Emily Watson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Watson in 2024 | |
| Born | Emily Margaret Watson (1967-01-14)14 January 1967 (age 58) |
| Alma mater | University of Bristol Drama Studio London |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Emily Margaret Watson (born 14 January 1967)[1] is an English actress. She began her career on stage and joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002, she starred in productions ofTwelfth Night andUncle Vanya at theDonmar Warehouse, and was nominated for theOlivier Award for Best Actress for the latter. She was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actress for her debut film role as a newlywed inLars von Trier'sBreaking the Waves (1996) and for her portrayal ofJacqueline du Pré inAnand Tucker'sHilary and Jackie (1998).
Watson's other films includeThe Boxer (1997),Gosford Park (2001),Punch-Drunk Love (2002),Red Dragon (2002),The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004),Corpse Bride (2005),Miss Potter (2006),Synecdoche, New York (2008),Oranges and Sunshine (2010),War Horse (2011),The Theory of Everything (2014),Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017),God's Creatures (2022), andSmall Things like These (2024).
For her role in theHBO miniseriesChernobyl, she was nominated for aPrimetime Emmy Award and aGolden Globe Award. She won theBritish Academy Television Award for Best Actress for playingJanet Leach in the 2011ITV television biopicAppropriate Adult and was nominated for theInternational Emmy Award for Best Actress for the 2017BBC miniseriesApple Tree Yard. In 2024, she portrayed the lead role ofValya Harkonnen the HBO science fiction seriesDune: Prophecy.
Watson was born 14 January 1967 inLondon.[2] Her father, Richard Watson, was an architect, and her mother, Katharine (née Venables), was an English teacher at St David's Girls' School,West London.[3][4] She has an older sister, Harriet.[5] Watson was brought up as anAnglican.[6] She has described her childhood-self as 'a nice middle-class English girl ... I'd love to say I was a rebellious teenager, but I wasn't.'[7] She is a childhood friend of actress and writerClara Salaman, and starred in the screen adaptation of Salaman's novelToo Close.[8]
Watson was educated atSt James Independent Schools in west London which were founded by theSchool of Economic Science.[9] Whilst there, she witnessed "incidents of extreme cruelty" that were "very scarring for people going forward in their lives".[10] She attended theUniversity of Bristol, where she obtained aBA (1988, English).[3] Watson subsequently trained atDrama Studio London.[5] In 2003 she received an honoraryMA from Bristol University.[11] Watson was a member of theSchool of Economic Science until 1996, when aged 29 she was expelled following her part inBreaking the Waves. She describes the organisation as a "very repressive regime"[10] and a "system where you were supposed to think a certain way and you weren't really allowed to think any other way". Breaking out of it, she says, was a "very powerful release" in her life.[12]
Watson's career began on the stage. Her theatre credits includeThe Children's Hour (at theRoyal National Theatre),Three Sisters,Much Ado About Nothing andThe Lady from the Sea. Watson has also worked with theRoyal Shakespeare Company inA Jovial Crew,The Taming of the Shrew,All's Well That Ends Well andThe Changeling.[13]
Watson was virtually unknown until directorLars von Trier chose her to star inBreaking the Waves (1996) afterHelena Bonham Carter dropped out.[14] Watson's performance as Bess McNeill won her theLos Angeles,London andNew York Critics' Circle Awards for Best Actress, as well as the US National Society of Film Critics' Award for Best Actress and nominations at theAcademy Awards, theBritish Academy Film Awards, and theGolden Globe Awards.[15]
Watson came to public notice again in another controversial[clarification needed] role, that of cellistJacqueline du Pré inHilary and Jackie, for which she learned to play thecello in three months,[3] and received anotherOscar nomination. She also played a leading role inCradle Will Rock, a story of a theatre show in the 1930s, directed byTim Robbins. Though she won the title role ofFrank McCourt's mother in the adaptation of his acclaimed memoir,Angela's Ashes, the film underperformed.[16] In 2001, she appeared withJohn Turturro inThe Luzhin Defence and inRobert Altman's ensemble pieceGosford Park.[17]
DirectorJean-Pierre Jeunet wrote the characterAmélie for Watson to play (Amélie was originally named Emily) but she eventually turned the role down due to difficulties speakingFrench and a desire not to be away from home.[18] The role made a star ofAudrey Tautou. She was also the first choice to playElizabeth I inShekhar Kapur's filmElizabeth, the role that wonCate Blanchett an Academy Award nomination.[19]
The following year, she starred as Reba McClane in the adaptation ofThomas Harris'sThe Silence of the Lambs prequel,Red Dragon, as the romantic interest ofAdam Sandler inPaul Thomas Anderson'sPunch-Drunk Love and in the sci-fi action thrillerEquilibrium withChristian Bale. In 2002, she took time off from cinema to play two roles inSam Mendes'repertory productions ofUncle Vanya andTwelfth Night, first at Mendes'Donmar Warehouse in London and later at theBrooklyn Academy of Music. Her performance was widely acclaimed on both sides of theAtlantic and she was nominated for anOlivier Award forUncle Vanya.[20]
In 2004, Watson received aGolden Globe nomination for her performance asPeter Sellers's first wife, Anne Howe, in theHBO filmThe Life and Death of Peter Sellers. 2005 saw Watson star in four films:Wah-Wah,Richard E. Grant's autobiographical directorial debut;Separate Lies, directed byGosford Park writerJulian Fellowes;Tim Burton's animated filmCorpse Bride, withJohnny Depp andHelena Bonham Carter; andJohn Hillcoat'sAustralian Western,The Proposition.
