Emily Watson
ActingEmily Margaret Watson (born 14 January 1967) is an English actress. She began her career on stage and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1992. In 2002, she starred in productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya at the Donmar Warehouse. She was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress for the latter. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her debut film role as a newlywed in Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves (1996) and for her portrayal of Jacqueline du Pré in Anand Tucker's Hilary and Jackie (1998). Watson's other films include The Boxer (1997), Angela's Ashes (1999), 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), and Small Things like These (2024). She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her role in the HBO miniseries Chernobyl. She won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for playing Janet Leach in the 2011 ITV television biopic Appropriate Adult. She was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Actress for the 2017 BBC miniseries Apple Tree Yard. In 2024, she portrayed the lead role of Valya Harkonnen in the HBO science fiction series Dune: Prophecy. Watson is a supporter of the children's charity the NSPCC. In 2004, she was inducted into the society's hall of fame for spearheading the successful campaign to appoint a Children's Commissioner for England. Receiving her award in the crowded House of Commons, she spoke out against the possibility that the Children's Commissioner become a figurehead with little real power.
Known For
Hamnet
Mary
Corpse Bride
Victoria Everglot (voice)
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Chief of Staff Fox
Gosford Park
Elsie
The Legend of Ochi
Dasha
War Horse
Rose Narracott
The Happy Prince
Constance Wilde
Punch-Drunk Love
Lena Leonard
Equilibrium
Mary O'Brien
Everest
Helen Wilton
Filmography — Acting
Hamnet
Mary
Corpse Bride
Victoria Everglot (voice)
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Chief of Staff Fox
Gosford Park
Elsie
The Legend of Ochi
Dasha
War Horse
Rose Narracott
The Happy Prince
Constance Wilde
Punch-Drunk Love
Lena Leonard
Equilibrium
Mary O'Brien
Everest
Helen Wilton
The Theory of Everything
Beryl Wilde
Synecdoche, New York
Tammy
Anna Karenina
Countess Lydia Ivanova
Steve
Jenny
The Book Thief
Rosa Hubermann
Small Things Like These
Sister Mary
Belle
Lady Mansfield
Monster Family 2
Emma Wishbone (voice)
Breaking the Waves
Bess McNeill
Miss Potter
Millie Warne
The Water Horse
Anne MacMorrow
Little Boy
Emma Busbee
Angela's Ashes
Angela McCourt
Monster Family
Emma Wishbone (voice)
Testament of Youth
Mrs. Brittain
King Lear
Regan
The Boxer
Maggie Hamill
The Proposition
Martha Stanley
Red Dragon
Reba McClane
Cemetery Junction
Mrs. Kendrick
Cradle Will Rock
Olive Stanton
Trixie
Trixie Zurbo
Metroland
Marion
On Chesil Beach
Violet Ponting
God's Creatures
Aileen O'Hara
Wah-Wah
Ruby Compton
Midas Man
Queenie Epstein
A Royal Night Out
Queen Elizabeth
Hilary and Jackie
Jackie Du Pré
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Anne Sellers
The Dresser
Her Ladyship
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Caroline Gil
Cold Souls
Claire
The Luzhin Defence
Natalia Katkov
Fireflies in the Garden
Jane Lawrence
Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism
Miss Trinklebury
Oranges and Sunshine
Margaret Humphreys
Crusade in Jeans
Mary Vega
The Making of Gosford Park
Self
The Mill on the Floss
Maggie Tulliver
Some Girl(s)
Lindsay
A Director's Journey: The Making of 'Red Dragon'
Self
Separate Lies
Anne Manning
Within the Whirlwind
Evgenia Ginzburg
A Song for Jenny
Julie Nicholson
Ballchewer
Self
Weinstein
Narrator (voice)
Fado!
Dune: Prophecy - Behind the Scenes
Self
A Summer Day's Dream
Meerkats 3D
Narrator
Late in Summer
Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier
Midday Sun
Sarah
In Doctor von Trier's Laboratory: Back to the Magic of Cinema
Self