Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is an English actress, model, and activist. Born in Paris and raised in Oxfordshire, Watson attended the Dragon School and trained as an actress at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts. As a child, she rose to prominence with her first professional acting role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, having acted only in school plays previously.Watson also starred in the 2007 television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes and lent her voice to The Tale of Despereaux. After the last Harry Potter film, she took on starring and supporting roles in My Week with Marilyn, The Perks of Being a Wallflowerand The Bling Ring, made an appearance as an exaggerated version of herself in This Is the End, and played the title character's adopted daughter in Noah. She went on to star as Belle in the 2017 musical romantic fantasy Beauty and the Beast, and Meg March in the coming-of-age drama Little Women, the latter of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her other film roles include Regression, Colonia, and The Circle.From 2011 to 2014, Watson split her time between working on films and continuing her education, graduating from Brown University with a bachelor's degree in English literature in May 2014. Her modelling work has included campaigns for Burberry and Lancôme. She also lent her name to a line of clothing for People Tree. She was honoured by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2014, winning British Artist of the Year. In that same year, she was appointed as a UN Women Goodwill ambassador and helped launch the UN Women campaign HeForShe, which advocates for gender equality.