Emma Watson is a British actor and model who rose to fame through her role in the Harry Potter movies. Watson has achieved considerable financial success and has an estimated net worth of $90 million in 2024.
Here, we’ll dive into her life story, career, and net worth to learn more about the young actor.
Emma Watson’s Net Worth Breakdown:
Emma Watson keeps most of her financial information private, like many wealthy people, which makes it impossible to determine her exact net worth. However, we’ve been able to collect plenty of public information surrounding her various sources of income, investments, assets, and business ventures to build a careful estimate.
Asset or Income Source | Contribution to Net Worth |
Annual income from acting | $15 million |
Endrosement deals | $10 million |
Real estate | $20 million |
Venture capital investments | $5 million |
Other investments | $60 million |
Personal assets | $5 million |
Total Net Worth | $90 million |
Emma Watson’s Early Life
Emma Watson was born in Paris as Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson on 15 April 1990. Her parents Chris Watson and Jacqueline Luesby were English lawyers who divorced when she was five. They then moved back to England where she spent time with both of her parents.
Watson started studying singing, dancing, and acting at the Oxford branch of Stagecoach Theatre Arts when she was only six. She had performed in many Stagecoach productions and school plays by the age of 10.
Personal Life
Emma Watson usually doesn’t speak about her relationships publicly and in a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair she said, “I’ve noticed, in Hollywood, who you’re dating gets tied up into your film promotion and becomes part of the performance and the circus.”
However, in the past, she is said to have dated many people. These include financier Jay Barrymore, her fellow Oxford University classmate Will Adamowicz, Oxford University rugby star Matt Janney, businessman William “Mack” Knight, businessman Leo Robinton, and Brandon Green, son of controversial British fashion businessman Sir Phillip Green. Currently, she is reportedly dating American businessman Ryan Walsh.
Emma Watson Net Worth: Childhood Star to Hollywood Leading Lady
In 1999, when casting agents were casting for Harry Potter they discovered Watson through her Oxford theater teacher. It wasn’t an easy path though – Watson had to audition eight times for the starring role and she was only about 10 years old at the time. She eventually landed the role of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise and appeared in all eight movies.
Base salaries for the franchise for Watson were reportedly $70 million – with bonuses added on top of that.
Apart from the Harry Potter series, Watson has appeared in many other movies. Here’s a brief list:
- My Week with Marilyn, released in 2011
- The Bling Ring, released in 2013
- Noah, released in 2015
- Beauty and the Beast, released in 2017 and was her most successful movie commercially outside the Harry Potter franchise
- The Circle, released in 2017 but was a commercial flop with box office takings of just $20.5 million.
- Little Women in 2019
Watson was among the highest-paid celebrities and in 2017, Forbes said that she tied for the sixth highest-paid female actor that year.
Emma Watson’s Product Endorsements
Like her many other celebrities, brand endorsements add to Emma Watson’s income and net worth. In 2005 she started her modeling career with a photo shoot for Teen Vogue, becoming the youngest person to appear on the magazine’s cover – which has since gone defunct.
She’s also endorsed brands like Lancome perfume, Calvin Klein, and Burberry. Given her support for sustainable fashion and fair trade, the British starlet has endorsed many brands that echo similar values. These include Manhattan-based sustainable company Svilu, and Gabriela Hearst which is a traditionally made clothing range from Uruguayan designer Gabriela.
Family Gin Brand
In 2023, along with her brother Alex Watson, Emma Watson launched a luxury gin brand named Renais Gin. The product is inspired by Chablis wines where their father Chris Watson has been investing for three decades.
“To me, Renais is a family project. Not only does the Chablis region evoke cherished memories of growing up, but I also relish the opportunity to create something with my brother Alex,” said Emma about the project. While the business is mostly led by Alex, Emma is a shareholder and looks after its creative direction.
Emma Watson’s Angel Investments
In 2021, Watson invested in London-based startup FabricNano, working on cell-free biotech that aims to address the problems with microplastics that are increasingly becoming a menace to the environment. Venture capital investing is popular among celebrities and those who hit it big in the VC space often make much more money than they did in their acting careers. For example, the bulk of Ashton Kutcher’s net worth comes from his investing rather than acting.
Previously, in 2009, Watson launched an ethical fashion line with People Tree that looked to bring organic fashion to those in the 16-24 age group.
The sustainable fashion range mostly uses hand-made clothes from groups in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. Watson not only designed the clothes but also traveled to Bangladesh to see how these were made.
“I was excited by the idea of using fashion as a tool to alleviate poverty and knew it was something I could help make a difference with,” said Watson about the fashion line.