In 2006, Watson took a supporting role inMiss Potter, a biographical drama about children's authorBeatrix Potter, fromBabe directorChris Noonan, withEwan McGregor andRenée Zellweger; and also in an adaptation ofThea Beckman's children's novelCrusade in Jeans. In 2007, she appeared inThe Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, an adaptation of theDick King-Smith children's novel about the origin of theLoch Ness Monster.[21][22] In 2007,Mood Indigo, a script written by Watson and her husband, was optioned byCapitol Films. The film is a love story set during theSecond World War and concerns a young woman who falls in love with a pilot.[23]
In 2008, Watson starred withJulia Roberts andCarrie-Anne Moss inFireflies in the Garden,[24] theLifetime Television movieThe Memory Keeper's Daughter (based on the novel with the same name), and in screenwriterCharlie Kaufman's directorial debut,Synecdoche, New York.[25] In 2009 she appeared in the filmCold Souls, from first-time directorSophie Barthes,[26] andWithin the Whirlwind, a biographical film of Russian poet andGulag survivorEvgenia Ginzburg fromThe Luzhin Defence directorMarleen Gorris.[27] Watson considers Ginzburg her best recent role; however, the film was not picked up for distribution.[28]
In 2010, she starred inOranges and Sunshine, a film recounting the true story of children sent into abusive care homes inAustralia, directed byJim Loach, and also the following year (2011) inWar Horse, an adaptation ofMichael Morpurgo's prizewinning novel, directed bySteven Spielberg. In 2011, she played Janet Leach in theITV two-part filmAppropriate Adult, about serial killerFred West, for which she won aBAFTA.[3]
In 2014, Watson had supporting roles inThe Book Thief, alongsideGeoffrey Rush andSophie Nélisse, and theOscar-nominated filmThe Theory of Everything, portrayingJane Wilde, Hawking's mother in law, alongsideEddie Redmayne andFelicity Jones. In 2015, she had supporting roles inTestament of Youth, alongsideAlicia Vikander andKit Harington,Eduardo Verástegui'sLittle Boy andA Royal Night Out, in which she portrayedQueen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She also received rave reviews[29] for her portrayal of Julie Nicholson in the BBC DramaA Song for Jenny, with experts tipping her to win theBritish Academy Television Award for Best Actress.
In 2019 she appeared as a nuclear scientist — a composite of several real scientists — in the miniseriesChernobyl.
Watson was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to drama.[30][31][32] In 2017, she starred in the BBC mini-seriesApple Tree Yard.[33]
Watson married Jack Waters, whom she had met at theRoyal Shakespeare Company, in 1995. Waters is a former actor who now works as a potter.[5] They have a daughter born in 2005,[34] and a son in 2009.[28] They live inGreenwich, London.[35][36]
Watson is a supporter of the children's charity theNSPCC. In 2004, she was inducted into the society's hall of fame for spearheading the successful campaign to appoint aChildren's Commissioner for England.[37] Receiving her award in the crowdedHouse of Commons, she spoke out against the possibility that the Children's Commissioner become a figurehead with little real power.[38] She is also one of the patrons of the London children's charity Scene & Heard.[39] In April 2018, Watson presented Maternity Worldwide as her chosen charity on the BBC Radio 4 Appeal.[40]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | A Summer Day's Dream | Rosalie | Television film |
| 1997 | The Mill on the Floss | Maggie Tulliver | |
| 2008 | The Memory Keeper's Daughter | Caroline Gil | |
| 2011 | Appropriate Adult | Janet Leach | 2 episodes |
| 2013 | The Politician's Husband | Freya | 3 episodes |
| 2015 | The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe | Grace McKee | 2 episodes |
| A Song for Jenny | Julie Nicholson | Television film | |
| The Dresser | Her Ladyship | ||
| 2017 | Apple Tree Yard | Yvonne Carmichael | 4 episodes |
| Genius | Elsa Einstein | ||
| Little Women | Marmee | 3 episodes | |
| 2018 | King Lear | Regan | Television film |
| 2019 | Chernobyl | Ulana Khomyuk | 4 episodes |
| 2020 | The Third Day | Mrs. Martin | 6 episodes |
| 2021 | Too Close | Dr. Emma Robertson | 3 episodes |
| 2024 | Dune: Prophecy | Valya Harkonnen | Lead role |
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