‘Harry Potter’: Emma Watson Wasn’t Sure About Being an Actor
From a young age, Emma Watson displayed a vested interest in performance. Though she didn’t have any professional acting credits prior to being cast in the Harry Potter movies, she’d done three plays. But Watson’s passions were hardly limited to acting. In fact, for a while, she didn’t even know if she wanted to pursue acting as a career.
Emma Watson was sure about playing Hermione Granger
Watson may not have been sure about acting, but she was absolutely certain she was destined to play Hermione Granger. The then 9-year-old felt an affinity with the young witch because they shared similar personality traits. Even before she got her first official audition, when she was doing the general audition at her school, she knew she’d be going out for Hermione. In an interview with GQ UK, the actor recalled the lengths she went to in order to secure the role.
“I worked hard to get Hermione, and my mum has a video I did for the first audition and she has me doing the same take over and over, like 27 times from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon and I was just relentless,” the Harry Potter alum remembered. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to act, but I was sure I wanted this part.”
Unlike her ‘Harry Potter’ castmate, Watson wasn’t sure about a professional acting career
But even after Watson beat the odds and secured the coveted role, she still wasn’t sure that acting was her path. She recalls considering other careers even in the midst of filming the Harry Potter movies. Her ambivalence about becoming a professional adult actor was in direct contrast with the goals of her fellow castmate, Daniel Radcliffe.
“I think when I was younger I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to act, so I played around with a few different ideas,” Watson shared. “I wasn’t sure whether I might want to write or whether I might want to do something in fashion. I wasn’t really focused in the same way that Dan was from the get go. His parents [worked in the industry], he went to the theatre, he watched films, he was absolutely set from the beginning: ‘I’m going to be an actor.'”
When did the ‘Harry Potter’ star decide on a career in acting?
Unlike her fellow Harry Potter co-star, Watson didn’t have the same entertainment-focused upbringing. For a while, acting was more of a hobby rather than a life path. “We had maybe four tapes in the whole of our house,” Watson explained. “My father doesn’t watch films, and I’d been taken to the theatre maybe twice on a school trip. I’d always enjoyed acting in school plays, but that just wasn’t an ambition that I really thought about.”
So when did Watson decide that she was sure about acting as a true career path? Funnily enough, her involvement in the Harry Potter franchise helped her come to that conclusion. “I guess how I’ve changed is that coming out of Potter I’ve become more focused,” Watson explained. “I’ve zoned in on what I actually want to do, which is act.”
