Emily Watson
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.
Born: 14 January 1967
Played In
Inside Look: Hamnet
Self (archive footage)
Hamnet
Mary
Steve
Jenny
The Legend of Ochi
Dasha
Dune: Prophecy
Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen
Small Things Like These
Sister Mary
Midas Man
Queenie Epstein
Fired on Mars
Sheila (voice)
God's Creatures
Aileen O'Hara
Monster Family 2
Emma Wishbone (voice)
Too Close
Dr. Emma Robinson
The Third Day
Mrs. Martin
Chernobyl
Ulana Khomyuk
King Lear
Regan
The Happy Prince
Constance Wilde
Weinstein
Narrator (voice)
On Chesil Beach
Violet Ponting
Little Women
Marmee March
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Chief of Staff Fox
Monster Family
Emma Wishbone (voice)
Genius
Elsa Einstein
Apple Tree Yard
Yvonne Carmichael
The Dresser
Her Ladyship
Everest
Helen Wilton
A Song for Jenny
Julie Nicholson
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe
Grace McKee
A Royal Night Out
Queen Elizabeth
Little Boy
Emma Busbee
Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism
Miss Trinklebury
Testament of Youth
Mrs. Brittain
The Theory of Everything
Beryl Wilde
The Book Thief
Rosa Hubermann
Some Girl(s)
Lindsay
Belle
Lady Mansfield
The Politician's Husband
Freya Gardner
Anna Karenina
Countess Lydia Ivanova
War Horse
Rose Narracott
Meerkats 3D
Narrator
Appropriate Adult
Janet Leach
Oranges and Sunshine
Margaret Humphreys
Cemetery Junction
Mrs. Kendrick
Within the Whirlwind
Evgenia Ginzburg
Cold Souls
Claire
Synecdoche, New York
Tammy
Fireflies in the Garden
Jane Lawrence
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Caroline Gil
The Water Horse
Anne MacMorrow
Miss Potter
Millie Warne
Crusade in Jeans
Mary Vega
The Proposition
Martha Stanley
Separate Lies
Anne Manning
Corpse Bride
Victoria Everglot (voice)
Wah-Wah
Ruby Compton
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Anne Sellers
Working Shakespeare
A Director's Journey: The Making of 'Red Dragon'
Self
Equilibrium
Mary O'Brien
Ballchewer
Self
Punch-Drunk Love
Lena Leonard
Red Dragon
Reba McClane
The Making of Gosford Park
Self
Gosford Park
Elsie
The Luzhin Defence
Natalia Katkov
Trixie
Trixie Zurbo
Angela's Ashes
Angela McCourt
Cradle Will Rock
Olive Stanton
The Early Show
Self
Hilary and Jackie
Jackie du Pré
In Doctor von Trier's Laboratory: Back to the Magic of Cinema
Self
The Boxer
Maggie Hamill
Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier
The Mill on the Floss
Maggie Tulliver
Metroland
Marion
Breaking the Waves
Bess McNeill
A Summer Day's Dream
Performance
Rosalie
The Oscars
Self
Midday Sun
Sarah
Late in Summer
Fado!
A Prairie Farm Girl
Marie Calamange
A Christmas Child
Emily Watson ( Self/Narrator )
The Clockmaker’s Secret: Lost in Spindlewood
The Keeper of the Keys
London Fog: A Ruby Gale Mystery
(The Detective)
Holly Noel: The Winter Ball (Christmas 3)
( Host )
Amri
Marie Antoinette Gottesman
RSC Meets USA: Working Shakespeare
Self