Emma Watson is an actress.
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson ( born 15 April 1990 ) is a French-British actress , model , and activist . She rose to prominence after landing her first professional acting role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series , having acted only in school plays previously . Watson continued to work outside of the Harry Potter films , lending her voice to The Tale of Despereaux ( 2008 ) and appearing in the 2007 television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes . Since then , she has taken on starring roles in The Perks of Being a Wallflower ( 2012 ) and The Bling Ring ( 2013 ) , made a brief appearance as an exaggerated version of herself in This Is the End ( 2013 ) , and portrayed the title character 's adopted daughter in Noah ( 2014 ) . In 2017 , she portrayed Belle in a live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast .