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Emily Watson
Acting
Biography
Emily 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 o…
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Emily 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). and A Pariare Farm Girl ( 2026). 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.
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BODY OF WORK
Emily Watson's Filmography
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Inside Look: Hamnet
as Self (archive footage)
Hamnet
as Mary
Steve
as Jenny
The Legend of Ochi
as Dasha
Small Things Like These
as Sister Mary
Midas Man
as Queenie Epstein
God's Creatures
as Aileen O'Hara
Monster Family 2
as Emma Wishbone (voice)
King Lear
as Regan
The Happy Prince
as Constance Wilde
Weinstein
as Narrator (voice)
On Chesil Beach
as Violet Ponting
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
as Chief of Staff Fox
Monster Family
as Emma Wishbone (voice)
The Dresser
as Her Ladyship
Everest
as Helen Wilton
A Song for Jenny
as Julie Nicholson
A Royal Night Out
as Queen Elizabeth
Little Boy
as Emma Busbee
Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism
as Miss Trinklebury
Testament of Youth
as Mrs. Brittain
The Theory of Everything
as Beryl Wilde
The Book Thief
as Rosa Hubermann
Some Girl(s)
as Lindsay
Belle
as Lady Mansfield
Anna Karenina
as Countess Lydia Ivanova
War Horse
as Rose Narracott
Meerkats 3D
as Narrator
Oranges and Sunshine
as Margaret Humphreys
Cemetery Junction
as Mrs. Kendrick
Within the Whirlwind
as Evgenia Ginzburg
Cold Souls
as Claire
Synecdoche, New York
as Tammy
Fireflies in the Garden
as Jane Lawrence
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
as Caroline Gil
The Water Horse
as Anne MacMorrow
Miss Potter
as Millie Warne
Crusade in Jeans
as Mary Vega
The Proposition
as Martha Stanley
Separate Lies
as Anne Manning
Corpse Bride
as Victoria Everglot (voice)
Wah-Wah
as Ruby Compton
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
as Anne Sellers
A Director's Journey: The Making of 'Red Dragon'
as Self
Equilibrium
as Mary O'Brien
Ballchewer
as Self
Punch-Drunk Love
as Lena Leonard
Red Dragon
as Reba McClane
The Making of Gosford Park
as Self
Gosford Park
as Elsie
The Luzhin Defence
as Natalia Katkov
Trixie
as Trixie Zurbo
Angela's Ashes
as Angela McCourt
Cradle Will Rock
as Olive Stanton
Hilary and Jackie
as Jackie du Pré
Metroland
as Marion
No Poster
In Doctor von Trier's Laboratory: Back to the Magic of Cinema
as Self
The Boxer
as Maggie Hamill
Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier
The Mill on the Floss
as Maggie Tulliver
Breaking the Waves
as Bess McNeill
No Poster
A Summer Day's Dream
No Poster
Amri
as Marie Antoinette Gottesman
No Poster
RSC Meets USA: Working Shakespeare
as Self
No Poster
Fado!
No Poster
The Clockmaker’s Secret: Lost in Spindlewood
as The Keeper of the Keys
A Christmas Child
as Emily Watson ( Self/Narrator )
No Poster
London Fog: A Ruby Gale Mystery
as (The Detective)
No Poster
Holly Noel: The Winter Ball (Christmas 3)
as ( Host )
No Poster
Late in Summer
No Poster
Midday Sun
as Sarah