Emily Margaret Watson OBE (born 14 January 1967 in Islington, London) is a British actress. No relation to (and not to be confused with) Emma Watson. Though when people do, she is flattered to be mixed up with someone twenty years younger.
Filmography
- Breaking the Waves (1996) as Bess McNeil
- Angela's Ashes (1999) as Angela McCourt
- Gosford Park (2001) as Elsie
- Punch-Drunk Love (2002) as Lena Leonard
- Equilibrium (2002) as Mary O'Brien
- Red Dragon (2002) as Reba McClane
- The Proposition (2005) as Martha Stanley
- Corpse Bride (2005) as Victoria Everglot
- Miss Potter (2006) as Amelia "Millie" Warne
- The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007) as Anne MacMorrow
- Cold Souls (2009) as Claire Giamatti
- War Horse (2011) as Rose Narracot
- Anna Karenina (2012) as Countess Lydia
- The Book Thief (2013) as Rosa Hubermann
- Belle (2013) as Lady Mansfield
- The Politician's Husband (2013) as Freya
- The Theory of Everything (2014) as Beryl Wilde
- Testament of Youth (2014) as Mrs Brittain
- A Royal Night Out (2015) as Queen Elizabethnote
- Everest (2015) as Helen Wilton
- Apple Tree Yard (2017) as Yvonne Carmichael
- Little Women as "Marmee" March
- Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) as White House Chief of Staff Fox
- On Chesil Beach (2017) as Violet Pointing
- Chernobyl (2019) as Ulyana Khomyuk
- The Third Day (2020) as Mrs Martin
- Dune Prophecy (TBA) as Valya Harkonnen
Related Tropes
- Break the Cutie: Watson typically plays adorable and innocent characters who are often wide-eyed idealists or even waif prophets, but are ultimately savagely brought down or worse by the uncaring horribleness of the world.
- Character Tic: Watson's quivering lower lip has become a staple of her acting arsenal.
- Fake Nationality: Watson is English, but played a Scot in her debut film role. She would go on to play a Scot again (in The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep), two Irish people, four Russians, and five Americans.
- Fan Disservice: Watson is known for going nude in many of her roles, though not usually in particularly arousing contexts.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Watson has large, expressive blue eyes and most filmmakers know how to take advantage of them to highlight the kinds of characters she usually plays.
- Lady Swearsalot: While her characters are not typically known for their foul mouths, Emily herself had by far the foulest mouth on the set of The Proposition, according to the DVD interviews with the cast, none of whom are slouches in the bad language themselves.
- Method Acting: Required role recovery therapy after "A Song For Jenny".
- Separated-at-Birth Casting: She bears a striking resemblence to Samantha Morton, and played an actress portraying her character in Synecdoche, New York.
- Shakespearean Actors: Began her career at the RSC, and named her first child Juliet in memory of that time.
- What Beautiful Eyes!: Arguably her killer app. Much of her performance in Breaking the Waves was conveyed solely through her eyes. Actually invoked by a character in Too Close.
- What Could Have Been: Jean-Pierre Jeunet wrote the character Amélie for Watson, and originally named her Emily. She eventually turned the role down because she couldn't get her French good enough. She was the original choice to play Elizabeth I in Elizabeth, which made a star of Cate Blanchett.
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The Woobie: Most of her characters are this, much to her annoyance.
