Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born April 15, 1990 in Paris, France to Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, English lawyers who lived in France at the time (Watson's grandmother is French). Watson has a younger brother named Alex. She lived in Paris until the age of five, then moved with her mother and brother to Oxford, England.
Watson attended The Dragon School, a private preparatory school, until June 2003, when she moved to Headington School, a private all-girls school in Oxford. In June 2006, Watson took GCSE examinations in 10 subjects, achieving eight A* and two A grades. She is studying for her Advanced Subsidiary (AS) levels in Dance, Art and English Literature and has plans to attend college in the future.
At the age of nine in 1999, Watson was called up one day in assembly to be informed that she was one of several pupils who had been chosen to audition for the upcoming "Harry Potter" films. She was already a huge fan of the Harry Potter books, so it was only fitting when Watson made her big-screen debut in 2001's box-office smash "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," bringing to life Hermione Granger, friend to the famous protagonist Harry Potter of J.K. Rowling's children's novel.
Watson acted only in school plays in Europe before breaking into Hollywood with the original film, but her performance skills had been honed through dancing, singing, and poetry recitals, the latter of which she had already received recognition by the age of seven. Watson has since appeared in all subsequent "Potter" films: "Chamber of Secrets" (2002), "Prisoner of Azkaban" (2004), "Goblet of Fire" (2005), and "Order of the Phoenix" (2007).
Watson is an avid sports player, with skiing and field hockey among her favorites. She also enjoys tennis, golf and several water sports such as water skiing and scuba diving, which she holds an Open Water PADI certificate that she accomplished in Mauritius and allows her to scuba dive anywhere in the world.
In addition to a love for singing and art, dancing is another huge passion of hers and she had dance lessons on set while filming the third and fourth "Harry Potter" films. Watson is currently up to her silver award in both street jazz and freestyle.