Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born in Paris, France, to English parents, Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, both lawyers. She moved to Oxfordshire when she was five, where she attended the Dragon School. 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 Theater Arts, a part-time theater 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.
Casting agents the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone found Emma through her Oxford theater 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.
Emma has two cats named Bubbles and Domino.
Emma's favorite Harry Potter book is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
She was named after her paternal grandmother, born Freda Emma Duerre, who after marriage became Freda Emma Duerre Watson.
At the age of fifteen, became the youngest person to appear on the cover of Teen Vogue magazine
Her parents are both English, and were living in Paris at the time of Emma's birth. Emma lived in France until the age of five, when her family returned to England.
Enjoys playing field hockey, netball and tennis (for school and local teams), skiing, painting, cooking, singing, and dancing (has twice competed with her school in Rock Challenge 2006 and 2007).
Emma's favorite movies include:
Notting Hill (1999),
Love Actually (2003),
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001),
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994),
About Time (2013),
Giant (1956),
Breathless (2008),
Amélie (2001),
Pan's Labyrinth (2006),
The Fountain (2006),
The Shawshank Redemption (1994),
Gladiator (2000),
Braveheart (1995),
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008),
Philomena (2013),
Blue Jasmine (2013),
Rush (2013),
12 Years a Slave (2013),
The Great Beauty (2013),
The Woodmans (2010),
Closer (2004),
Pretty Woman (1990),
Chicago (2002),
Romeo + Juliet (1996),
Moulin Rouge! (2001),
Dirty Dancing (1987),
Grease (1978),
Shrek (2001),
Ice Age (2002),
and Finding Nemo (2003)
Her parents divorced in 1995; both parents have since remarried. On her father's side, she has a younger half-brother Toby, born 2003, and half-sisters (identical twins) Lucy and Nina, born in 2004. Lucy and Nina played the younger version of her character Pauline in Ballet Shoes (2007). She also has two stepbrothers through her mother's remarriage.
Best friends with Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint after practically growing up with them on the Harry Potter set. She calls them her 'brothers'.
Emma's favorite actors are Johnny Depp and Russell Crowe.
Emma's favorite actresses are Julia Roberts, Renée Zellweger, Sandra Bullock, Rebel Wilson, Goldie Hawn, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Natalie Portman and Meryl Streep.
Emma's favorite television shows include:
Friends (1994),
Sex and the City (1998),
Girls (2012),
Gossip Girl (2007),
America's Next Top Model (2003),
Mad Men (2007),
House of Cards (2013),
and Pride and Prejudice (1995).