The Harry Potter star added. “I think young people like me are becoming increasingly aware of the humanitarian and environmental issues surrounding fast fashion and want to make good choices but there aren’t many options out there.”
In 2020 she also joined the board of French luxury giant Kering which owns global brands like Gucci and Balenciaga. However, her tenure came to an end at the start of 2024.
Investment Firm
We don’t have any public information about Watson’s investments in stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies. In 2017, she set up an investment company Hestia Hebe that was named after two Greek goddesses of the hearth, home, and family, and youth. However, we don’t know much about the company’s activities.
Emma Watson founded Hestia Hebe, an investment firm, in 2017
Read at: https://t.co/uDqHabNPSj pic.twitter.com/vidYyHtZxp
— 📸E͟m͟m͟a W͟a͟t͟s͟o͟n͟ U͟p͟d͟a͟t͟e͟s͟📖 (@EmWatsonUpdates) June 21, 2020
Real Estate
She does have a flair for real estate and owns homes in the UK as well as the US. Here are some of the properties that she owns
- A home in London’s salubrious Canonbury Place
- A luxury holiday home in Meribel, France
- She also reportedly owns properties in New York and Los Angeles
Notably, Watson revealed in an interview that she bought a property without even seeing it physically as she was worried about her privacy.
Emma Watson and the Panama Papers
Watson was named in the infamous Panama Papers leak which revealed that in 2013 she set up an offshore company named Falling Leaves Ltd in the British Virgin Islands. Her spokesperson said that the entity was set up for “anonymity and safety”.
They added that the Harry Potter star got “absolutely no tax or monetary advantages from this offshore company whatsoever – only privacy”. However, media reports at that time said that she set up an offshore company to buy a house in London.
Emma Watson’s Awards and Achievements
Watson has several awards and achievements to her name and she was featured on the TIME 100 list of the world’s most influential people in 2015. Previously, in 2013 she was recognized as Woman of the Year by British GQ.
Watson has won several Teen Choice awards. Here are some of the other awards that she won for her work:
- 2002: Watson won the Young Artist Award.
- 2007: Watson won the National Movie Award for Best Performance by a Female for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- 2012: She won the MTV Award in the Best Cast category for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, along with the People’s Choice Award
- 2013: Won the MTV Trailblazer Award as well as that year’s People’s Choice Award
- 2014: Watson won the British Artist of the Year award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
- 2017: she won Best Performance in a Movie at the MTV Awards for Beauty and the Beast
Emma Watson’s Philanthropy
Emma Watson is a feminist and between 2016 and 2020, she was associated with the feminist GoodReads book club named Our Shared Shelf, to read and discuss books written by and talking about women. Her business ventures also promote sustainability and fair trade.
In the wake of #CycloneIdai, my thoughts are with Mozambique, Zimbabwe & Malawi, a beautiful country that welcomed me so warmly in 2016. As the full scale of the disaster unfolds, please show your solidarity by donating via @decappeal now: https://t.co/FGcp1SXCKN pic.twitter.com/fb339Ve3on
— Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) March 23, 2019
Watson is a proponent of gender equality and in 2014, as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, she gave a famous speech when she was barely 24 years old.
She launched the UN’s campaign HeForShe at the event. In her speech, which earned her a standing ovation, Watson admitted, “You might be thinking, ‘Who is this Harry Potter girl, and what is she doing speaking at the UN?’ And, it’s a really good question. I’ve been asking myself the same thing.”
However, she talked emphatically about gender inequality in her speech and how even she faced it while growing up.
She’s been associated with several other philanthropic activities and partnered with ActionAid to fight global poverty and inequality. Watson has also donated to and worked with leading philanthropic organizations like Greenpeace and CARE.
Child education and gender equality have also been high on Watson’s radar and among others, she partnered with the Malala Fund to work for girls’ education. In 2018, she donated £1 million to create a #MeToo fund to support victims of sexual harassment and abuse. She also partnered with the Green Carpet Challenge campaign for environmental initiatives.
What Can We Learn From Emma Watson’s Life?
Emma Watson’s life has much to teach us all, beginning with her humility. While Watson became rich and successful as early as ten years old, she’s quite humble compared to many other celebrities.
Her life also taught her the importance of education as despite her successful career and financial success, Watson completed her education and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Brown University. Subsequently, she enrolled for an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford University in 2023.
Finally, her life tells us that age is just a number – Watson has been contributing to social causes at a very young age.
Watson’s life is an example of how to follow one’s dreams and pursue them with determination. She was clear about her career path as a kid and worked towards realizing her dreams with hard work which is the hallmark of most rich and successful persons.