GCSE exams for over 5 hours a day.
She finally cleared her GCSE examinations the following year, earning two A’s and eight A*.
June 2004 Committing to Franchise
For the next decade, Watson stayed busy filming the eight-part series through the final film,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, in 2011. The series and Hermione Granger
earned her a number of awards and the attention of critics, and worldwide fame.
January 2007 Exploring Horizons
Apart from Potter series, Watson starred in film based on a children’s novel, Ballet Shoes,
by Noel Streatfeild, garnering decent reviews with Watson in the lead role. In 2008 she branched out
into animated work, voicing the character of Princess Pea in The Tale of Despereaux.
February 2009 Fashion Designer
Watson announced that she was working with People Tree, a fashion label that promotes fair trade.
She also designed a range of clothes for underprivileged children that benefited UNICEF.
September 2009 Enrolling to College
Maintaining her commitment to her education, Watson enrolled as a freshman at Brown University
in Providence, Rhode Island, in the fall. Brown was also a place,
Watson said, where she could more easily blend in. She graduated in 2014 with an English degree.
January 2010 Modelling
Watson also emerged as a fashionista, her style catching the eye of many major figures in the
fashion industry. She catapulted into the world of high fashion and modelling when she was chosen
as the face of Burberry’s Autumn/Winter collection and as the face of Lancôme.
March 2013 Star Actress
Watson was ranked among the world’s highest-paid actresses by Forbes and Vanity Fair.
She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2015.
Madame Tussauds London unveiled a wax statue of hers, requested by her fans across world.
July 2014 UN Ambassador
Watson is an outspoken feminist. She has promoted education for girls, travelling to Bangladesh and
Zambia to do so. She was appointed as the UN Women Goodwill ambassador the same year.
September 2014 HeForShe Campaign
Watson launched the UN Women campaign HeForShe,
which aims to urge men to advocate for gender equality. Watson’s speech described feminism
as “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities”
and declared that the perception of “man-hating” is something that “has to stop”.
February 2017 Blockbuster Hit
Watson added various movies in her filmography. She played the lead role of
Belle in the live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, which became the highest-grossing live
action musical of all time. She won MTV’s Best Actor in Movie award the same year.
February 2018 Support to Women
She donated £1 million to Time’s Up UK in February 2018
and later helped set up the organisation’s Justice and Equality Fund in October,
which donated to women’s groups across the country. She also helped in launching a legal
helpline for people who have suffered sexual harassment in the workplace.
January 2019 Personal Life
When asked about her faith, Watson described herself as a spiritual universalist
and is an avid yoga and meditation enthusiast.
She has been in a relationship with American businessman Leo Robinton.
March 2020 Role Model
Watson was named British GQ’s Woman of the Year and topped Empire’s list of the 100
Sexiest Movie Stars. She was found to be the sixth most admired woman in the
world in global surveys conducted by YouGov and is an inspiration.
June 2021 Looking at Future!
For her last movie Little Women, a classic adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott novel,
she garnered positive critics for her heartfelt work. She currently has no
future commitments and is looking for a fine balance between work and family.
