THE GIRL WHO GIVES LIFE TO HERMIONE GRANGER

• Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson was born in Oxfordshire, England on April 15 1990; though she lived the first 5 years of her life in France.

Before landing the role of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, Emma had only appeared in school plays ('Arthur: The Younger Years', 'The Swallow and The Prince', 'The Happy Prince', and 'Alice in Wonderland'). She had also won first place in a school poetry recital (The Daisy Pratt Poetry Competition) at age seven, but had never acted professionally. Emma was up against literally thousands of other actresses, many who had more acting experience than herself; however, multiple auditions later, she had won the role.

After most recently starring in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which opened in June 2004, Emma Watson became, according to the Lycos Top 50: the most popular "Potter Star" - she made 8th place in the list of the most searches. There is no other star of the Potter movies within the top 50. Another noteworthy achievement: as a result of her critically acclaimed performance in the Harry Potter movies, she has won several awards.

Away from the world of Harry Potter, Emma enjoys playing hockey, and she also likes debating. Although as Hermione, her hair is brown, she's naturally a blonde. When she's not shooting the HP movies, she enjoy's spending time with her friends (doesn't everyone?), and shopping. She has one brother, Alex, who is 3 years younger than Emma, and her parents (Chris and Jaqueline), who are both lawyers, are divorced. Emma also has two cats, Bubbles and Domino - though Domino is actually her brothers.

Now that she has experienced working in a film, Emma would like to appear in other roles as well. She said in an interview, "I'd like to play some American high school girl. I want to play something totally different. I want to play every kind of character and every point of view, but I'm probably going to be playing Hermione for a while. In regards to that last statement, all we can say is, we hope so Emma.