Emma Watson

English actress, Emma Watson, was born in Paris, France, on April 15, 1990. If you're among the people who think that anyone with an English accent sounds intelligent, don't be fooled; Emma really is procured from pedigree. Both of her parents are lawyers and Emma has attended The Dragon School and the Headington School preparatory schools.

Emma took an interest in poetry at an early age and soon afterward she found herself on her school's stage performing Arthur:

The Young Years and The Happy Prince. By the time Emma was 10, she was performing alongside such film luminaries as Richard Harris, Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -- oh, and Daniel Radcliffe too. Four films and six years later she could also add Gary Oldman, Richard Griffiths, Warwick Davis, Jason Isaacs, Timothy Spall, and Ralph Fiennes to her list of colleagues.

Despite her success and smooth entry into Hollywood's limelight, Emma is still young at heart: She counts Eminem, Nelly Furtado, Joss Stone, Amy Wine house, and Norah Jones as her favorite artists, she loves the Shrek films, and she says "piss" a lot. Emma was also on the cover of Teen Vogue and she was ranked 98th sexiest woman in the world by FHM in 2007.

Our colleagues at IGN had a chance to sit down with the youthful actress to talk about her role in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

This film is a little darker for you. You and Ron have some issues; do you actually throw him against the wall?
(Laughs) Yes, yes I do. He makes the big mistake of patronizing her. He says, "I'll go easy on you," just as they are about to duel and she goes, "Right, that's it.

You're dead," and absolutely catapults him against a back wall. It was a real "girl power" moment, of which there are many in this film.

Can you talk about shooting that?
It was funny, really. Just a very good laugh.

Did you enjoy filming the Defence against the Dark Arts training?
They were really fun actually. We had sort of a regular group of kids in there with us and we did the spells. It was really good fun.

Can you talk about what's different for you. This is the fifth movie you've worked with everybody now, all sort of growing up. What's the fun for you this time around? How are you making it fresh for yourself?
I think [director] David Yates is keeping it fresh for me. It's amazing. This is my fourth director and they all seem so different. He's quite quiet, very calm, very thoughtful, and very sensitive. He's very much into finding the truth in the character and in the performance; he's a real actor's director. That's great for me. He'll pull an even better performance.

Are you thoroughly sick of everybody you're working with now, after all of these years?
No, it's nice. We had quite a long break after the fourth one, so it's nice to come back and see everyone again.

As the movies progress, do you find that your personality has carried over into your character or vice versa? Everyone's taking the piss at me because I did really well at my exams. It's been a bit of an ongoing joke the past couple of weeks, but I think it's a compliment.

I'd like to think that she's a role model -- definitely. I think she rocks. I don't think there's anyone on screen who can compete with her really, female action-hero-wise.

Aside from throwing Rupert, what's been your favorite scene to film?
I just had quite a lot of fun working with the movement coach (he's actually a choreographer) for the last scene when we fight the Death Eaters. He's incorporating some choreography into the movements, the fighting, and the action sequences. It's actually really interesting and it was really good fun. The fight scenes between Voldemort and Dumbledore -- watch out for that. It should be really, really good.

What did we just watch you shoot?
They've just persuaded Harry that he's going to do this Dumbledore's Army thing and he's going to teach everyone what to do. It's just that conversation and I think David was trying to get from it a sort of energy and a sense of how excited they all are as they do something rebellious. There's quite a funny line in it where Hermione says, "It's really fun breaking the rules" and Ron's like "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?" (Laughs).

Can you talk about some of the preparation that David has had you do on this?
You've been in this character for such a long while; what's his take on it and has he asked you to delve into it deeper?
We just had conversations about it. I think he sees it as being very valuable to him, to have three characters that have worked together and literally grown up together, and been in the same film for so many years.

He loves it because he loves the history and the depth and everything that that can bring to it. Every character has a story now, so it's just really using that to its full potential.

In the fourth film, you got to dress up and dance and be girly. Do you have anything like that in this film?
No, no. She's back. Actually, Jany [Temime] who is head of costume said, "This one is Hermione tomboy. She's back to being one of the guys." It's quite a powerful one for Hermione, this one. She's the one who makes everything happen. It's very similar to the role she had in the third one where she's just like "Right, we're going to do this and you guys are coming with me." (Laughs) She's dragging them off everywhere so it's really cool. It's a powerful female role.

Now that you're past your exams, are you able to think beyond Harry Potter?
Unfortunately, in England, A-level [exams] is the next project. I don't know yet. I've still got a while to go on this to finish this.

Are you looking for another project or being considered for any other projects?
Yeah, maybe. Nothing I can talk about. I want to find something that I really want to do that's very special. We'll see.

What do you think is going to happen?
Well, there's quite a big difference between what I'd like to have happen and what actually will happen.

I'd like to think that Hermione and Ron will end up together. It's been like five films where they've gone at it. I hope that she uses her intelligence, her determination, grit and strength, everything that's great about her and does something really amazing with that. [I hope] she finds a job that really challenges her and pushes her.

When J.K. Rowling came to the set, did you get to meet her?
I wasn't here unfortunately. I saw her at the Queen's birthday celebration where she put on this play and we had a good chat.

Has she told you anything about Hermione's future?
No, she's hasn't.

Is there some more awkwardness between Hermione and Ron in this one?
Oh yeah, there always is. I think actually the smashing Ron up against the wall is kind of again, that "you twit!" She's still pretty pissed about that and taking it out on him basically. It's just sort of this little bickering thing that they have. She's just generally giving him a hard time and vice versa.

How are the new actors that you worked with? Imelda Staunton and Evanna Lynch?
Evanna is Luna Lovegood. It's actually scary. I can't tell you, it's amazing. She's so lovely and so much fun. That was really nice. Imelda Staunton, amazing actress, I was really excited to work with her, also very funny. She just keeps everyone laughing between takes which is great and always good to have around.

What was it like to take a break during the filming of this, to take your exams, and then come back? Did that break your concentration?
No, it just gave me more... it made me want to get back to it, made me eager again